THE Group for Authors! discussion

I have about seven new titles ready to load up in Goodreads. Problem is whenever I do Goodreads takes the Author name and assigns my works to other writers with the same name and I have to get them back. Now we can't all be called unique names but we do have unique Goodreads IDs. So when we load up our own books why can't we have librarian rights over them? It seems to me that we know more about these works than librarians ever will and we should be able to fill in the details about them that librarians can. If Goodreads really does respect authors it would at least give us this level of privilege over our own works.

Authors have limited librarian rights over their own books. The books have to be added correctly to the correct author profile for that to happen in the first place.

You are Peter^^^^^King (where = space) to separate you from authors with the same name.

If you add the books with 5 spaces betwee your names you will have limited rights.

Edit: limited rights are due to previous abuse of GR by other authors

Thanks Paula, nobody ever told me that before. Not even on the help desk. But that doesn't explain why we can't edit things like the settings or characters etc.

Because SP writers will try to game the system...

I am a both. Librarian and an author.

@Nick. By entering the settings and characters in our own books we will game the system? Please excuse my naivete but how will this "game the system". And why will SP authors game the system any more than other publishers?

Peter,

It's not about entering the information that is gaming the system, but what may happen afterwards. SP writers have a vested interest in how readers find their books, and what they see, or don't see.

In the past, writers have tried to game the system on rankings, placement, and reviews by various methods, such as sock puppet reviews, and attacking other writers with low ratings. Giving writers the librarian privilege over their own books could set up even more problems, especially with readers who are not writers.

There is already a mistrust between readers and rankings and reviews, do we really want to open another can of worms?

I am not saying all SP writers have done these things in the past, as the majority care about their name, their work. When when those who have pulled such stunts are caught by the readers, it gives the whole SP crowd a black eye.

Besides, as you have found out, user error is generally the problem and a designated librarian can fix once they are made aware of the issue. The system works as is...

Peter wrote: "But that doesn't explain why we can't edit things like the settings or characters etc."

That's really a technical issue, rather than anything preventative. Because setting and characters are features that were added to the system long after its initial set up, they do not "belong" to an individual book or author the same way the actual book record does. Authors not being able to edit them unless they also have full librarian status is a side effect, not a deliberate restriction.

@Julia I've loaded another book with five spaces between my names and Goodreads hasn't ascribed it to me as a Goodreads author - again, as predicted in my first post.
@Nick and @rivka. All privileges are a technical issue. That is the nature of relational database systems. I don't give a crap about ratings, lists or all that admin stuff I just want to have a fair shot at telling people about what it is that I've written. A simple join between a book ID and an author ID is all I'm asking for. It certainly should be possible for an author to list their own book and describe it accurately, including the characters etc.

Your profile was showing 6 spaces, and it looks like you may have inadvertently changed that.

In any case, your and your new book both have 5 spaces now, and are matched with each other.

PETER,

You may not give a crap but apparently you can't keep track of how you are listing your work. Imagine if you had full librarian privilages...

Take a deep breath and step back from the keyboard. Relax. Let those who know what they are doing help you...

@Rivka thank you very much.
@Nick most systems on the web don't need arcane expertise to join two records together. They don't have secret spaces in their primary keys. They just work. Being aggressive about my inability as a user to make the system do something simple is not a sign of a user friendly system.

I'm not the one complaining nor the one who put extra spaces in the book title and could not remember, was it five or six spaces?

There really is a simple solution for when you find a system is not user friendly for your needs. Create your own system...