Collections

A collection is a title that holds other titles: an omnibus, an anthology, a boxed set. It is a book you sell, so it has its own ISBNs, prices and editions like any other title. You make one by ticking a box on an ordinary title and then listing the titles it contains.

Making a title a collection

Create the collection the same way you create any book, then open its edit page.

1. On the Title tab, find the Collections section.
2. Tick This title is a collection (omnibus, anthology, boxed set…). A panel opens below it.
3. Pick a Collection type if one fits. It is optional, and every other part of the section works with it blank.

Both the tick box and the type save as you change them.

Give the collection its own ISBN, price and edition details on the Editions tab, the way you would for any other book.

A collection is a catalog record. Nothing else in Pubblish reads it yet: it does not change your ONIX export, your generated website, or an import.

Adding the titles it contains

1. In the open panel, use the Add a title to this collection dropdown. Start typing to search.
2. Click Add. The title joins the end of the numbered list below.

Until you add one, the list says “No titles in this collection yet — pick one above to add it.”

The dropdown leaves out three kinds of title: the ones already in this collection, the collection itself, and any collection this one already sits inside. Adding the last of those would make a loop.

A collection can hold another collection. A boxed set of omnibuses is a real product, so Pubblish allows it.

Ordering and removing included titles

The list is numbered in the order the titles appear in the collection. Use the up and down arrows to move a title. REMOVE takes a title out of the collection, and the title itself stays in your catalog. Nothing here asks you to confirm.

The order belongs to this collection. The same title can sit in a different position in another one.

Adding a title to a collection from its own page

You can also start from the title itself. Open the title that goes inside, and find This title is part of these collections, below the included list.

1. Pick a collection from the Collection 1 dropdown. Only titles with the collection tick box on are offered.
2. To add the title to a second collection, click Add to Another Collection.
3. Click the trash icon to remove a row.

A collection this title is already in is grayed out and marked “already used”. Both ends read the same link, so a title added here appears in that collection’s own list.

Turning the tick box off

A title that is not a collection cannot hold titles, so unticking the box empties the list. Pubblish asks first, in a box headed Remove titles, and it says how many titles will be removed. Click Remove to go ahead. The included titles and the Collection type are both cleared, and every title that was in the collection stays in your catalog.

If the collection holds no titles, unticking the box just closes the panel.

Collections and series

Both group titles, and they answer different questions.

A series is an editorial grouping. It is not a product: it has no ISBN, no price and no physical form, and it can exist before any of its books do. “The Foundation Series” is a series.

A collection is a product that contains other titles. It has its own ISBN, price, formats and editions, and it is sold as one item. A “Foundation Trilogy” omnibus that packages three of those novels is a collection.

A title can be in several series and several collections at once. A collection can itself belong to a series. That is how a run of omnibuses is recorded. Tick the collection box, then add the title to the omnibus series in the Series section on the same tab.

Related Topics

• Series
• Titles & Editions
• Metadata guide