What defines a "title"?

[Ecnassianer]

This license mentions a "title" with multiple issues. What defines a title?

My company is looking to publish a series of web comics in megazine books. The stories in each book are not connected, but they are all being published in the same storyworld. Are these different issues of the same title? Or is each it's own title?

[Hans Nücke]

Good question ;-)
The idea is as follows:

A title is represented by one megazine.mz3 file. A single book is a title, a catalogue, newspaper, magazine, photobook, ... every single publication is a title.

A book is something that is a uniques, stable, unchangable title and mostly not only will be viewed online but also distributed as eBook on CD/DVD/stick or provided for download.

An "issue" is a title also, but just one title of a sequence of titles, all published under the same name with different issue-numbers and mostly with a date.
We call these priodicals, i.e. something that usually has a limited life time (peak period of interst).
If you think about daily newspapers: every day one new newspaper is issued. Every newspaper is a title (represented by one megazine.mz3 file).
But all have the same name and differ just in issue number (and content ;-)

Example: Daily Mirror, Times magazine, ...

In your case, if you intend to publish regularly new titles of the same kind of "book" (even if it is not once per week, but some per year; like Spiroux, or Asterix), I would agree those are "periodicals" and can be published under a MZ3-TIME license.
But the MZ3-TIME does not allow downloads or distributions on media (what is the key "feature" of a MZ3-FIX or MZ3-PUBL license).

Does that make sense and help?

[Ecnassianer]

Well, with that definition, it sounds like these would also be publishable under an MZ3-Fix license as well, since we'll only have the one "book" which is published periodically.

[Hans Nücke]

The MZ3-FIX license states that no more than 25% changes of content are allowed between different issues.
So one MZ3-FIX does not cover periodicals nor more than one book.

[Hans Nücke]

Since June 1st we have a new price list and license agreement:
Much more simple and easier to read and understand... I hope!

There now the use of "title" and "book" should be more consistent:

"book" is used for every kind of megazine.mz3 "paper" that is not periodic: be it an eBook, eZine, eJournal, catalogue, single newsletter, calendar, photo book, brochure, mutli media "thing"

"title" only is used together with the MZ3-TIME license, i.e. for periodicals. There a "title" is the overall class/name for the paper published. Which can/will have several "issues".

As an example: the periodic megazine of Red Bull has I think monthly issues, that are published under the name ("title") Red Bull; and usually are numbered by month.
Whereas most of the examples in our blog are single "books"

A book also can have an "issue", i.e. a new edition of that same book. And as long as the changes are "reasonable/normal" and usually seen as an update or new edition, that would be seen as being the same book. After the new edition is made public, the distribution of the old version/edition must stop. As with real paper books...