Before reading this page
Have you imported a list of ISBNs into Consonance from your local data agency (Nielsen in the UK; Bowker in the US)? You should do this before you add ISBNs to your works. Read how in this article: Import a list of ISBN13s.
Add a new ISBN to a product
First, go to Work > Metadata.
On the Metadata page, click to edit the Identifiers region, which displays a field for each product that does not already have an ISBN assigned.
- Click on the ISBN field for the product you want to allocate an ISBN13
- Choose an ISBN from the list assigned to your imprint:
If there’s nothing in the drop down list, it’s because you haven’t imported your unused ISBN13s that Nielsen or Bowker sold to you. Read how to do that in this article: [Import a list of ISBN13s](/docs/ import-a-list-of-isbn13s)
Change the ISBN13 of a product
Once an ISBN has been entered into Consonance, you are now unable to edit it without assistance.
If you have made an error, and your ISBN has not fed out into the supply chain - e.g. if you catch the error immediately - please raise a support ticket marked ‘urgent’. We will change it for you behind the scenes.
What do I do if my ISBN has fed out into the supply chain?
If your ISBN has been communicated externally, the official advice is not to change it. Your ISBN has fed out if it’s been communicated via an ONIX feed or manually through an email, spreadsheet update or AI.
- Cancel the product in question. Head to the Metadata page for your work, go to Publishing > Dates, and set the Publishing status to ‘Cancelled’. This will communicate the change via ONIX to your third parties. Update any other third parties manually if need be.
- Next, create a new product and allocate a new ISBN. The easiest way to do this is by duplicating the original product, and then amending the details. Read how to duplicate a product to create a new one, belonging to the same work.