# Single or multiple ISBNs?



## LeeC (Jul 5, 2016)

Trying to wrap up a significant revised edition effort. 

The first time around I only submitted to Smashwords, and they assigned the same ISBN to all the ebook formats of my book. The problem I found in submitting only to Smashwords is that one can only submit .epub and .doc there**. Some of those other formats like .mobi and html5 I found to be lacking (to be polite). They of course use an automated conversion, and if one complains to their support team, one is told that there must be something wrong with the source, but it's not their role to look into what that might be.***

Anyway, this time around I'm creating all the different major ebook formats myself (.doc, .pdf, .epub, .mobi, .azw3, and html5), and will distribute the formats myself they could otherwise screw up. They do allow me to select only those distribution channels I approve of their using, so there won't be any overlap with my distributing to some channels (based on ensuring the outlet has an acceptable form of the book). 

Anyway, I looked into getting a necessary ISBN for the revised edition, and came across some internet "experts" saying I needed different ISBNs for each ebook format (as in .pdf and .epub being different formats). Researching such further I found conflicting information, where I could find relevant information at all. One internet "expert" speaking to the issue said there is no definitive answer yet. 

So my question is, does anybody have a verifiable answer regarding different ISBNs for different formats of the same ebook, or baring that does anyone have first hand experience with the issue. At the moment my thinking is that if Smashwords can use the same ISBN for all ebook formats of the same book, then I can also. 


** They accept an author's .epub file, but need a .doc file to generate other formats they distribute. 

*** Their conversion from .doc to .epub alone had numerous errors when validated (using the idpf epub validator and Sigil validation) that their support team told me were of no consequence. Some of those errors resulted in internal linking being incorrect.


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## aj47 (Jul 6, 2016)

No, I don't know for sure, but I do know that when I plug in the ISBN for a text book, all formats show up.  So I think only one is necessary.


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## Terry D (Jul 6, 2016)

As I understand it, the choice is yours for ebooks. It may not be worth the cost, or hassle, to get an ISBN for each version. Here's an article I found that discusses the issue:

http://thefutureofink.com/ebook-publishing-does-your-ebook-need-an-isbn/


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## LeeC (Jul 6, 2016)

Thanks Annie. I think it's just a case of another internet "expert" thinking that if a paperback is different from a hardback, then a .pdf must be different from .epub, and a lot of equally intelligent others picking up the idea. The distinction I see is while a paperback is indeed different from a hardback and required to have individual ISBNs, an ebook can be easily changed to varying formats at the reader's discretion. It would take shapeshifting capabilities on the reader's part to do so with a printed book 

And thank you Terry. I sometimes think it's the privatized ISBN allocation of our manipulative economic model that ferments this idea. The article you noted supports an ISBN for an ebook (not different formats of such unless I read too quickly), which I can see the rationale of. What I can't see is distinct ISBNs for say a .pdf and .epub of the same book.

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Back to the medical center now, see you later. It annoys me that I spend more time there than with my writing.


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## LeeC (Jul 7, 2016)

Just noticed more conflicting info. Under eISBN on the ISBN Wikipedia page they say, "​each of the three separate EPUB, Amazon Kindle, and PDF formats of a particular book will have its own specific ISBN." 

Yet, when I filled out the book bibliographic information for the ISBN I got, the only relevant book format/type choice  was ebook. There was no distinction between .epub and other formats. 

I'm going to go with one ISBN, and if some outlet assigns their own identifier (like Amazon does), that's their business.


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