Quote:
Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks
The ASIN does change, but that has nothing to do with pricing or taxpayer IDs. Those two things aren't tied together. The publishing company wants to own the ASIN and they also collect the monies and distribute the author her pay. ISBNs are assigned by bowker and those can stay with the book or not, but generally speaking the publishing company wants to own those.
Even smashwords makes a big thing about preferring that authors use the "free" ISBN rather than us paying for one. But there are advantages to owning your own--you can take it with you and use it elsewhere for each type (ePUB has one, then there is one for print, and one for .mobi.)
Any time an author involves another party, prices are going to go up. And *some* of the time the quality improves.  |
Of course, there is nothing to stop the author or publisher from adding multiple editions (as many do).
But if the payee changes, there must be an ASIN change or Amazon (or whichever company it is) can't keep track of (a) where to send the money and (b) what to report to the IRS.
In this particular case - a self-published author let a publisher (even if it is a "self-publishing house") add the book to the store - which means a new ASIN is required (they could all use the same ISBN and I don't think Amazon would care - they only care about the ASIN and that is what controls seeing if you bought it before and getting any updates that are released).
Since the ASIN is unique to Amazon (it just means "amazon inventory number", more or less), owning it isn't an issue (unlike the ISBN, which has to be paid for from a third party that issues them). Amazon gives them out like Candy (anyone can get one - just offer something unique for sale at Amazon).