Goodreads Librarians Group discussion
Policies & Practices
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Publication dates
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Books are often published at different times in different countries - sometimes differing by a couple of years, not just a couple of months. When I have researched a publication date, I always use the first published date I can find, regardless of country of publication.
The publisher has the hardback date as Aug 15http://www.panmacmillan.com/book/char...
Book shops can sell the book before offical date, unless it has a "hard street date"
http://www.mcnallyrobinson.com/978144...
oops, i was thinking something else
Deon - #5 - That's a Canadian outlet. I wonder if they've got the 07 wrong and it should be 08, given that the book is also shown as not yet released.The book's only planned release was for the UK until it was longlisted for the Booker on 23 July, at which point it was not published in any form. The Kindle ed. was rushed out later that day. And interest abroad will have grown because of the listing.
These dates are more difficult to determine when booksellers show different dates but the publisher's website doesn't have one. But at least Pan Macmillan clears it up for Almost English showing 15 Aug AND the book on sale.
ETA Penguin now seem to have caught up on Unexploded by Alison MacLeod.
Elizabeth - these are edition dates as well as first-pub dates.
Mod
WorldCat's pub dates are likely to be more accurate than Amazon's in many cases, at least for older books.
rivka wrote: "Antonomasia wrote: "How do you determine a publication date?"WorldCat's pub dates are likely to be more accurate than Amazon's in many cases, at least for older books."
Yeah, I was answering a generic question regarding first publication dates, not a specific book/edition question. And I'm likely only to be looking at old(er) books. For books more than 100 years old, WorldCat is not especially accurate.
How do you determine a publication date?
If it's an old one, I tend to check on Amazon. Though am realising this may not always be correct now.
In the case of some of the books longlisted for this year's Booker prize, they are still showing as unpublished in paper copies on Amazon but are already widely on sale in UK bookshops. Almost English, for instance, has now been in shops for over a week whilst Amazon still say 15th Aug.
The UK does quite often have books available to buy or to be sent out a few days before the official date that was announced by the publishers, but some of these Booker ones are being pushed forward by months, such as Jhumpa Lahiri's The Lowland (date 26 Sept) which has been spotted in shops today.