Nielsen Book, operator of the UK ISBN Agency and provider of product information, transaction and sales measurement services for the English language book industry worldwide, has announced its listings policy for e-books. This is in response to the International ISBN Agency recently issuing a policy statement on the use of ISBNs for e-books. The International ISBN Agency had restated the requirement in the ISBN standard that each different format of an electronic publication requires a separate ISBN. It had also newly legitimised the application in some circumstances of ISBNs to e-book products by resellers and distributors to ensure the continuity of trade systems across the supply chain.
According to the new Nielsen policy, e-books will only be listed on the Nielsen Book database and in Nielsen Book products and services if they are identified in accordance with the ISBN standard. All digital products including e-books should be listed with all appropriate aggregators. ISBNs that refer to a generic “master” record providing information not on a tradable product in a specified format, but rather on a package of content tradable in a number of different formats, will not be eligible for inclusion on the Nielsen Book database.
Nielsen Book is adopting this policy to support what it firmly believes to be supply chain best practice.
According to the company, hardwiring bibliographic and identification practice to the limited requirements of current initiatives and experiments runs the risk of storing up inhibitors to future flexibility and adds potential costs of system re-engineering down the line. On these grounds, it recommends that publishers adopt the most flexible policy now on product identification.
Nielsen Book has strongly recommended that publishers globally adopt the International ISBN Agency recommendations.
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