Hello, newbie here. I recently posted my first round of books. Two of them are a part of the Shopaholic Series by Sophie Kinsella: Shopaholic and Sister and Shopaholic Ties the Knot. I looked at the club wish list and saw that 18 people want one book and 2 want the other. For some reason, though, it isn't alerting me that my books are on hold. I checked and noticed that my books have different ISBN numbers even though they are the same book and both the paperback version. The covers look different but its clearly the same book. I doubt anyone would be that particular to want a specific cover as long as it's also paperback.

So my question is, does it make sense that there are different ISBN numbers? Do different printings get different numbers? Is there any way I can alert the requesters that I have the book or add the other ISBN to my book since it's the same one? Any thoughts? It just seems like if people want the book and I have it then it shouldn't just sit there. But again, I'm brand new here so I may be confused.

Thanks!

Yes, publishers use many different ISBN numbers for their books. Sometimes they change ISBNs because it's a new layout or a new format or because the wind changed direction.

Yes, some members want a specific edition, and some even want a specific cover. However, when  you post a book, the cover picture does not matter. You have to make sure the ISBN, binding type, title, and author match the PBS listing exactly. If someone wants a specific cover, they will have requestor conditions that say something like "If the book I requested from you is by Sophie Kinsella, I only want it if the cover is pink and has cartoon-like drawings."

When you posted these books, the members who are interested in knowing about alternate editions got emails. The default is to have these emails on, but members who don't want them can turn them off in their account settings. These are popular books, so if nobody snaps them up within a day or two, that will probably mean the ISBNs are not linked in the database to the ones people are wishing for, and the system did not send out the "alternate edition" emails to people. In that case, you can post in the Book Bazaar. There's a thread there titled "July wish list books with alternate ISBNs" or something similar.

And welcome to PBS!

Hi Keri,

Different printings very often DO have different ISBNs, yes.  Your book would only be offered to someone with that exact ISBN# on their WL.  They will, however, get a "Similar item" email stating that a book similiar to the one they are wishing for has been posted.  Those aren't "held", but rather "first come, first serve".

There might be a specific edition of a book that people are trying to collect, so they are only interested the ISBN specific to that edition.

Beth

--------------July Wishlist Books with Different ISBN-------  heres the thread in the BB. Its not usually my thread so dont look for my name next month I posted it for Bernie bc she is on vaca. Next months thread will be by her.

OK, perfect. I didn't know they get a "similar book" email. That's fine then. And yes, I realize that people may be interested in very specific editions of a book. I was just figuring that for the Shopaholic series it wasn't as big of a deal as maybe some other types of books. =)

You can't always count on the similar book emails, unfortunately. The title and author have to have been entered exactly the same as the one that's on people's WLs, and that's not always the case.

I see this as a huge design flaw of this website.  I doubt most people care which book edition they get and if the system just sent the notices automatically, the member could decide to accept it or not.  This club would be far better this way and hopefully they will make this needed change at some point.  This current system is really inefficient, in my opinion.  I think the database needs to be updated to include author and title name as triggers. 

Jenny I dont get the design flaw your pointing out. There already are alerts that tell you when a similar book is posted. Its default to send them you have to change it to not get the emails. So it is automatic but the individual can decide they dont want them.