Help:How to connect serials to titles

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If you are entering a magazine with a serialized novel, the ISFDB can usually identify the serialization and connect it to the author and title. For it to make the connection, you must enter the serialization in the standard format (e.g. "The Courts of Chaos (Part 1 of 3)". However, it still can't connect the serialization to the title if the combination of author's name and title don't appear in the ISFDB for that novel.

For example, the novel "The Space Merchants" was originally serialized under the title "Gravy Planet". The serialization is entered as "Gravy Planet (Part 1 of 3)" and so on; but this will not connect the serial pieces to the published novel, because the title is different. If there had ever been a book publication of "The Space Merchants" as "Gravy Planet", then the ISFDB would have made the connection because there would be a title recorded that matched the serial.

Since there was not, a variant title record should be created. To do this, use the add publication screen, and create the title record as if the book had been published under the serial title. This causes the variant title to appear in bibliography displays -- in the example, "Gravy Planet" will now show up as a variant title of "The Space Merchants". Note that the serialization does not appear directly under the variant title; clicking on "Gravy Planet" will show the serializations.