publisher account -- using a catalog file

Hi, I run a small indie press that publishes only ebooks 2x a year. (about 5 years old). My company printed 1 or 2 print books in the past, but have no plans to continue doing so.

I've been a LT member since 2006, and I've been publishing member giveaways for about 4 years.

I want to switch/add a publishing account. I understand that it requires approval. But I can't understand how to upload the catalog file.

It asks you to "upload catalog titles" . I am reasonably technically proficient, but I don't know how to produce an ONIX file and my ebook titles typically don't have ISBNs. There's an option called "Librarything Simple Format" but I have no idea what that is. Because my catalog is so small, I could probably create and manage this catalog file manually, but is it necessary to have a catalog file to be linked to books/ebooks on the site?

I see that there are ONIX creation tools, but they are expensive and more geared towards larger catalogs.

I see that some of my company's titles have book pages already -- maybe they were created by me or by reviewers. http://www.librarything.com/work/19882876

The Publisher help page doesn't really clarify this. http://www.librarything.com/forpublishers/publisherpages_signup.php

Do you need to have a catalog file to get approved as a publisher? If you don't have a catalog file, can you still be linked to titles on LT? Thanks for your help.

Robert Nagle

I'm going to suggest you scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on Contact. That will let you address your questions directly to TPTB.

May you have success in your endeavors.