Never Say Never

You've heard the old adage -- never say never. Well, it's true. Every time I've said "I'll never do ____ with FictionDB", I've had to eat my words. I usually say "Never" when I'm feeling particularly overwhelmed with enhancements that need to be made. Then, when things die down again, I start looking around for new things. Now, most of the enhancements don't require a huge time commitment. It's usually just some programming. When I want data enhancements, then the time factor really kicks in. That's why I say "Never" to those requests that require major changes to the structure of the data.

Then along comes some technological advance that allows me to rethink my original "Never" position. Then I start telling myself, "See it wouldn't take that long." And then it happens. Well, it happened this month and ta da -- FictionDB has the publishing history of the books on the site.

On the bottom of the book detail page, you'll now see the recent (post-ISBN) publishing history for each title. You'll see whether it's been reissued, been reissued in another format, or been reissued in an anthology. Of course, with any undertaking this big, there are going to be glitches. The data is not complete for every book in the database -- that will take time. But in the meantime, let us know what you think of the new data.