THE Group for Authors! discussion

I asked this question once before and was told "GIve it time...they will show up on Goodreads." I thought there was something I was supposed to do to make it happen. I am referring to two books (one is a trilogy in 3 parts, so each has a different sub-title), the other is a collection of short stories. Yes, they are visible on goodreads, but the editions visible are out of print and were published by a traditional publisher. After the rights were returned to me and the files returned I self-published these 2 titles with new ISBN #s and new cover art per the requirements indicated by my original publisher. All 3 parts of the CreateSpace-published trilogy have been out awhile now (they are not exactly new), and more recently the book of short stories was re-published also, but with a different title.]
It does me no real good to have the out of print versions of these books displayed on goodreads as if people go to Amazon they will only see that they are out of print and that used copies are being sold (at sometimes exorbitant prices!)
I know this is a bit confusing as these are books that were previously published and have been re-printed as self-published books (I will NOT give up on my babies, thank you, worked too hard on them!) > So WHERE ARE THEY? If you but give me clear instructions as to what to do on my end I will do what needs to be done, but I was told by someone who works for goodreads that the books will show up "in time".
It's time... Please help. Thanks!
(I did not mention the exact titles as I thought we were not supposed to mention our titles here or it might be considered "spamming". If asked, would gladly tell goodreads which of my books are not visible on your site as they are certainly visible on Amazon. Too bad they won't remove the old original editions and stop selling them Used, as it must be confusing to people searching for my titles there.)
SOS...writer in need of direction; my babies want their close-up on goodreads!

Are these the ones you are talking about

Yes! And one more, my most recent, called "Stories From My Uncle's Attic" (previously called "Shades of Gay"). Did I not scroll down far enough? Excuse me if so, I am good at "elder moments".
So can the original traditionally published versions of this trilogy be removed from goodreads as they are no longer in print; they are only being sold in amazon as Used copies (at some bizarrely high prices)... I am worried having two different editions of these books will confuse readers and potential buyers. If the book is not commercially available other than in Used copies being sold by third parties why continue to feature them on goodreads, as this is not supportive of the author's intent? ( Thanks for your help!)

But...unlike Amazon or B&N, Goodreads isn't actually a sales or author-driven site, its primary purpose is as a book cataloguing site. So all versions of a book stay, to be complete, and also so readers can shelve the exact version of a book they own/have read.

I think there's a way you can set one edition as the 'primary' version via your author dashboard, but I'm not sure of the exact name/process, hopefully another author can steer you in the right direction. But it's Goodreads policy that all editions of a book remain.

To find the 'new' editions, you need to go to each book page & click on 'other editions' & this will bring up all your editions for that particular book.
As Miss M said, Goodreads policy is to keep all published editions/covers as readers like to shelve the copy that they have, and dont worry about us readers getting confused, we are a pretty intelligent bunch :)
What you are wanting to do (I presume) is set the new covers as the default, so if someone searches for your book, they will be taken to the new edition. Default editions are usually the edition that has been shelved the most, unless the author changes this. To do this you will have to follow these instructions https://www.goodreads.com/help/show/3...
Good Luck

Thanks. I will see if I can accomplish that.
I understand that there are many editions of classic novels that people may prefer, but to apply the same policy to new or unknown authors tying to find their audience seems a bit stringent. I am not E.M .Forster, just a relatively new author trying to find his audience.
I can't imagine why such a simple request needs to be denied due to such rigid policy, but I experienced this once before on this site in which they kept identifying me on the site as the author of a short story that was published as an e-book. They said they featured it because their hard-line policy is to feature the author's "most reviewed book". Of course it was the most reviewed book! It was FREE. As it turned out readers liked the other stories (there were 7) better so I was stuck for months with this freebie story that got mostly weak reviews with its cover next to my author photo. BLECCH ! Not happy about that at all.
It's a great (and rather maize-like) site, and I love it as a reader but sometimes the "policies" are really not very author friendly. I guess they aren't supposed to be; after all, we are only the ones creating the content.

Thank you Zoey. I did not see your informative message before posting my last message. I will give it my best shot.

Steven, if you have any trouble with this, please feel welcome to reach out in the Goodreads Librarians Group – one of our volunteers will be able to help you add or edit any book pages on the site.

but librarians are not able to set the default edition

Lachgas wrote: "but librarians are not able to set the default edition"

Authors can perform this action for their own titles. Here's how:

1. Visit the book page that you'd like to set s the primary.
2. Click "edit details" under the Other Editions section.
3. On the right-hand side select "Set this book as the primary edition for this work".

Trying to link my other books to my current author's page. The two I need to link are When Religious and Secular Interests Collide: Faith, Law, and the Religious Exemption Debate and Religion and the Law in America. Hopefully that doesn't count as promotion, as I'm not trying to do that - just want them all on the same page. Help?

Scott wrote: "Trying to link my other books to my current author's page. The two I need to link are When Religious and Secular Interests Collide: Faith, Law, and the Religious Exemption Debate and Religion and ..."

They should be on your profile now, if you could please check.
Just for future reference, these types of requests are better done in the Librarians Group https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

They are. Many thanks. Sorry about the error on putting it in the wrong place.