I got this comment/question from a post I made about ISBNs:

The only thing I don’t understand is what happens when if the book is picked up by a print publisher? Does it then move out of Booklocker’s ISBN and into that of new publisher?

My situation is a bit different: I wasn’t even thinking about using a POD who claims to sell a single ISBN #–I already own an ISBN since the 80s when I self-published four books the old-fashioned way under Freelance Publications. So my concern was whether to use one of the leftovers or not. I can see now that wouldn’t work since ISBN indicates book source, and I certainly don’t want to get into filling that role again!!! Your long explanation of the role of the ISBN is very illuminating.

If a book we publish gets picked up by an traditional publisher, then our ISBN gets retired - essentially set to “out of print” - and a new ISBN gets assigned by the traditional publisher.

This is the case, though, no matter who owns the initial ISBN. So in other words even if the ISBN belongs to the author, it will still get replaced by one from the traditional publisher.

The only caveat to watch out for is that the old ISBN, and thus the old book information, is forever in the Bowker system. So when the traditional publisher releases the new version of the book, they should make it clear to customers the book is a new edition. They can easily do this by changing the cover graphic and calling out the edition in the book description.

The reason the old ISBN information is still kept in the system is so companies like Amazon.com can sell used versions of the book, if they exist.

This sometimes confuses authors who terminate their relationship with POD companies like us. They will take the book off the market, then later see it is still listed on Amazon.com. But even though the book is still listed there, it doesn’t mean Amazon.com can actually get a new copy to sell. If you try ordering the book, Amazon.com will take your order, then email you later and say they can’t get the book anymore.