Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
It's always been the case that different formats have different ISBNs. A hardback, trade paperback, and MMPB edition of a paper book would all have different ISBNs. A Kindle and ePub format should also have different ISBNs, because they are different items.
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There was quite a discussion a while back on some forums (publisher/agent type) about whether it was NECESSARY. Yes, I know it's always been the case, but when ebooks began to get popular, there was some resentment over bowker demanding a different one for epub versus mobi and so on.
One of the reasons that retailers often Don't require it is because it isn't necessary. One of the only reason Smashwords offers it is because Apple demanded an ISBN.
It's not a huge deal, but it's just one of those pushing paperwork things that yields very little benefit for the reader or author (not talking print here, which was originally used for ordering and cataloging).