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Registering an ISBN

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shipbuilder
(@shipbuilder)
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I decided to put an Nielsen ISBN number on my latest book (against my better judgment), but am completely baffled by their online registration form.    It seems to object to quite a lot of the selected options, and I have now given up after over an hour with it.    Has anyone else had these problems, and is there an easier way to do it?    I do have eight spare numbers that I paid for years ago, but I don't recall any problems registering the first two.   I am registered with the Nielsen site, and can log in, but find the form impossble to use!

Bob

 
Posted : November 2, 2019 4:15 pm
ionicus
(@ionicus)
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Hi Bob, it is many years since I used an ISBN and don't recall any problems. I remember getting a form on which to describe the genre and format of the publication and then send a certain number of copies to various libraries. Maybe they have changed the system and made it more complicated.
Reading that you are very successful marketing your book, for which there seems to be a great demand, I don't understand why you want to bother with ISBN numbers that, in my opinion, don't much increase the selling potential.
I wish you my best for your enterprise.
Luigi

 
Posted : November 3, 2019 11:11 am
shipbuilder
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@ionicus

Hi Luigi,

That is very true, I feel that generally, they are a waste of time, but as I had purchased ten of them  some years ago, I thought I would add one to my latest book to see if it increased my ALCS payments.     The first two that I registered years ago, I had the same experience as yourself, quite easy, and no problem.   But the new online form completely defeats me.    It objects to a lot of the answers I give it.     For instance it gave a few binding options including "coil bound" (which it is), so I put that in, and it rejected it.     The list of options for contents did not include fiction, non fiction or all the other common ones and the nearest I could find was "illustrated" that it also threw out.    I will be telephoning them tomorrow, and willm let you known how I get on.   

Bob

 

 
Posted : November 3, 2019 11:45 am
shipbuilder
(@shipbuilder)
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I have finally registered it, and it took over two hours, and numerous phone calls! ?    Loads of things that I hadn't  a clue about, such as   "Please enter your BIC Code"      Didn't even know what a BIC code was - they had to give me one!    Problems all the way through.   After finally succeeding, it asked me to upload the front cover, but rejected it.   A further phone call revealed that the title of the jpeg had to be the ISBN number itself rather than "front cover!"      It still rejected it with the ISBN number.   Another phone call - "Take out the hyphens!"     I did, and it finally went through OK.    I was completely fed up with the whole show by the time I finished.     It was very simple when I registered my first two ISBNs years ago.     But why have a simple system, when you can have an incredibly complicated "updated" one suitable for the 21st century?   ? 

Bob

 
Posted : November 4, 2019 10:17 am
ionicus
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@shipbuilder

Thanks for the update, Bob. People wanting to use the ISBN system will now be aware of the pitfalls.

 
Posted : November 4, 2019 10:49 am
mitch
(@mitch)
Posts: 7
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Not the friendliest of sites - the PRS one is even worse for registering songs

 
Posted : December 4, 2019 12:30 pm
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