Goodreads Librarians Group discussion

Apologies if this has already been covered.

I'm having some trouble figuring out how to add / who to credit for books where the "author" is actually a bunch of different people. Specifically I'm stuck on Nicholas Adams, although I know the problem will come up later too. I found out today that "Nicholas Adams" is at least four writers, possibly more. Some of the books are written by John Peel, others by James D. MacDonald and Debra Doyle and apparently one by Sherwood Smith, although the only references I can find to that are on sites like Wikipedia, not on the author's website. There may well be more authors using the Nicholas Adams name for YA horror written in the 90s.

So my question is, what do we do about this? Credit all books to their respective authors? Credit all books to the Nicholas Adams profile and make a note in the author profile that it's a collective pseudonym? Credit all books to Nicholas Adams and list the real author as a ghostwriter?

If we list a Goodreads author as a ghostwriter on a particular book, will that book show up on their profile as well as that of the primary author?

Sati Marie wrote: "Credit all books to the Nicholas Adams profile and make a note in the author profile that it's a collective pseudonym?"

This, definitely. The author listed on the cover should always be credited, and usually should be the first listed author.


Sati Marie wrote: "Credit all books to Nicholas Adams and list the real author as a ghostwriter?"

Assuming you mean listing them as a secondary author, doing that would be fine.


Sati Marie wrote: "If we list a Goodreads author as a ghostwriter on a particular book, will that book show up on their profile as well as that of the primary author? "

Yes, books show up on author pages of secondary authors.

A good example of how to handle a mass pseudonym would be the profile for Erin Hunter and the related Warriors books.

None of the Erin Hunter books have the real people added as a secondary author, should we be adding them?

I would say that it's optional, but any librarian with definitive knowledge about who the real author(s) is/are should feel free to add them as secondary. Linking to the evidence in the change reason is probably a good idea.

rivka - Yup, that's what I meant. I was having a brainfreeze moment and couldn't think of the right term. Thanks for the clarification, I'll edit the author profile and maybe put a note on the books too.

Banjomike - Gosh, I'm glad I'm not the one who has to sort the Erin Hunter ones out. I've been procrastinating on all the Babysitters' Club and Sweet Valley High books left over from childhood, just because all the different writers drive me mad. Hopefully someone else has done them, LOL.

rivka - Do author's websites count as definitive knowledge?

Sati Marie wrote: "rivka - Do author's websites count as definitive knowledge?"

I would think so. It's helpful if it's possible (in the change note) to link to a specific blog post or book page, rather than just the main site, though.

Sati Marie wrote: "Gosh, I'm glad I'm not the one who has to sort the Erin Hunter ones out. "

I don't think they need sorting out. I was only clarifying not proposing a fix.

Ok, thanks.