ISBN Follow-up and Publishing Weekend

Today I finally received my international book numbers! At first I didn't see them in this booklet they sent me, but luckily I found them before I set about actually reading the whole thing. From what I've read in it, there is a lot of information I already learned in English and I expect there is far more information I just don't really need. I've had to read longer, drier manuals than this for my work, but I still don't relish the thought of wading through a hundred pages of bureaucratic Japanese.

Really dodged a bullet on this one. This looks unbearably boring.

Anyway, I thought before I get to finalizing my first book's publication, I'd do an update on the rest of the application process that came after I filled out the internet form. Actually, let me back up just a little bit. To even get the form I had to apply to apply, as strange as that sounds. They sent a URL to my email address and I had 96 hours to complete that and send it in. After I sent their form back (the one I wrote about last time) I received an email with that information in a PDF. That had to be printed, signed and a copy of the receipt for the bank transfer they requested needed to be glued to it. Then I mailed it to their office in Tokyo.

A few days later I got a phone call while I was at work. When I called them back, they said they had called the house, but that no one was home. They needed to ask something that they wouldn't ask me unless I was on my home phone and so I asked them to call the next day. Then I had my wife call them since she had plans. Again, they just need to ask a few questions and they scheduled something for the next day. Well, the next day finally comes and they forgot to call. When Haruna called them, it turned out they just wanted to verify our home phone number. Bureaucracy at its finest.

That turned out to be the last actual hurdle. I was finally waiting on them to process my request. They said it would take up to three weeks, but it only took about two. Maybe a little less than that. I don't know if I might come across some other snags this weekend, but if not then I'll post again when I have the book up for sale. My hope is to have both the English and Japanese versions out this weekend. This has been a neat first adventure and I'm glad to have been able to share it with you. I'll be looking forward to the others that will follow.