Goodreads Librarians Group discussion

Janette Rallison also writes or has written under the names C.J. Hill and Sierra St. James. As Sierra St. James, she wrote Time Riders, an LDS-themed YA sci-fi/fantasy: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20... She later rewrote it without the LDS theme and republished it as Erasing Time under the name C.J. Hill: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13...

My question is, should these two books be combined (with various pen names and real names duly noted)? Or would they be considered different enough to remain as separate editions? (I think it's the former, but want to doublecheck.)

Books need to be credited to the author who is on the book's cover and title page. Other names that that author goes by should be indicated in the Author Bio area.

If an author rewrote a particular book and published it under a different author name and different title, that should be indicated in the book description (and in the book's "original title" field), but the two different books should not be combined (because they are under different author names).

This is actually covered in the librarian manual -

http://www.goodreads.com/help/show/26...

scroll down to "Regarding author pseudonyms or pen names - some authors write or have written under multiple names."

I looked at that part of the Librarian Manual before I posted my question. With the (slight) difference that both versions of the book are published under pen names, this seemed to be the part of the Manual that applied, which was why I was thinking the two versions should be combined:

"In some cases, a book may be originally published under a pen name, but then later reissued under the author's original name. When this happens, the author listed for any and all editions should be the author name the book was originally published under - so the reissued edition would need its author name changed to the originally published pen name. Doing this will allow the various editions to be combined."

But what made me not quite sure was the fact that the second version (Erasing Time/C.J. Hill) was rewritten somewhat.

Lobstergirl wrote: "Books need to be credited to the author who is on the book's cover and title page. Other names that that author goes by should be indicated in the Author Bio area.

If an author rewrote a particul..."

This is not correct. As the section Abigail cited states, the original name/pseudonym is listed as primary author on all editions. And yes, even if the book has been slightly rewritten.

Hello,

I have a request from an author. He has 3 books each using a different pen name. He would like to know if there is anyway OTHER than his author profile, to alert the reader that each book exists - the three comprise a trilogy. He plans on indicating this on his author profile but wanted to see if we could change anything to indicate this in each book.

Thx,
Mal

Mal wrote: "Hello,

I have a request from an author. He has 3 books each using a different pen name. He would like to know if there is anyway OTHER than his author profile, to alert the reader that each book exists - the three comprise a trilogy. He plans on indicating this on his author profile but wanted to see if we could change anything to indicate this in each book.

Thx,
Mal "

It is easier to deal with specifics rather than a hypothetical case. If you post the three books/pen-names here we'll probably get a discussion going.

If it is a trilogy, we would create a series and then everyone would know to go looking for the subsequent books.

Because it will be listed with different authors, the series won't show on any one authors profile, just on the books themselves.

Books for questions #6, 7, 8

Here are the 3 books. The author is John Sundman


Acts of the Apostles, by John F.X. Sundman
Cheap Complex Devices, by John Compton Sundman
The Pains, by John Damien Sundman

Thx so much for your help

Mal wrote: "Books for questions #6, 7, 8

Here are the 3 books. The author is John Sundman

Acts of the Apostles, by John F.X. Sundman
Cheap Complex Devices, by John Compton Sundman
The Pains, by John Damien Sundman"

Thanks. The first obvious thing of note is that his Goodreads Author account has the wrong name. The account is "John Sundman" while the books have, as you pointed out, "John F.X. Sundman". Goodreads are strict about author accounts matching bookcovers so I expect that will get changed.

There is now a series link to "Mind Over Matter" on every book page. For example:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...

This is a series for the three books with links in the description to the three 'authors'
https://www.goodreads.com/series/1103...


I've also added a cover for The Pains
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...

Banjomike wrote: "Mal wrote: "Books for questions #6, 7, 8

Here are the 3 books. The author is John Sundman

Acts of the Apostles, by John F.X. Sundman
Cheap Complex Devices, by John Compton Sundman
The Pains, by J..."



#10

He has requested that each book hold the current author names - I know they are each different, apparently it is part of the storyline.

So to recap he wants the books left as is WITH the different pen names but referencing each book to the other so readers know it creates a trilogy. He will update his author page indicating all three books.

Is his wish granted? Sooo confusing :(

AUTHOR PAGE: John Sundman

Mal,

Yes. The books each have the correct author name (each different). The three books have just been added to a series so that they are connected to each other.

Mal wrote: "He has requested that each book hold the current author names - I know they are each different, apparently it is part of the storyline.

So to recap he wants the books left as is WITH the different pen names but referencing each book to the other so readers know it creates a trilogy. He will update his author page indicating all three books.

Is his wish granted? Sooo confusing :(

AUTHOR PAGE: John Sundman "

Almost. The profile that was called "John Sundman" which had the book Acts of the Apostles has been renamed by Goodreads staff to "John F.X. Sundman" because that is the name on the book cover.

The series I created for the three books does provide a link to all three books and all three author names.
https://www.goodreads.com/series/1103...

All seven of his editions now have a link which says "Series: Mind Over Matter" on them (just above where it says "other editions"). In addition the text "(Mind Over Matter)" appears as a link in large text next to the book title on every book page.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...
A reader would need to be very unobservant to miss the fact that there is a series of the books and once they get to the series page everything is laid out for them: three books, three authors, with links to everything.

The only thing that he might not like is the renaming of the "John Sundman" profile.

You see what I meant about hypothetical cases.