[FM Discuss] [IAEP] ISBN Numbers Summary.

[Andy Oram]

In commercial publishing, it's clear what a new edition is. We can go on for years fixing typos or slipping in minor updates without releasing a new edition, just new printings. But when we decide the volume of changes are enough for a new edition, we go through the long, heavy-weight process of making a book:

* A proposal to management

* A new contract (or an addendum)

* A new sales sheet and sales pitches by sales reps

None of this is relevant to FLOSS Manuals. So you're free to call something a new edition when, say, the software goes from version 1.0 to 2.0, but the decision is more arbitrary.

There are two other features of new editions that are irrelevant in a POD situation:

* Reprints change selected pages (as few as you can get away with) whereas a new edition sends a whole new file to the printer for an entire book.

* Bookstores send back the earlier edition when they stock the new one.

Andy