Goodreads Librarians Group discussion
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ASIN for non-Amazon items
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I would also like an answer to this.If I don't see an ASIN specifically listed on the product details on a book's Amazon page, I don't add it. And if the book data is coming from a non-Amazon source, I definitely don't add it.
I don't like the phrasing from the manual that says "in many cases..." It gives me too much doubt/anxiety that I'll add an ASIN incorrectly, and then GR support are the only ones that can fix it. I'd rather the ASIN not be there than be wrong. I figure the Amazon bot can come along and add it if it wants to.
Bumping and moving the thread to the Questions folder for visibility.
I find it confusing too. So far my approach has been 'if it has an ISBN10 it also goes in the ASIN-slot'.The 'physical books' part I find very confusing. Would that mean an ebook should have the ASIN in that slot, but that same ASIN should be also on a separate edition as the Kindle edition?
And at least for certain types of books it seems each Amazon website has a different ASIN for the same item, so how can you then match the ISBN and ASIN?
From the announcement thread: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...Goodreads has updated the Librarian Manual regarding adding an ASIN to physical books. In the past, the ASIN field in the Goodreads database was only set for Kindle and Audible editions. Going forward, ASINs will also be assigned to physical books that appear in the database. Where possible, Goodreads will populate the ASIN for existing books in the database. (Goodreads Librarians may add the matching ASIN from Amazon if they wish, or may leave doing so up to Goodreads.)
The Help page (https://help.goodreads.com/s/article/...) has no mention at all of non-Amazon ebooks and audiobooks.
And that is also obvious from the countless requests I've already made to remove ebook isbn's from Kindle edition.
So unless it's a physical book with an 979- isbn13, I don't add an ASIN.
Renske wrote: "And at least for certain types of books it seems each Amazon website has a different ASIN for the same item, so how can you then match the ISBN and ASIN?"That's probably the reason for the enormous amount of 'helpful' librarian notes about re-used isbn's.
"On Goodreads, ASINs are assigned to all books that appear in the database.... For physical books, in many cases the ASIN and the ISBN10 will be the same."
(from https://help.goodreads.com/s/article/...)
In contrast, it is also mentioned that "To add an ASIN if not present, click on the blank ASIN field and enter the exact ASIN if known from the matching book on Amazon.". My interpretation of this part is: if there is/was no matching book on Amazon ever, then no ASIN exists (and the field should be left blank).
Now, if my interpretation is incorrect, I have a some doubts on how this policy should be implemented:
1- "ISBN-10=ASIN" appears to refers to physical editions only, but even in those cases the ASIN does not always equates with the ISBN-10 (e.g. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...).
2- Regarding this part: "On Goodreads, ASINs are assigned to all books that appear in the database". Amazon does not sell digital download audiobooks with an ISBN (as far as I know), but at least for this format it would be relatively easy to "produce" a non-existent ASIN (by copying the ISBN-10 to the ASIN field, as the user suggested). But that would be impossible to implement for other formats such as Nook editions, or even pre-ISBN books and books published without ISBN that are not listed on Amazon at all.
(There is also the issue of the bot marking some old Kindle editions whose ASINs are no longer available on Amazon, as invalid or deleted, and that the same would potentially happen to non-existent ASINs... but even if it raises some concerns, I guess it is unrelated to the policy).
Apologies for the messy wall of text and thanks in advance for all your help.