New ISBN for Revised Edition?

[Judah]

I have just finished revising my book, The Dawn of Global Sense, and I want to hear your thoughts on whether it’s best to keep the existing ISBN or else use a new ISBN.

Changes in the revised edition:

1) New cover art and cover layout.
2) Converted my previous reader line into the subtitle and dropped the previous subtitle.
3) Cut 30 pages by removing two chapters in the back half of the book for use in another book.
4) Simplified all of the language, so readability shifts from 10th grade level to 7th grade level.
5) Reduced the price from $14.95 to $11.00 for the perfect-bound trade paperback at 148 pages.
6) Reduced the price from $5.99 to $3.99 for the ebook in all formats.

Keeping the existing ISBN means I do not have to start from scratch with my distribution and sales channels (including Goodreads). Of course, I will have to work with each to update the new cover image, new subtitle, new page count, and new cover price. (Amazon may be the hardest nut to crack for the subtitle change, I know from experience.)

The chief advantage of using a new ISBN is that if I postpone the release until, let’s say, January 2015, I can try for advance reviews in the trades and consumer publications.

Please share your wisdom on whether to keep or replace my ISBN for the new edition. I already have an idea on what to do, but I want to double-check my thinking with you good people on Goodreads.

Thanks!

Judah Freed
Hoku House
Kauai. Hawaii

[Rena]

According to the Bowker website, a new ISBN is "required" for a new edition. Check out: http://www.isbn.org/faqs_general_ques...

[rivka]

Judah, please keep in mind that Goodreads does not update covers or other book data on published editions. Goodreads policy is to keep all published covers on the site, as users want to shelve the cover of the copy they have. Instead, we add an alternate-cover edition. See http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1... and http://www.goodreads.com/help/show/85....

This may be another reason to favor getting a new ISBN.

[Mercia]

Cover art is not a reason for a new ISBN, but if you are going to change the reading age and want that reflecting in the ISBN record then a new ISBN is needed to create a new record, the change of title and the removal of chapters would make me think that this is definitely a revision that requires a new ISBN.

Rena a new ISBN is required for a revised edition, but the issue always arises as to whether changes make it a revised edition or a reprinting. During most reprintings publishers make emendations, which does not require a new ISBN.

[Judah]

Rena wrote: "According to the Bowker website, a new ISBN is "required" for a new edition. Check out: http://www.isbn.org/faqs_general_ques..."

Could not find anything on the Bowker FAQ about if or when a new ISBN is required for a revised edition. Any other places to look?

[Judah]

rivka wrote: "Judah, please keep in mind that Goodreads does not update covers or other book data on published editions. Goodreads policy is to keep all published covers on the site, as users want to shelve the ..."

Thanks. Useful info for the thought processes...

[Debbie's Spurts (D.A.)]

Judah wrote: "...Could not find anything on the Bowker FAQ about if..."

On that link, I saw: "What do I do when I receive the ISBN and where is it printed?...
An ISBN should be ...etc). A new ISBN is required for a revised edition. Once assigned, an ISBN can never be reused. An ISBN is printed ..."

[Debbie's Spurts (D.A.)]

This might also help: http://www.isbn.org/faqs_formats_repr... saying

"...If a second edition has the same title as the first, does it keep the same ISBN?
No. A new edition is considered a different product and gets its own ISBN..."

(There is only a tiny loophole on being able to reuse an isbn if only the cover is changing providing the change came immediatley on the heels of obtaining the isbn number. It was intended for a print run not caught soon enough where there was some major issue with the cover, books immediately recalled and then production run done again. But, boy oh boy oh boy have ebook authors really abused that one and seem to fully expect that just because they can update their product pages on bookseller sites wanting to show only product for sale that catalogs/libraries/databases like goodreads who only care if it was ever published rather than if currently for sale will also allow existing member book catalogs to have bookcovers/editions replaced just because a new one is now available for purchase even if member owns the old one and wants to catalog it...)

[Mercia]

DA you may be interested to know that on Neilson (the Bowker for UK and Ireland) that covers can be updated on the ISBN record by publishers.
You list a "tiny loophole" that is not mentioned in the FAQ that you listed. For those not wanting to click the link the FAQ says,
"A reprint means more copies are being printed with no substantial changes. Perhaps a few typos are being fixed. A new edition means that there has been substantial change: content has been altered in a way that might make a customer complain that this was not the product that was expected. Or, text has been changed to add a new feature, such as a preface or appendix or additional content. Or, content has been revised. Or, the book has been redesigned."
To translate: a new edition is determined by the contents not the cover. The loophole in that determination is if you change the design of the book (e.g., creme to white pages or 6x9 to 5x8 or a change in the spine width).

[Debbie's Spurts (D.A.)]

I'm sure each country has its own isbn rules; the isbn agency overall mentions the cover loophole and that it is interpreted differently in different countries. Bowkers is the U.S. isbn agency and was just the link OP said they couldn't locate the revision/new-isbn information on so that's the link I quoted from--just because I remembered where those two quoted answers were.

Goodreads, amazon (or other booksellers with product pages) and the isbn agencies (whichever countries) are not going to all agree on the rules for the book records.

I was also assuming OP was purchasing their own isbn numbers (if not then whoever they are obtaining from has the headache of deciding if needs new isbn or not).