New Vonnegut book in a year?

Publishers buy ISBN numbers and assign them to their books...sometimes
they recycle numbers, so different books will have the same number.
They OUGHT to change ISBNs when new editions come out, too, but not all
publishers do. Smaller publishers are more likely to reuse ISBNs and/or
randomly assign numbers they don't actually own, causing all kinds of
headaches for bookstores and libraries.

So the publisher could very well cancel the book and assign the ISBN to
something else later.

Currently, ISBNs are supposed to follow a pattern where the first digit
indicates country/continent of publication, the next digits represent
the publisher, and the final digits represent the work itself, with a
check digit at the end. In the next year and half or so, ISBNs will
expand to include one of two 3 digit prefixes (978 & 976, I think), FWIW.

DaveL wrote:

 > M Andre Z Eckenrode cast forth electrons:
 >
 >
  >>Holy Moly! According to Amazon.com, there's a new book by Vonnegut
  >>currently scheduled for release in January 2005. They don't give a
  >>title for it yet (unless its title is _Untitled_), but they do
  >>give an ISBN and list the publisher as Putnam. Could he be nearing
  >>completion of the novel in progress? Or is this what Stephen C.
  >>was referring to in his recent message when he stated "he'll have
  >>a bio out soon"? (I assumed at the time that it was a second
  >>reference to Whyaduck's hopefully forthcoming documentary.) Check
  >>it out:
  >>
  >>http://tinyurl.com/32fpj
 >
 >
 > Ever hopeful, I added it to my Amazon.com Wish List. Two bits says
 > you actually pre-ordered it, right? |-)
 >
 > Please don't think me a Gloomy Gus for noting that Amazon is
 > littered with books which never actually came out. No, I didn't
 > record examples to offer up if anyone hollered "Cite, please!"
 >
 > I did a search on the Penguin/Putnam domain and came up with nothing
 > on this book. Curious. ISBN.nu lists it <http://snipurl.com/3kve>,
 > and a few stores besides Amazon make note of it, but I have no idea
 > whether having an ISBN number in advance is meaningful or if these
 > things are as freely offered up as Halloween candy. Perhaps someone
 > here knows and can shed some light on the subject.
 ><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: New Vonnegut book in a year? 

 > Two bits says you actually pre-ordered it, right? |-)

Actually, not. I used my usual channels and already have a review copy
sitting here on the table next to me. Anybody who wants to see it, get out
your checkbooks. I'm offering high-resolution scans of individual pages from
it for twenty-five cents a piece. (The book is 312 pages long, BTW.)

-Andre<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: New Vonnegut book in a year? 

Mike Monaco cast forth electrons:

 > DaveL wrote:
  >> I have no idea whether having an ISBN number in advance is
  >> meaningful or if these things are as freely offered up as
  >> Halloween candy. Perhaps someone here knows and can shed some
  >> light on the subject.
 >
 > Publishers buy ISBN numbers and assign them to their
 > books...sometimes they recycle numbers, so different books will
 > have the same number. They OUGHT to change ISBNs when new editions
 > come out, too, but not all publishers do. Smaller publishers are
 > more likely to reuse ISBNs and/or randomly assign numbers they
 > don't actually own, causing all kinds of headaches for bookstores
 > and libraries.
 >
 > So the publisher could very well cancel the book and assign the
 > ISBN to something else later.
 >
 > Currently, ISBNs are supposed to follow a pattern where the first
 > digit indicates country/continent of publication, the next digits
 > represent the publisher, and the final digits represent the work
 > itself, with a check digit at the end. In the next year and half
 > or so, ISBNs will expand to include one of two 3 digit prefixes
 > (978 & 976, I think), FWIW.

Thanks a bunch, Mike. There have been more than a few times I've
wondered just howinell this worked, and now finally I know. And I'm
going to copy&paste this into my electronic notebook in case, in the
future, the details escape me!

Appreciate it.

--
obscura.TakeThisOut@null.net ¤ "New knowledge is the most valuable commodity on
Earth. The more truth we have to work with, the richer we become."
-- Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Breakfast of Champions<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: New Vonnegut book in a year? 

Suddenly, there was M Andre Z Eckenrode, alone with his own brain:

 > DaveL wrote:
  >> Two bits says you actually pre-ordered it, right? |-)
 >
 > Actually, not. I used my usual channels and already have a review
 > copy sitting here on the table next to me. Anybody who wants to
 > see it, get out your checkbooks. I'm offering high-resolution
 > scans of individual pages from it for twenty-five cents a piece.
 > (The book is 312 pages long, BTW.)

To quote Scraps de Selby: "A smiley is not a bullshit license"... I
feel a gentle tugging upon the collective pantsleg when it comes to
the jest about scans at two-bits apiece, but I'm also wondering if
the review-copy bit is also in jest. I mean, the book is "currently
scheduled for release in January 2005". Do review copies really go
out *that* early? It's true that I'm a card-carrying skeptic.

Okay, you rascal, come clean now. Don't make me come over there...

--
obscura.TakeThisOut@null.net ¤ "Life happens too fast for you ever to think
about it. If you could just persuade people of this, but they insist
on amassing information." -- KV<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: New Vonnegut book in a year? 

 > I'm also wondering if the review-copy bit is also in jest.

Wow. I really need to start giving myself more credit. It didn't even occur
to me that anyone might believe me. No, I do not have a review copy, and I
doubt if one exists already, but do not know when they typically come out.
(I would guess maybe two or three months at the most before scheduled
release?) And I really don't have much of anything in the way of "usual
channels". A satellite dish would probably help, but right now I don't even
have cable. At the most, I might be able to get some information, and will
surely share it if and when I do. The one person who I write to in order to
get questions like this answered has not answered my email so far. I suppose
any one of us could write to Wyaduck, who almost certainly either already
knows or could quickly find out, but it won't be me at this time.

 > Okay, you rascal, come clean now. Don't make me come over there...

Just for the record, Dave, you're more than welcome to come over here any
time you like, as long as you tell me ahead of time. I don't have a review
copy to show you, but there's lots of other goodies, and plenty of cats as
well.

-Andre<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: New Vonnegut book in a year?