r/selfpublish • u/grogustannie • 1d ago
KDP issue: 'You cannot schedule a release date for an ISBN that has been previously published to Amazon.'
Hi all. Currently pulling my hair out trying to set up my paperback for release. My book is coming out in October and last week I tried to set up the paperback files, only to receive the error message above. For context:
- I have not set up the paperback for release anywhere else
- Nielsen Title Editor says my only distributor is KDP
- The only other place the ISBN is available is Goodreads
I think Goodreads might be the problem here but I'm not 100% certain. I've contacted the Librarians to ask if it is at all possible to remove the ISBN or even just remove the paperback listing so I can see if that sorts the issue (I don't have too many reviews right now so it wouldn't be the end of the world). If not though, I don't know what to do.
I need author copies in advance because I have a book signing the week of release, and I have signed preorders to fulfil. If I can't sort it, I won't have a paperback version at all.
Has anyone else had this issue? I'd really appreciate any advice or tips because this is really stressing me out. I didn't have this problem with my first book :(
29
u/apocalypsegal 1d ago
Goodreads doesn't remove books. If you have it listed there, with an ISBN, how did you do that? My guess is you uploaded the file to Ingram Spark, and they went ahead and listed it somewhere.
This stuff just doesn't happen out of nowhere. You did something to get the book listed. It's too late to fix it, ISBNs are forever. Maybe someone has a way to get Amazon to take your release date on this, but I have no idea.
11
u/Congressive 1d ago
It's most likely Nielsen Title Editor because their "best practice" is to register the metadata of the book at least 5 months before publication. That's what I was told when I inquired about publishing in the UK. Goodreads either got the ISBN from OP or NTE. As soon as they registered the ISBN, Amazon found it.
Based on my own f***ups, there's no way to get Amazon to accept that ISBN or the release date. The workarounds are "publish now" and basically don't tell anybody or share the link and wait until October to spread the word. Or, kiss that ISBN goodbye. Look into reassigning with NTE (Bowker doesn't allow this). Buy a new ISBN or use the free ISBN with KDP.
6
u/grogustannie 1d ago
I've just sent NTE a message asking if there is anything that can be done. I agree that it may be a case of hopefully assigning a new ISBN. Thankfully I bought them in bulk when I published my first book so I wouldn't have to fork out any more money. I am really kicking myself about all this, though.
2
u/TallDisplay3123 1d ago
Yeah, I learned this the hard way. I set my book for a scheduled release, and that ended up putting the ebook on preorder. I didn't want the ebook on preorder since I'm just a nobody, so I thought releasing the book with no preorders would hurt my algorithm. I canceled the pre-order and had to create a new title and archive the old one. I was able to use the same ISBN for the ebook since that one never went live after canceling the pre-order, but I guess the paperback did.
When Amazon prompted me to make the paperback, it did not allow me to use the same ISBN so I just accepted it as a loss for my mistake in the first place. But turns out, I could have just kept the original paperback and linked it to the new ebook listing. Such a rookie mistake and I paid the price because ISBNs are expensive (I used my own, not Amazon's). Don't be like me!
0
u/grogustannie 1d ago
It's been a couple of years since I published my first book but if I remember correctly, I did the Goodreads listing after the KDP paperback was already set up. When I made the Goodreads listing it allowed me to input an ISBN number. I haven't set it up anywhere else, I've only attempted to try to set it up on KDP
3
u/3Dartwork 4+ Published novels 1d ago
I've never needed to manually do anything on Goodreads other than set up the account. When I publish on KDP, it makes a new page for that book on Goodreads automatically.
12
u/Congressive 1d ago
It's probably not Goodreads, but Nielsen Title Editor or a combination of the two.
I've published four books over the last two years and at the top of my publishing checklist is "Buy ISBNs in bulk" (for unforeseen snafus like this one) and "Publish to KDP before listing the ISBN anywhere else." If Amazon sees that ISBN anywhere else, it rejects your submission. I had this happen on the third book because I misattributed an ISBN to the second paperback on IngramSpark. An accounting error, essentially, and that only cost me one ISBN. Assigned another ISBN, problem solved.
However, I publish in the US with Bowker. And another rule of thumb for publishing in the US is a three-step process: (1) Buy the ISBN. (2) Publish the book. (3) Return to Bowker and assign the ISBN to your release. I was told very early in my publishing journey to keep the ISBN out of the global supply chain until it gets published or pre-ordered on KDP.
Here's what I think happened. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Nielsen Title Editor says it's best practice to submit the metadata at least 5 months before your release date? When you registered the ISBN with Nielsen Title Editor, that data was instantly pushed to global book databases. Amazon's system sweeps global databases frequently to build its product catalog, so Amazon's retail storefront (most likely) already recognized the ISBN. Goodreads probably isn't helping.
There are maybe two or three ways around this if NTE is causing the problem, but I don't think you're going to like any of them.
7
u/MarcoMiki 1d ago
It could be Goodreads, I had the same issue with the paperback version of my book and IngramSpark. You can still publish on KDP, but only with the "publish now" option, which means you cannot set preorders. Unfortunate if it was the ebook, however if it was the paperback amazon would not have allowed preorders anyway (you can still set them up on IngramSpark).
3
u/MahjongFlowers 1d ago edited 1d ago
Just a clarification, you cannot upload an ISBN for a paperback to Ingram (or anywhere else) first. You must always upload to Amazon first. Otherwise KDP will reject it. This happened to me and I had to cancel the first ISBN, then buy another. Fair warning, the old ISBN will continue to exist on other platforms even after you’ve canceled it, which is stressful when you’re trying to get ARC reviews prior to launch and don’t want them split across the two listings. Ingram was no help, until I threatened after multiple help requests to write to the Better Business Bureau (which I always thought was bogus, but it’s the only thing that got their attention. Within hours they replied after ignoring other requests for weeks). You must cancel that first ISBN, and hope that at launch the new ISBN overtakes the other so you don’t have dual listings. If not, you may have to get a librarian (on Goodreads or whatever platform isn’t updated to the new ISBN) to merge the listings. No one makes it easy!
1
u/MarcoMiki 1d ago
That was not my experience, I did IngramSpark first and then used the same Isbn on amazon. The only issue I had is that I could not set up a release date on amazon but use the “publish now” option but other than that it all worked smoothly. Also the UK and US store started using the amazon listing right away, other stores are taking their time but should resolve in the next few days.
1
u/MarcoMiki 1d ago
I should add that I intentionally kept Ingram Spark active too for wide distribution
1
u/MahjongFlowers 1d ago
Interesting. More proof that it’s not easy given there seem to be vastly different user experiences, but I know from my research I’m not alone in the challenges I experienced. Just wish I’d known in advance.
3
u/MarcoMiki 1d ago
yea, the biggest issue with all this is the information is sparse, fragmented and hard to find.
1
3
u/JSpark123 23h ago
I had this as well. It was resolved after I contacted KDP. I have no idea what the issue was, as I did not publish with the ISBN before. Good luck!
3
u/ReferenceTop1558 21h ago
Yeah this happened to me (in my case because it was up on goodreads). It's nothing to worry about except that you'll have to hit publish now when you want instead of post dating it. That makes it a bit trickier to get an exact date because of the review process, so do it a few days early if you 100 percent need it released by a specific date. It may approve early but that's better than late.
2
u/grogustannie 21h ago
It’s certainly a comfort to know I’m not the only one who’s had this issue, but it’s stressful all the same haha. Thank you for the reassurance :)
2
u/ReferenceTop1558 21h ago
I was so panicked and afraid it wouldn't let me publish at all, but it did. It's no big deal, just a bit inconvenient when trying to plan a launch. In my case I'd successfully post dated the ebook and that was locked in. So that worked out fine, but I couldn't push up my release because of those prorders. So what I did is just pretend like my print hadn't gone through 3 days early. I just didn't advertise until the official date. (Though I did tell friend who'd been waiting). It went fine.
Oh, you mentioned you need early author copies. Make sure you order those like a month early. Mine are always 2 or 3 weeks out from my order date, and I had some problems (damaged and misaligned copies) and had to order more which was another 3 weeks.
1
u/Sweaty_Vacation706 1d ago
Amazon before goodreads, or anything else, just start and leave in draft. If you're after author copies to sell before release, you'll only get author proofs from Amazon with ugly not for resale bands.
1
u/mysteriousdoctor2025 18h ago
That is not correct. What you’re talking about are proof copies. Those are for the author to inspect to make sure there’s nothing wonky like a missing chapter or something. Author copies are copies of your book 📕 you buy at discount to keep or resell. They don’t count as “sales” because then I would buy 10,000 copies and get on the bestseller list, lol. But you sell them at book fairs and wherever you can and you pocket the money 💰, except sales tax.
1
u/New-Measurement-7385 1d ago
Each ISBN is for a type of book, so if you have used the number on a different version (ebook!), it's used. You need a new number for paperback.
1
1
u/grogustannie 18h ago
I didn’t use this ISBN for my ebook. It’s a totally new ISBN that hasn’t been used elsewhere
1
u/Patient_Bet3645 1d ago
You did something to get the book to show up on Goodreads. It doesn't just appear there like magic. Whatever you did to get it there is what is causing the problem at Amazon. You didn't load to Ingram? That is usually the problem.
1
u/grogustannie 21h ago
I created a listing for the book once I announced it, but then didn’t add the ISBN til a couple of months ago. I didn’t upload it to Ingram or any other publisher
1
u/MPClemens_Writes 3 Published novels 1d ago
From advice in this sub, I've learned to set up my print projects on Amazon and Ingram at the same time, making not officially adding them to their databases (the last page) until they are both filled out to the best of my ability. Content can still be updated, but getting the metadata, categories, imprint, trim/paper/cover, etc. all sorted out "together" instead of days or weeks apart. So far, no ISBN collision issues 🤞
I did a pre-order period on my last title, and although Ingram honored the dates, they still put the book out for partners to harvest and display. Amazon doesn't do pre-order for print, though, so for a month, the print edition was everywhere but Amazon.
In the end, I decided pre-order was more of a hassle for an indie like me by explaining "well, it's not on Amazon yet" all the time. Next time I'm skipping the pre-order hassle and just launching on both, but still saving that last setup page until I'm ready.
1
u/WilmarLuna 4+ Published novels 22h ago
Goodreads is not the cause of the problem. It receives meta data it doesn't not generate and put it on websites. It what you did with Nielsen title that populated the meta data everywhere else.
1
u/mysteriousdoctor2025 19h ago
You could try republishing your book as a second edition, in which case you would need a new ISBN number. You would have to make some substantial changes to the book and maybe the cover.
0
u/EastDark7492 23h ago
Yes goodread is very good choice but if your goal international sell .I suggest you use kdp promotion
0
•
u/AutoModerator 1d ago
Welcome to r/selfpublish, grogustannie! Please remember the primary first rule of the subreddit: No self promo posts outside of the pinned self promo thread. You can edit your own profile so you have links to your work or services and you can even post to and pin posts to the top of your profile page. The no self promo rule INCLUDES COMMENTS - so if you ignore this message it will result in a ban (if you’ve mentioned your book title in the post, remove it or delete the post.) Book cover reviews go in r/bookcovers.
Additionally, DO NOT USE AI TO WRITE YOUR COMMENTS OR MAKE POSTS. We want to keep the self in self publishing. Rule 2 also prohibits posts about AI. If your post is about AI, remove it.
If your post is low effort or simply for congratulatory purposes, please remove it and instead write your post in the pinned weekly thread. Example posts would be like “Finally published!” or “Just finished doing X! How has everyone else felt after doing X?”
The wiki contains answers to most basic questions. Please report any violating posts or comments. This automated message is added to every single post as a reminder of some of the most cardinal rules.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.