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Subscribed a few weeks ago and EYB has already proven itself worth the subs. However there is one major problem that irks me.

I have a dozen or more ebooks that I purchased via Apple's Books/iBooks app (on my iPhone and Macs) but none of the corresponding ISBNs are recognised here. Tried using My Bookself > Import Books and searching for the ISBNs speciifically using the Library option but neither routes gives me what I want. Hard copies of all the books are listed and in some instances I have added those to My Bookshelf instead. There may have been one or two listings that included ebook editions and those were used to get them onto my shelf.

Maybe I could add these ebooks myself but that does not solve the underlying problem that Amazon has no details of these items. And no I do not want to add Kindle Reader to my devices; I don't like it and anyway why add a duplicate app that causes me to have to look in two places not one.

Hi ThePatheticBaker - welcome to EYB! I'm happy to hear you are finding the site helpful. Now onto your issue. We haven't added every eBook edition to the EYB Library. We have built the Library over the 13 years the site has been in operation by adding new books as they are published and members adding older books they own that aren't listed, by using Import Books (which imports the book data from Amazon) or the new feature, Member Added Books (where the member adds the book data). So eBook data is being added as members request it.

However, one of the requirements for importing book data data from Amazon is that the book has a food or drink tag on their site. We had to add that requirement as we had some members importing their entire book collection when they joined, many of them books we would not want listed in the EYB Library, where our focus is on books on food and drink. So if Amazon neglected to add tags to a book then the data does not import. You can vierw those books by clicking Member Added Books under My Bookshelf then OnAmazon in the filter. I have added those books that you requested to the Library - you can see them on your Bookshelf by selecting the sort "Date added to Library".

There are also books that are not listed on Amazon at all so cannot import when you add the ISBN in Import Books. Those are listed under Member Added Books with the filter NotOnAmazon. Those you need to add to the Library yourself, using Add Member Books under My Bookshelf. You can read more about how to do that here in Help.

Maybe one day when the site as more resources we will be able to download book data from more places than Amazon. Though I am interested why it is important for you to have the eBook rather than the print edition on your Bookshelf. That will not help you when searching for recipes. A better option is to create a Bookmark "eBook" and add that every time you add an eBook to your Bookshelf. Now when searching for recipes you can apply that Bookmark filter to only see recipes in your digital collection.  That can be very helpful when you are away from your print cookbooks and just want to see recipes in digital form.

Originally Posted by: Jane

… Though I am interested why it is important for you to have the eBook rather than the print edition on your Bookshelf. That will not help you when searching for recipes. …

That is a good observation.

There are at least three reasons for my preference of ebook editions over printed. Firstly when the book is no longer in print but an ebook edition exists. One such resource for me is John Kirkland's The Modern Baker, confectioner, and caterer. which was published in 1907. The status of a recently produced printed edition is somewhat dubious with get out clauses like "in the public domain in the US". The copy used originates from a scan originally made by University of Leeds and which archive.org makes available as a PDF (therefore retaining the page numbers for recipes). And the original printed edition never had an ISBN in the first place.

Second the ebook is considerably cheaper. For example I have an ebook of Jessie Shenhan's The Vintage Baker from Apple Books. I used Amazon's "Look Inside" feature and decided that the content was not worth the price being asked. However, it still might prove to be useful in future and Apple Books had it on sale for £1.99 whereas the Amazon price is £14. Yes I'm a cheapskate.

Thirdly there are ebooks in my collection that have no printed editions at all. Two books by Rachel Khoo, for example, only exist as PDFs — which retains pagination — and are sold directly by her for charitable purposes. These do have ISBNs.

Fourthly ebooks alliviate my dyslexia. I can change font sizes and page/font colours which not something that a printed book affords. When I do that the page numbers are irrelevant as the copy is re-flowed by the Books app.

Fifthly for those "no recipes but food books" where pages numbers are irrelevant.

Sixthly ebooks require less space on my physical bookshelves. Already have a pile almost 1.5 metres tall of recipe books that can't be put on shelves. If I did not have the ebooks that pile would be 2 metres and therefore almost as tall as me.

Seventhly whether the recipe is in printed or ebook copy I still have to turn pages to reach the recipe text.

And now I've greatly exceed my Amosian "for three … even for four" reasons.

Sorry, I wasn't clear. I wasn't questioning why you buy eBooks but why you need the eBook edition on your EYB Bookshelf. There is no advantage to you in having the eBook listed, except if you care a lot that your ISBN numbers on your Bookshelf are an exact match to your actual books. Obviously where a book is only available as an eBook then that would be the edition you want listed.

Originally Posted by: Jane

… why you need the eBook edition on your EYB Bookshelf. There is no advantage to you in having the eBook listed…

The record that it is an ebook is a shelfmark.

Doesn't the Bookmark also achieve that marking?

Originally Posted by: Jane

Doesn't the Bookmark also achieve that marking?

But only after deliberately setting a bookmark up. Whereas ISBN for an ebook is set when the book is added to user bookshelves. And Bookmarks are not searchable via the eBooks only show setting. Indeed one has to do two separate searches; one for Only Show and change one's gaze to lower down and do one for Bookmark.

But you cannot search your recipes by the eBooks filter, only books. So if you want to just find recipes you have in your digital collection, you must add an eBooks Bookmark.

Originally Posted by: Jane

But you cannot search your recipes by the eBooks filter, only books. So if you want to just find recipes you have in your digital collection, you must add an eBooks Bookmark.

Not quite true. If the book is linked to a printed edition then the recipes within the ebook can be searched, of course the page numbers won't be correct however then there are printed books in the database that have been indexed but no page numbers are displayed. One such being the first of the Great British Bake Off books https://www.eatyourbooks...he-great-british-book-of which I discovered today (St Lucia's Day) when looking for Swedish Saffron Buns traditionally served on her saint's day.

This thread has morphed far away from my original comment that ebooks with ISBNs purchased via Apple Books cannot be added (because Amazon doesn't like that anyone would not use Kindles). Nothing more for me to say on this topic.

chefsf - I see you have just joined EYB so I'm wondering if you are thinking you get access to the full recipes on EYB (a common misunderstanding though we mention in numerous places around the site that we don't provide full recipes). EYB will help you find the recipe you want in your collection but you then need to go to the source for the full recipe - either a print cookbook or open your eBook. It isn't feasible to open eBooks on different platforms from your EYB search - maybe if Amazon or Apple bought EYB that could happen!

In terms of adding all your Apple eBooks to your Bookshelf at once, you can do that if you have the ISBN numbers listed somewhere. You would then import the ISBN numbers using Import Books, though this feature is only available to Premium members. I don't know if Apple lists the ISBNs in your purchase history - if they do, that would speed up your import. Although ThePatheticBaker says above that "ISBNs purchased via Apple Books cannot be added (because Amazon doesn't like that anyone would not use Kindles)." that is not actually the case. All eBooks have the same ISBN numbers and although Amazon doesn't have the ISBN displayed on their site, that data is there so we can import the book data when you import an eBook ISBN. 18,000 eBooks have already been added to the Library that way.