NEWS

Nielsen Book launches new ISBN store

The ISBN is the single most important item needed to publish a book

New ISBN store to launch mid-August
Jonathan Stolper, VP & Global MD of Nielsen Book, commented: "It's a great pleasure for me to announce the launch of the ISBN Store in the UK. It is one of our significant achievements this year and we expect it to make the ISBN even more relevant and accessible to the publishing sector. Publishers can take advantage of services designed to increase a book's discoverability by purchasing a subscription to our Nielsen BookData Enhanced service to add rich content to their book record. Our research proves that rich content increases discoverability and sales. Publishers can also purchase our Book2Look widgets, which are an invaluable digital tool for sharing book content with readers, reviewers and bloggers. This is truly a one-stop-shop for publishers and self-published authors."

Stella Griffiths, Executive Director of the International ISBN Agency commented: "The essential concept of ISBN is really quite simple-each edition of a book that is produced by a particular publisher can be identified by a unique numerical string. The string remains associated with that specific book for all time, and can be used reliably to order it in any country. Right from the introduction of the very earliest audiobooks, microforms, and CD-ROMs, through to today's PDF, EPUB and other digital formats, ISBN has not been a standard only for printed materials, though of course, print will always be important.

It's very much the norm that the same content will be made available in a variety of different versions - different language editions in varying print formats, different digital formats, as well as perhaps audiobook and large font. Each of these is a unique product that must be described with its own distinct metadata and for that a separate ISBN is needed each time. Unique ISBNs aid in discovery and disambiguation; they can also contribute to the marketing process by highlighting specific qualities in a publication, for example differentiating between product form details (e.g., whether a book is in PDF or EPUB formats), or between the accessibility options available for those with reading or print impairment. In short ISBN may appear to be just a number, but it's an identifier that punches above its weight. An ISBN can't guarantee that you will make sales, but it can help pave the way for your book's success. "

Marion Sinclair, Chief Executive of Publishing Scotland, added: "Where would we be without the ISBN in the book business? From its introduction 40 years ago, the book trade has come to rely upon the ISBN to speed up book selection and find a way through the multiple formats the book now comes in, to the correct edition, the right author, and the specific publisher. As a client of Nielsen Book through our marketing site, booksfromscotland.com and our subsidiary book distribution company Booksource, both need up to date accurate information, and as a business associate over the years for our publisher members, we have come to rely upon their accurate and timely provision of ISBN and other metadata.

We welcome then the introduction of the Nielsen ISBN Store as a way of getting faster and easier access to purchasing of ISBNs."

Ruth Hegarty, Managing Editor of Publications at the Royal Irish Academy and the President of Publishing Ireland, commented: "In a digital world, keeping the information about your book linked together by ISBN is of paramount importance. Nielsen Book's services enable me to store, change, share and analyse the information that I need to run my business properly. The ISBN powers my website, my bookshop sales, not just in Ireland but all over the world, and helps me make decisions for my future publishing"

The new ISBN store will enable publishers and self-published authors to purchase ISBNs online. The Nielsen ISBN Store has a clean and simple appearance, offering three of Nielsen Book's range of professional business tools for publishers - with simple to use navigation you can choose the number of ISBNs you require, register (first time users) and pay online before receiving your allocation.

www.nielsenisbnstore.com