Best Practice for Kindle Editions (ASIN vs ISBN)
TalkLibrarians who LibraryThing
Join LibraryThing to post.
This topic is currently marked as "dormant"—the last message is more than 90 days old. You can revive it by posting a reply.
1cbedgar
I have been cataloging books using a number of different tools and haven't settled on one yet. Now I am learning LibraryThing (LT), and I am hopeful. But I am struggling with Kindle books.
As you know, each edition of a book is supposed to have a unique ISBN: one for hardcover, one for paperback, and often an ISBN for ebook. Sometimes multiple editions share an ISBN. Sometimes a book has no ISBN. Unfortunately, Amazon has to be special. It uses ISBNs for all its print books, but for Kindle Editions, Amazon uses its proprietary ASIN. If the Kindle version has page numbers, Amazon often lists the ISBN of the page number source. The book itself often contains one or several ISBNs on the back of the title page. But the unique identifier of the Kindle edition of the book is the ASIN.
Goodreads follows Amazon's lead, as expected since they are now owned by Amazon. They list Kindle editions separately, without an ISBN, with an ASIN. They list the eBook from other vendors by ISBN.
LibraryThing also seems to list Kindle editions separately from paper books and non-Amazon ebooks. They do not seem to have an ISBN or a ASIN. Searching LT forums (aka Talk) and Help, some people seem to put the ASIN in the ISBN field. There is also a ASIN field in the Common Knowledge section. When searching LT for a Kindle book using ASIN, I have gotten no hits.
What is the best practice for entering and/or cleaning up Kindle books in LT? What do you do?
As you know, each edition of a book is supposed to have a unique ISBN: one for hardcover, one for paperback, and often an ISBN for ebook. Sometimes multiple editions share an ISBN. Sometimes a book has no ISBN. Unfortunately, Amazon has to be special. It uses ISBNs for all its print books, but for Kindle Editions, Amazon uses its proprietary ASIN. If the Kindle version has page numbers, Amazon often lists the ISBN of the page number source. The book itself often contains one or several ISBNs on the back of the title page. But the unique identifier of the Kindle edition of the book is the ASIN.
Goodreads follows Amazon's lead, as expected since they are now owned by Amazon. They list Kindle editions separately, without an ISBN, with an ASIN. They list the eBook from other vendors by ISBN.
LibraryThing also seems to list Kindle editions separately from paper books and non-Amazon ebooks. They do not seem to have an ISBN or a ASIN. Searching LT forums (aka Talk) and Help, some people seem to put the ASIN in the ISBN field. There is also a ASIN field in the Common Knowledge section. When searching LT for a Kindle book using ASIN, I have gotten no hits.
What is the best practice for entering and/or cleaning up Kindle books in LT? What do you do?
2M_Clark
After moving to a Kindle for the majority of my reading, I have started cataloging all of my books using Library Thing. Without it, I would be unable to maintain an overview of what I have read. I have found similar problems with identifying the right edition of the books I have read on Kindle. A few of my own approaches:
1) When I search for my book under Add books, I ask it to search using the Amazon Germany site since that is where I purchased the book
2) For older books, there are often dozens of different editions. I scroll through the ones listed trying to find the one I actually read. If I do not find it quickly enough, I ignore the problem and just pick one of the more prominent editions. I consider it more important to get the title into my library than the actual edition
3) I have used the ISBN number to find the books under Add books. To find it, I go to Book Description in the Kindle Store for the book I read and then do search in Library Thing.
I hope that this was useful.
1) When I search for my book under Add books, I ask it to search using the Amazon Germany site since that is where I purchased the book
2) For older books, there are often dozens of different editions. I scroll through the ones listed trying to find the one I actually read. If I do not find it quickly enough, I ignore the problem and just pick one of the more prominent editions. I consider it more important to get the title into my library than the actual edition
3) I have used the ISBN number to find the books under Add books. To find it, I go to Book Description in the Kindle Store for the book I read and then do search in Library Thing.
I hope that this was useful.
3MarthaJeanne
The main thing is to make sure it is combined into the right work. This may not happen automatically if noone else has combined the paper copies and Kindle copies.
The ASIN will be included in the record if you have used Amazon as your source. Otherwise it probably won't, and you can't add it.
No, neither site search nor Your Books search seems to include ASIN, but you can include it as a column in Your books, and you can sort on it. (See Settings in the header.)
Note: it can be helpful to add Kindle to the Add book search.
The ASIN will be included in the record if you have used Amazon as your source. Otherwise it probably won't, and you can't add it.
No, neither site search nor Your Books search seems to include ASIN, but you can include it as a column in Your books, and you can sort on it. (See Settings in the header.)
Note: it can be helpful to add Kindle to the Add book search.
4cbedgar
Thank you. Good suggestions.
Seems like a couple of feature requests are in order.
1) Include ASIN in the book searches: global and Your Books.
2) Enable manual add/edit of the ASIN field.
With regards the the second request, I need to check if ASIN is associated with the work or the edition in LT. If work, that is an issue, since there can be multiple ASINs referencing different editions of a work.
Seems like a couple of feature requests are in order.
1) Include ASIN in the book searches: global and Your Books.
2) Enable manual add/edit of the ASIN field.
With regards the the second request, I need to check if ASIN is associated with the work or the edition in LT. If work, that is an issue, since there can be multiple ASINs referencing different editions of a work.
5MarthaJeanne
ASIN, like ISBN is edition not work.
6jjwilson61
Is ASIN really not searchable in Your Books using either the Most Fields or All Fields option? I'd be surprised if it isn't.
And in Add Books wiith an Amazon as the source, doesn't ASIN work?
And in Add Books wiith an Amazon as the source, doesn't ASIN work?
7MarthaJeanne
>6 jjwilson61: Sorry, yes, all fields and most fields work.
8cbedgar
Again, thank you for the comments and suggestions.
I did not know about search using "all fields". That is good to know.
Some of the Kindle books I have are old, and have been superseded. The first Kindle book I got was "Reinhart, Carmen M., and Kenneth S. Rogoff. This time is different : eight centuries of financial folly. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009.", ASIN:B002TKFEZK. The book is still available on Amazon, but the new ASIN is B004EYT932. I am not sure what all the differences are, but I do know that the new book has "Thirteenth printing, and first paperback printing, 2011 / Paperback ISBN 978-0-691-15264-6", and my book doesn't. It is based on the hardcopy ISBN 978-0-691-14216-6.
M_Clark has a very good point. DON'T get too hung up on the edition details. The important point is to get the book in the catalog.
Since old Kindle books are no longer listed on Amazon, it is impossible to add them "using Amazon as your source". So after importing from Goodreads, I made all the changes manually. This means the ASIN field must remain blank. I put "Kindle Edition, B002TKFEZK" in the comments, and at the end of the summary.
Since a valid ISBN is required for citations and perhaps other features, I used the ISBN printed on the back of the title page, the hardcopy ISBN. I seriously thought about using the eBook ISBN from the publisher's website. Perhaps this would be best practice, perhaps not.
I tried searching using "Search site" and the query "all:B002TKFEZK" and the query "all:B004EYT932". No results came up at all. I searched my library the same way, and I found the book that I entered. So I am not sure that I can search the full database on all, but I can search my library that way.
So as far as best practice for Kindle books:
1) Enter something: don't get too hung up on edition details.
2) Enter "Kindle Edition, " in the comments field. Perhaps also at the end of the summary field.
3) Enter a valid ISBN in the ISBN field: the eBook ISBN, the ISBN listed on Amazon as the page number source, or one of the ISBNs printed in the book itself on the copyright page.
At least that is my conclusion. Thoughts?
I did not know about search using "all fields". That is good to know.
Some of the Kindle books I have are old, and have been superseded. The first Kindle book I got was "Reinhart, Carmen M., and Kenneth S. Rogoff. This time is different : eight centuries of financial folly. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009.", ASIN:B002TKFEZK. The book is still available on Amazon, but the new ASIN is B004EYT932. I am not sure what all the differences are, but I do know that the new book has "Thirteenth printing, and first paperback printing, 2011 / Paperback ISBN 978-0-691-15264-6", and my book doesn't. It is based on the hardcopy ISBN 978-0-691-14216-6.
M_Clark has a very good point. DON'T get too hung up on the edition details. The important point is to get the book in the catalog.
Since old Kindle books are no longer listed on Amazon, it is impossible to add them "using Amazon as your source". So after importing from Goodreads, I made all the changes manually. This means the ASIN field must remain blank. I put "Kindle Edition, B002TKFEZK" in the comments, and at the end of the summary.
Since a valid ISBN is required for citations and perhaps other features, I used the ISBN printed on the back of the title page, the hardcopy ISBN. I seriously thought about using the eBook ISBN from the publisher's website. Perhaps this would be best practice, perhaps not.
I tried searching using "Search site" and the query "all:B002TKFEZK" and the query "all:B004EYT932". No results came up at all. I searched my library the same way, and I found the book that I entered. So I am not sure that I can search the full database on all, but I can search my library that way.
So as far as best practice for Kindle books:
1) Enter something: don't get too hung up on edition details.
2) Enter "Kindle Edition, " in the comments field. Perhaps also at the end of the summary field.
3) Enter a valid ISBN in the ISBN field: the eBook ISBN, the ISBN listed on Amazon as the page number source, or one of the ISBNs printed in the book itself on the copyright page.
At least that is my conclusion. Thoughts?
9gilroy
If the ebook has an ISBN, you should use that number.
Private library so can't check the all fields option to see if the search works within.
Important terminology note:
Book - you physical (or digital) copy
Edition - Different versions of the same book. (Layer does not exist at LT yet)
Work - Collection of all books of like title and author
Private library so can't check the all fields option to see if the search works within.
Important terminology note:
Book - you physical (or digital) copy
Edition - Different versions of the same book. (Layer does not exist at LT yet)
Work - Collection of all books of like title and author
