[FM Discuss] [IAEP] ISBN Numbers Summary.

[David Farning]

2009/3/27 Anne Gentle <annegentle at justwriteclick.com>:
> Thanks SO much for doing this legwork David. Good stuff.

NP, In my eulogy it is going to say, "He couldn't write-- code or
prose -- but, he was patient enough to wade though bureaucracies"

> One disconnect in the process still exists for me, and maybe someone can
> explain it to me.
>
> How does FM get a book get stocked and sold by Amazon?

It depends on the volume Amazon expects to sell.  For low volume books
they have lulu print on demand.  For higher volume items they stock
books at one or more of their distribution centers.

I have read a couple of complaints from people about Amazon listing
book published by other POD printers as out of stock.  Of course they
are not 'in stock' because they have not been printed yet:(

> Even if FM is publisher, a publisher still needs printed copies and a method
> of sending those to people who order them. In other words, the work flow as
> I know it currently is:
> 1.  FM/SL booksprint to create the content
> 2.  FM publishes the content to a PDF file.
> 3. FM uploads the PDF file to a place that prints books. Currently FM uses
> http://www.lulu.com/ for this step.
> 4.  Lulu (not FM) makes the content more widely available via resellers such
> as Amazon.
> Step 4 is the one that's black magic to me. :)

It looks like black magic because it is!  Seriously, it is about as
transparent as cell phone providers and their roaming agreements.

Cell phone providers, and printers such as Lulu, want to handle your
business end-to-end for the most profit.  But, they both realize that
an isolated network is not as valuable as a connected one.

For a first level of confusion, 'distributor' has a special definition
in the world of books.

'What is a distributor? What is a wholesaler? What is a retailer?
A distributor is a business that has a signed exclusive contract with
a publisher to sell their books. The distributor warehouses the books,
fulfills orders, and issues invoices. A wholesaler buys and sells
books without an exclusive agreement with the publisher. The
wholesaler consolidates orders to retailers. A retailer sells books to
the public. A retailer can be a physical store or it can be online.'
Aaaarg.

A second level of confusions results because in addition of buying a
block of ISBNs a publisher must register a book's the title in 'Books
in Print' Database.  It is via accessing the Books in print database
that other wholesaler and resellers can order and sell the book.

In addition to the 'Books in Print' publishers can register with other
services to raise their profile.  To extend the phone metaphor past
its useful life.... Every phone number is listed in the white pages.
The more you pay the bigger your add in the yellow pages.

david

> Anne
>
> On Fri, Mar 27, 2009 at 4:40 PM, Andy Oram <andyo at oreilly.com> wrote:
>>
>> 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
>> _______________________________________________
>> Discuss mailing list
>> Discuss at lists.flossmanuals.net
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>
>
>
> --
> Anne Gentle
> email: annegentle at justwriteclick.com
> blog: www.justwriteclick.com
>
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