One of the parts of book publishing that seems to confound newcomers to the field is the purpose and use of the International Standard Book Number (ISBN). Not only that, but since the rise of companies that perform publishing services for authors, there has been even...
This very quick video shows you the current version of the Bowker ISBN portal and shows you how to set up a new account and then buy your very own ISBNs. If you’d like to watch it while you set up your own account, you’ll have to be prepared. You’ll...
I’ve often wondered what to do on my blog on Saturdays. When I was first getting started I didn’t blog on the weekends. But like all beginning bloggers I was pretty obsessed with my numbers, with the statistics and analytics and metrics and I hated to see...
In the beginning was the word, and the words are what make the book. But soon thereafter, came the metadata—that is, data about the data. When you publish a new book, you have a chance to assign metadata to your book that will travel with descriptions of the...
Today I’m pleased to have an interview with Andy Weissberg of R. R. Bowker. Bowker is a central player in the entire book industry due to the company’s status as the U.S. Agency of the International Standard Book Numbering Convention, as approved by the...
