Goodreads Librarians Group discussion

Good afternoon. I always have a problem every time I publish a book. I upload it myself with ISBN... but some bot re-uploads it on his own and puts it to another author and not to me. Could you please put the book on my author page? My book is called "La Tentación del Diablo (Caída del Ángel I)" and my author's name is "María del Mar Castellanos" (with accent). Thank you very much!

Please do not remove the space from your author name. The accents do not make a difference. The space does, that's why it was there. It's not a mistake. Please fix it to how it was or ask support to do this for you. We can't move the book because now you and the other Maria have the same name.

You added the paperback edition, there's a kindle edition and that's the one the bot added. You must add all editions that exist if you don't want this to happen.

Sorry, I removed the space. I've already put my name with the space, just like before. Now I understand what you are saying. I thought I didn't have to upload both versions (paper and kindle). Can you already put the book in my author name?

Thanks. Yes, book moved and paperback and kindle edition combined :)

Thank you very much!

Hi. My book "La Perdición del Diablo (Caída del Ángel II)" is unlinked. One version was posted to another author and two versions were uploaded by me on my account. Could you please link all three on my account? Thank you very much.

María del Mar wrote: "Hi. My book "La Perdición del Diablo (Caída del Ángel II)" is unlinked. One version was posted to another author and two versions were uploaded by me on my account. Could you please link all three ..."

Hi, I moved your book to your author profile.

Thank you very much! I'm missing one more thing. I have the same book three times in my profile. Can you link them into one?

You're welcome.

Sorry, I can't link them into one. The combine tool is disabled.

Announcement: combine tool will be temporarily disabled -> https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I have just seen it. Next week I will write to you again to see if this tool has been activated. Thank you very much!

Hi again, the combine tool is back. I combine the stray editions of your book.

Thank you so much for remembering! Everything is fine now :)

Hi, I'm sorry I have to contact you every time I publish a book and bother you. My book "La Furia del Diablo (Caída del Ángel III)" has been published to another author, could you put it on my profile? Thank you very much.

María wrote: "Hi, I'm sorry I have to contact you every time I publish a book and bother you. My book "La Furia del Diablo (Caída del Ángel III)" has been published to another author, could you put it on my prof..."

Hi María, all done. Don't worry, it's no bother :) have a nice day <3

Hello! The paper version of my book "La Furia del Diablo (Caída del Ángel III)" has been placed with another author, can you put it on my profile and merge that version with the one I already have on my profile?

moved & combined

Good afternoon. My book "Silent (Rosa Negra I): NUEVA VERSIÓN" has been placed on another author who is not me. Can you add it to my profile? Thank you very much.

María wrote: "Good afternoon. My book "Silent (Rosa Negra I): NUEVA VERSIÓN" has been placed on another author who is not me. Can you add it to my profile? Thank you very much."

Done.

Hello! My name is Amanda Parsons. My new book, My Time of Blood in the Snow, has been added under a different Amanda Parsons. I am the same author who published The Pyre and The Calibrationist, for reference. Can this be corrected?

Amanda wrote: "Hello! My name is Amanda Parsons. My new book, My Time of Blood in the Snow, has been added under a different Amanda Parsons. I am the same author who published The Pyre and The Calibrationist, for..."

done

Hi. There is an edition inside the book "Silent (Black Rose I)" that should not be linked. The book "Silent (Black Rose I): NEW VERSION" which has the white cover is another story, so I would like it to be combined with "Silent (Black Rose I): NEW VERSION" which is already loose in my profile. Thank you very much.

María wrote: "Hi. There is an edition inside the book "Silent (Black Rose I)" that should not be linked. The book "Silent (Black Rose I): NEW VERSION" which has the white cover is another story, so I would like ..."

Goodreads' policy is to combine different editions of the same work, including revised, reworked, or new versions of the same book. You can set your preferred edition as the default by following these instructions: https://help.goodreads.com/s/article/...

Please avoid using ALL CAPS in titles, as this is against Goodreads policy. Edition information, language, etc., should not be included in the title. You can use the edition field, language field, or the description section if more appropriate, but not the title field. The title field should contain only the title as it appears on the cover, along with any subtitle and series information in proper formatting. I've reverted the changes against policy. For more details, please check the Librarian Manual: https://help.goodreads.com/s/article/...

I understand. I've followed the steps, but the program won't let me set the white cover edition as default.

María wrote: "I understand. I've followed the steps, but the program won't let me set the white cover edition as default."

You'll need to try again or contact Goodreads support: https://www.goodreads.com/about/conta... As the help page states, only authors can set the default edition—librarians can't help with this. Support should be able to set it for you or provide further guidance.

Good morning, sorry to bother so much, but the bot always puts my books to another author every time I post one. My book Silent (Rosa Negra I): Nueva Versión is with another author, can you put it in my profile and link it to the one that is already there? Thank you very much.

María wrote: "Good morning, sorry to bother so much, but the bot always puts my books to another author every time I post one. My book Silent (Rosa Negra I): Nueva Versión is with another author, can you put it ..."

Done.

Good afternoon, my book "Obscure (Rosa Negra II): Nueva Versión" has been given to another author with the same name as mine, could I put it in my profile and combine it with the existing one?

María wrote: "Good afternoon, my book "Obscure (Rosa Negra II): Nueva Versión" has been given to another author with the same name as mine, could I put it in my profile and combine it with the existing one?"

Hi, I've moved the book to your profile as requested. However, I noticed you create a new ebook edition of Obscure without an ISBN and linked it as another edition of Poison, which is confusing, as it's not the same book. Also, changing the original edition's title to things like Antigua versión (Old version in English) is not allowed—it alters reader shelves, breaks search results, and misrepresents the edition users actually read (especially when the cover clearly says Obscure). That original edition should remain as it was.

You're welcome to set the new version as the default edition instead. If there's a specific reason why Obscure (Rosa Negra #2) — the old version — should no longer grouped with the other Obscure editions, let me know.

Hi! The new version of Obscure is linked to Poison because it is actually that book, but the title Obscure is kept. I can't change the covers to make it all clearer.... That's why I linked the new version in Poison and put it as the main edition because it is that book with the title of the other one. Also, the Poison reviews pertain to the new version of Obscure. I tried to change the cover of the Old Version or leave it without cover to make everything clearer, but the program won't let me.

Can Obscure and Poison be grouped together in the same book and I set the new edition as the default? It would be ideal to make everything clearer 🙏🏻

As the author you can combine books, just look for the "combine editions" button.

María wrote: "Hi! The new version of Obscure is linked to Poison because it is actually that book, but the title Obscure is kept. I can't change the covers to make it all clearer.... That's why I linked the new ..."

Thank you for the clarification. I’ve made the adjustments and it would be a good idea to leave a librarian note so that other librarians don't get confused and mistakenly separate the works thinking they were incorrectly combined. I can do this later when I have more clarity on the changes to the series.

From what I understand, you’ve skipped book two of the original Obscure version in your new edition, correct? If so, we can definitely create a new series page for the updated version, especially if the numbering is different. We could set the new series as the primary one and include a description explaining to readers how it differs from the original series, or just clarifying this is the new version. You could write this description, as you'd be able to explain it more accurately. If you prefer, I can help, though I think you would provide the best explanation. This isn't a must, though, I just think it would help avoid confusion, since the titles are the same and the new version skips book two, jumping to book three that's now book two. If you'd like, we can also add a note to the old series to clarify it's the old numbering.

One thing to keep in mind: it's important not to alter the original work's settings to reflect information about the new edition. These settings, including the original publication date and title, should remain the same. For example, the original publication date of Poison was 2022, and this shouldn’t be changed to 2025 just because a new edition is out. The 2025 date would only apply to the new edition.

Also, since the new edition has a different cover and the old ASINs are retired, there’s no need to alter the covers for the original work. Changing them would affect reader shelves. Just setting the new edition as the default will keep things organized and clear. These are rules in place to maintain the integrity of the database, similar to how we cannot delete old editions.

I hope this helps, and I’m more than happy to work with you to get everything sorted! Let me know what you think.

Shim wrote: "As the author you can combine books, just look for the "combine editions" button."

Just to clarify, while authors can combine editions, in this case the new version was already combined under a different work (Obscure old version), so it first needed to be separated, something only librarians can do. Once that was done, the editions could be correctly combined under Poison.

I thank you very much for your help because I am very lost with this. This complicated situation is only in this series because I made a new version, so I won't give these problems later. I'll explain you the situation: before it was a series of four books (Silent, Obscure, Poison and Sentence). In the new version it has become a three book series (Silent, Obscure and Sentence). The new Silent encompasses the old Silent and much of the old Obscure. The new Obscure covers the last small part of the old Obscure and all of the old Poison. The new Sentence will be almost the same as the old Sentence, so no problems with that one. It's now a three book series, but I don't know how I can leave a note to the librarian. I use the English translator because I don't know English and so it makes it more complicated for me to handle the app correctly. I understood very well what you explained. I have set the new version of Obscure that you have combined me with Poison as default and I have not changed anything else, no dates or anything. If I need to do more, let me know. In the description of the default version of each book is where I should put an informative note to the reader?

María wrote: "I thank you very much for your help because I am very lost with this. This complicated situation is only in this series because I made a new version, so I won't give these problems later. I'll expl..."

Thank you again for your patience and for explaining the changes so clearly. Since the new version of the series has a different structure and combines content from more than one book, I’ve separated the new editions from the old ones, adjusted the metadata accordingly, and created a new series page for the rewrite. This should help avoid confusion for readers and ensures everything follows Goodreads guidelines.

Just for context: Goodreads combines editions into a work based on substantially the same content, not just title similarity. From what I could tell, the new version of Silent rewrites the original Silent and also includes around half or more of the old Obscure, so it’s not the same work as either of those. Similarly, the new rewritten Obscure contains the rest of the old Obscure plus all of Poison, so it also qualifies as a different work and should remain separate.

Once the new Sentence is released, it should be combined with the old Sentence if the content remains mostly unchanged, that would follow Goodreads guidelines.

Here’s the new series page (with a note in the description): https://www.goodreads.com/series/4179...

And the original series now includes a note directing readers to the new version: https://www.goodreads.com/series/3712...

You don’t need to do anything else for now. I’ve added librarian notes to the new editions to help prevent future confusion. If you’d like, you can still add details in the descriptions of the editions (not remove any information), for example, noting if an edition is out of print (fuera de catálogo/fuera de circulación/descatalogado) or if it’s a rewritten version that combines parts of other books.

Thank you very much for your patience with me. I have seen the changes you comment and it has been perfect. The new Sentence will have some changes that affect the plot, so I consider important those changes so that it is also separated from the previous one and within the new series you have created. I am very happy with the result you have given me. I just have one more question: is there any way for the bot to put my published books on my profile directly and not put them to the other author with the same name as me? The other profile seems to be abandoned. Thank you very much for everything.

María wrote: "Thank you very much for your patience with me. I have seen the changes you comment and it has been perfect. The new Sentence will have some changes that affect the plot, so I consider important tho..."

I'm really glad to hear you're happy with how everything turned out!

Regarding Sentence, I believe that—per Goodreads policy—it should actually be combined with the original version. Here's a post by a former moderator that explains this: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

“Old and new editions of a work are combined into a single work on Goodreads, even when they have been significantly rewritten.”

There’s nothing about this in the librarian manual, but it's something we've learned over time through guidance in the group. That said, this is often handled on a case-by-case basis. Since the new version of Sentence hasn’t been published yet, I can’t verify the content myself. I just wanted to be careful and let you know—editing something against policy could risk my librarian status. The other books were a different case because they combined content from another book entirely, and a new series page with different numbering is allowed in those situations.

As for the issue with books being assigned to another author with the same name: unfortunately, Goodreads doesn’t automatically know which profile a book belongs to when multiple authors share the same name. The system often assigns books to the default (unclaimed) profile to avoid that a verified author gets assigned books that they did not write, those are then moved manually.

Since your author profile is verified, librarians can’t make any changes to it. Only Goodreads staff can handle that. I recommend contacting them directly.

Agreed. Then I do think you should combine Sentence with the old one because it is the same structure, even if there are changes to the writing. The only thing is that it won't look pretty to see the new Sentence with its different cover on the old Rosa Negra series and see the new series with only two books 😅 I was just saying it for that, but I understand that both Sentence should be combined. In a week the bot will publish the Obscure in paper to the other profile, so I'll be in touch again to move it to my profile and combine it. The Sentence publication will be around June. I'm so sorry for giving you the hassle with this series, I'm glad it's almost over, thanks so much for all your help!

Good afternoon. My book Sentence (Rosa Negra III): Nueva Versión has been put on another author with my same name. could you put the book on my profile? As we discussed a few months ago, in my profile is the old version of the book and I know you have to combine the new one with the old one. Could you put this book also in the Rosa Negra Series (Nueva Versión) folder that comes up in the profile? It is to keep the three new books in the same Series and not to mix them.... I will talk to you again soon because the same book will be uploaded again in paper to the other author as it is a bot that uploads the books. Thank you very much!

María wrote: "Good afternoon. My book Sentence (Rosa Negra III): Nueva Versión has been put on another author with my same name. could you put the book on my profile? As we discussed a few months ago, in my prof..."

Good afternoon, María.
Sentence (Rosa Negra III): Nueva Versión has been moved to your profile, combined with the previous version, and added to the Rosa Negra Series (Nueva Versión) series page. Thank you for your patience.

Thank you very much for everything, Tami.