Question re: Verification

[WillowRaven]

Hello .... hoping someone can answer a quick question for me ~

If a book is a non-Kindle / non-Amazon / non-Audible digital book, what takes precedence for verification purposes: WorldCat, Amazon, or other source? (For example: a digital book that is independently published and it is in epub or other non-Kindle format).

I know for physical/print books, WorldCat is preferred. For Kindle/Audible books, Amazon is preferred.

Many thanks in advance for the clarification.

[Martin]

Amazon cannot be a source for non-Amazon items. Sources should always be correct for the specific edition.

[Renske]

An actual copy of the book is of course a very good source, but some things like number of pages of an ebook have limitations.

After that, there is not a strict order of preference. Different sources can have different strengths and weaknesses.
A library might have only the cover of the edition they got, while Amazon or the publisher has the most recent cover listed. I know some publishers have a habit of listing a very rough estimate of the number of pages. And sources can differ if and when they update data to the actual data after publication.

Sometimes it is just getting to know your sources. For me, I know the Dutch library website is generally right when I compare it with actual copies. And I know that this library site and worldcat have nearly always the same data listed and I understand the differences most of the time. (If I compare those two, this library site is better with illustrators and translators, but editors of anthologies are more often listed on worldcat, to give an example)

[Javier]

Per the manual, the publisher would be the preferred source for page counts.
https://help.goodreads.com/s/article/...
I haven't found anything about other data though.

[WillowRaven]

Renske wrote: "I know the Dutch library website is generally right when I compare it with actual copies."

I don't believe I'm familiar with that site - would it be possible to get the link?

And to all who have responded, my thanks and appreciation.