Today I bought the new Mary Balogh book, FIRST COMES MARRIAGE, at Walmart.

When I tried to put it on my TBR list, the system told me that the ISBN was not in the data base.  So I checked the ISBN of the book that 171 members have on their wishlist, and it is a completely different ISBN from the book I bought today. 

Inside my copy of the book on the publishers page, I again checked the ISBN and it is the same ISBN that is printed on the back cover where the UPC bar code is located so there wasn't a mistake there.

The ISBN of the new book I bought today is:  978-0-440-24585-8. 

The ISBN of the book that everyone has wishlisted (paperback version) is 978-0-440-24422-6.

What should I do?  This wished-for book is not in the PBS database with the ISBN that was assigned this book.

I had the same thing happen on the newest Christine Feehan book that I picked up at a library sale. When I looked closer, I saw that it was a Walmart edition with it's own ISBN. I had to list it as a book without an ISBN, but it was still requested quickly.

Yes, I've had that before with some Walmart special editions of classics, like JANE EYRE.

But this is not a special Walmart edition.  It is the same book, I'm sure, that is being sold at B & N and at Amazon.  Which reminds me that I should go to Amazon and check the ISBN of the book being sold there.

Edited to add:

Amazon lists the ISBN that everyone is wishlisting, not the ISBN that is on my Walmart-purchased book.

I buy nearly all of my newly-published mass market paperbacks (and some hardbacks) at Walmart, but I've never run into this ISBN discrepancy before.  That means that everyone else's book that is bought at Walmart will have this same ISBN.

So I still have the dilemma of PBS saying "this is a valid ISBN but is not in our data base."

Why don't you post the other isbn and then pm the requestor and tell them the issue. I am sure they won't care at all. If it is the same book it shouldn't matter, In my opinion.

Hmm...  Can you maybe inbox somebody with the little BD or BDC icons next to their names & see if they can get it sorted out?  They post all over the questions for PBS forum.  Maybe title a thread with something like that & post it there?

Actually, it's may not be exactly the same book. I'm on Mary Balogh's mailing list and she told us that the Walmart edition has some extra scenes (in the back) that they asked her to write just for that edition. After six months, she will be allowed to post them on her website for everyone to read.

My book was Murder Game by Christine Feehan and it wasn't marked as a special edition either. It was identical in every way to the regular Amazon/Barnes and Noble book except for the ISBN and a reference to Walmart on the copyright page, which I wouldn't have noticed had the ISBN not matched. I've never seen it before either, on a new release. I also checked the ISBN of my book on Walmart's site and they had the same ISBN listed as Amazon had, but my book had a completely different one. I thought it very strange at the time.

And what you can do in this case, is post the book with a made-up ISBN and put in your signature and the Book Bazaar that you posted it, so people will be able to find it. Though honestly, I hate when people do that because it clutters up the site.  But if you want to, there's an option to do that.

Edited to add - oh, I see you just wanted to mark it TBR, not post it.  Sorry, not sure what you can do about that.

I see that the "other" ISBN of FIRST COMES MARRIAGE, the one that Walmart just put on their shelves, is now in the PBS database.  And right now there are only 2 wishers for it.  So there might be some of you interested in adding that ISBN to your wishlist also.

Willa says she thinks the Walmart-sold book has some extra scenes added to it.  The cover of the Walmart book is identical to the book with the heavily wishlisted ISBN.

Jan

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If all you want to do is mark it TBR, why not just use the ISBN that's in the system. Presumably you're not going to get another copy with the right ISBN and be confused as to which is which. Then if you post it, you can just PM the person and let them know it's the Walmart edition, like others said earlier.

Willa says she thinks the Walmart-sold book has some extra scenes added to it.

Straight from the horse's mouth. :-)  Does your copy have the extra material?

Mary Balogh says she it is nothing important and she will add it to her website in August.

Willa, on the top left of the cover is a small blue circle that says "Read of the month" with the words next to the circle:  "Includes Bonus Material."

Well, that was irrelevant to me so I paid no attention to it when I bought the book.  I was just so glad to see this new book on the shelf, and with my 104th position in the wishlist line, I didn't want to wait.  Of course, I'm not sorry I bought it.  The different ISBN was puzzling though.

In the back of the book, there is a ten-page author's note in which Balogh is filling in some "missing moments" that occurred over the days, weeks, months, of the story's timeline.  She talks of the impossibility of a writer being able to include every moment of the plot's time period, and these notes give her the chance to selectively add some "missing moments" that will, perhaps, enhance the story. 

I'll be starting on reading it soon.

Jan