I think we can all see how self-interest often drives schools of thought. A dumb number/smart database scheme benefits those who run the databases and charge as its gatekeepers. We have to go, checkbook in hand, to them for a new number every time something in the product changes, such as the formatting for an ebook or a new version with spelling typos fixed. And since we’re usually the ones maintaining their database for them, we also have to enter all the information again with each new tweak, however small. Only at the margins can we get around them. With my books I correct typos by creating a new “printing” with the same ISBN.

The real issue may be practical. With the existing agencies committed, perhaps foolishly, to maintaining the ‘dumb number’ status quo, there doesn’t seem to be anyone in a position to jump start this new scheme. I’d love to see some giant corporate entity like Amazon or Google get behind it, but both seem to be too badly bitten by the urge to dominate to do anything cooperative. They benefit, at least in the short term, from a confused market.

Perhaps the best hope would be a new startup driven by software designers with online database skills. The opportunity is certainly there, if they’re willing to work off small transactional charges and go for volume. They could even work both sides of the field, selling numbers inexpensively to ebook publishers and linking potential customers to ebook sources for a small slice of the revenue. On reason I’ve never gotten seriously into ebooks is that a coherent market has yet to develop. The print books I publish have a clearly marked space in the market. Someone who wants to find them can easily do so. Ebooks seem to disappear into a vast void. They are there, but even I’m not sure where to find them.

The key would be finding someone who is ‘market-driven’ enough to make both publishers and customers happy. The current Old Guard seems more interested in defending the status quo at all costs. Other than cutting prices to prices that are still twice what I paid for ISBNs in 2000, they’re failing to adapt to a changing market.

I’ve described how such a system might work in other Teleread posts. There would be a series of number groups that’d indicate the country of origin, publisher, language, and the particular text. That’s what the publisher would buy from an agency.

There’d be an additional series of numbers that the publishers would assign for themselves to different editions of the ebook. Those would indicate the format, encryption, the text version (allowing easy revisions) and possibly the year of publication.

An ISBN for an ebook tells you almost nothing about it. With the right software, these ebook numbers would tell you everything you’d need to know about an purchase. No more uncertainty about the format or encryption. And no need to buy a new ISBN for each format or each revision in the text.