Indie Book Club discussion

Just noticed that both the print and ebook versions of my book were flagged for removal from GR because they're from Amazon. The only info I saw was that GR is removing ALL amazon books unless we intervene.

What the heck?

http://www.kindleboards.com/index.php...

Enjoy the freakout : (

B.

Still doesn't explain WHY...very strange. I'm seeing nothing about Amazon cutting off their feed or anything, so I'm guessing it's something GR is doing on their own. It just doesn't make any sense and seems like it could kill GR to remove that many books at once.

What - this is crazy - what with KDP Select thousands of indie authors (such as myself) have just exclusively signed up with Amazon as an outlet. How can Good Reads justify cutting the market in such a way?

Wrong, wrong, wrong and how can we stop this maddness - I rely on Good Reads to connect with my readers (yes it is plural now) as well as enjoy engaging in the forums, if I'm not featured here anymore I feel a bit like the ex-best friend who didn't get invited to the party.

Ahah! An update. Apparently Amazon is cutting off the non-KDP book feed (ie, 3rd party books). GR screwed up and put it on every book from Amazon. They're fixing it now.

Doh. Big Doh.

Slapping on my Librarian's hat and gonna take a look...

Big J

Ok, my first book was added from another source, so it's fine. My second book was in danger and needed "rescuing". It didn't tell me that it needed to be rescued until I went in behind the scenes as a Librarian.

If anyone wants me to check theirs, just let me know. Shoot me a link to your book and I'll take a look. If it is determined that it needs to be "rescued", I'll let you know and then you'll need to provide a link where else your book is sitting so that I can reference it. Or else I can just say that I "own" a copy of all the books I change. :)

For those that'll need it, I'll need: title, author, number of pages, and a description.

Big J

So if I'm getting this right, books that are sold on Amazon by a 3rd party will be pulled from goodreads?

From what I could understand there's a function in place that "pulls" all the book's data from Amazon. Any book where that happens will need to be rescued, meaning someone has to go into the book's details and add the title, author name, description, etc.

My first book was released by Lulu.com. So the book didn't originate fom Amazon. Book 2, however, was released directly into Kindle Publishing and the paperback edition from Createspace. Therefore #2 had to be rescued.

Big J

More information on this topic is in the Goodreads Librarian group:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/7...

If I read it right, the Createspace and other 3rd party editions of books published to Amazon will be the ones affected. If not manually rescued, or fixed by the ISBN download from an alternate source planned for next week, then all rating and review data will be transferred to an alternate edition of the book if an edition is deleted.

Yeah, that's how I read it, too.

I fixed one of my books that needed "rescuing". Let me know if anyone wants me to look at theirs.

Big J

Is it only authors and librarians who can rescue a book? Or can any reader enter the required information? I'm an author with librarian status (though I only use it to update my own books), so I can't tell.

If you have Librarian status, you are allowed to go into the Details section for other books as well.

Okay, so I went through and "rescued" my books. Funny thing is now when I try and add one it searches amazon.ca since I'm in Canada and amazon.ca doesn't sell ebooks so it finds nothing and I would have to enter my books manually now anyway.

All I can think of here is somehow Auntie Emmie pissed off Uncle Goodreads and each are in the same room, arms crossed, facing opposite directions. Who suffers? We do.

I am sooooo confused. My book page has a notice that it needs to be rescued. How do I "rescue" it? It's available on Amazon, B&N, iTunes, and Smashwords. If anyone can help, I will be so grateful.

Maggie's Fall

Sounds like there are a few of us in here. Librarians, that is. Authors, check your books! If it needs rescuing, let us know!

Big J

Yes, Maggie’s Fall is an eBook. I acquired my ISBN through Smashwords: 978-1-4658-5758-3. Other than Amazon, Maggie’s Fall is both authored by and published by R. Lynn Wilson at
Smashwords http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/...,
and
Barnes and Noble http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/maggi...

Your help is most appreciated. Is there any way I can return the favor? If you have a blog or website, I’d love to help you promote it.


Maggie's Fall

Just give me a link to your site(s), and I will be more than happy to help get the word out.

Thank you for rescuing Maggie. I had been having such a great day. I had 2 sales on Amazon, and I got a very inspiring congratulatory message from a reader, then I logged into Goodreads and saw that "rescue" message and the panic set in. I haven't been thinking clearly since.

Thanks to your very generous assistance, I can now relax and get back to the glamorous life of an Indie author - laundry, dishes, feeding the cats ;)

Thanks for rescuing Rlynn's book, Deb! Glad to know there are other librarians besides myself!

Big J

Not sure if mine need rescuing. Can you check for me Big J? :)

Yep, looks good Rob!

Awesome, thanks Deb and Big J :)

I'm going through my books now and rescuing all the ones that need it. I'm also messaging the authors to double check my work...finding a lot of them don't have a publisher name or publication date inside so I have to go to Amazon anyway to get the information...

Jeffrey or Deb -- I've tried checking my books, but I'm not sure I was looking in the right place. I'd greatly appreciate it if you checked for me!

The books are Twin-Bred and "The Baby" (the latter a short story).

Twin-Bred's ISBN (paperback) is 978-1463578916. The ASIN for the Kindle edition is B005VDVHQ2.

"The Baby" is ebook-only; its ASIN is B0063597FA.

Thanks!

Thanks so much, Deb!

I'm still puzzled and disturbed by this whole business. I only heard about it through a post on this and/or another Goodreads group. Shouldn't whoever's driving this change be notifying authors directly??

One would think. I can't find anything on Amazon, the info here is sketchy at best, and KB feels like a rumormill.

Guys, I am so beyond confused. I manually uploaded my book onto GR instead of letting it pull the info from Amazon. Does this mean I'm in danger too?

I only have one book up right now, called Illumine, , can someone please tell me if this needs rescuing? As of right now it is only in digital format.

Alivia wrote: "Guys, I am so beyond confused. I manually uploaded my book onto GR instead of letting it pull the info from Amazon. Does this mean I'm in danger too?

I only have one book up right now, called Ill..."

Hi Alivia, your book is safe =)

Oh thank goodness! You just took one knot out of my stomach, haha! Thank you, Elizabeth. :)

Kodai wrote: "Just "saved" my book.

Thank you Indie Book Club for the "Heads-up."
Not sure what Amazon did to tick-off Goodreads, but whatever it was, it must be somewhat serious."

Maybe it was all that SOPA/PIPA business.

LMAO!!

I'm a createspace author, but everything on my page seems fine so far. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be taking action about anything or not.

Maybe I'm not grokking the situation.

Jeff

Deb wrote: "Hey Jeff,
If you don't have a message at the top of your book page that says "Rescue This Book" then your fine. Either your book was always safe, or a librarian already rescued it. The librarians a..."

Thank you, Deb. I did have that message, but I missed it. I pointed the source code to my own Website. It is sort of fixed, but now it appears as though my book is only a Kindle version. I'll have to figure out how to add the paperback edition later.

All my Kindle editions have unique ISBN#s, as do my Smashwords editions. I've got an odd one in the list, which is not just out of publication, but also has another author's name on it, a children's author. I did try to get rid of it, but it keeps coming back, coverless.

I may need assistance getting covers up after the 30th, because I have a number in the select program, so they're not currently available from other sources. I can upload covers to Bowker. I just didn't want to do that, yet, because I am in the process of changing them.

Just let us know when you want us to take a look. As long as you can provide a link as to where I can get a copy of your book cover, all is good. I, or several others here who have Librarian status, can go in behind the scenes and download the cover and upload into Goodreads.

Deb wrote: "Deb wrote: "Jeffery wrote: "Deb wrote: "Hey Jeff,
If you don't have a message at the top of your book page that says "Rescue This Book" then your fine. Either your book was always safe, or a librar..."

Thank you for the help. I really appreciate it.

Jeffrey wrote: "Just let us know when you want us to take a look. As long as you can provide a link as to where I can get a copy of your book cover, all is good. I, or several others here who have Librarian stat..."

I just want to point out here that Big J is the man.

That's all, He's the man.

Jeff

LOL!!!

Not really a rescue, but I know this thread has at least one librarian...

There are two copies of my story, "Smite Me, Oh Dark One" on Goodreads:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12...

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12...

The latter is credited to generic Steve Thomas, whereas the first is specifically me (I think it has to do with the number of spaces between my first and last name). Would a librarian here be able to consolidate the two instances?

Thanks.

Hey Steve,
I think I fixed it. The changes won't show up for 10 minutes, so I'll check back and make sure it looks okay.
Deb

Yup, that did it. Many thanks.

Hoo, lordy, a whole lotta books just came up with missing covers...

**strapping on my Librarian's hat**


Guys, check your book(s)! If there's something missing, or not right, let someone know and we can fix it for you!

Big J

Jeffrey wrote: "Hoo, lordy, a whole lotta books just came up with missing covers...

**strapping on my Librarian's hat**


Guys, check your book(s)! If there's something missing, or not right, let someone kn..."

Not only the Kindle editions, I have some paperback copies missing things too.

Fixed covers for...

Bad Radio
Wolfsong
Basement Blues - rescued
Nephilim Genesis of Evil
Demon Gates
Ashar'an Rising
Freestyle For Life
Sylvianna
Flow - rescued as well
Neverdark
Smite Me, Oh Dark One
Blood Reaction
High Spirit A TRUE Paranormal Short Story
Cuentos
Eco Station One
Strange Loops - also rescued
The Comrades
The Pack - also rescued
Cadman's Gambit


And it's happening to multiple formats. Kindle, paperback, etc. Crazy. If I missed a format for someone's book, let me know. Still looking through our bookshelf...

Elizabeth wrote: "Jeffrey wrote: "Hoo, lordy, a whole lotta books just came up with missing covers...

**strapping on my Librarian's hat**


Guys, check your book(s)! If there's something missing, or not right, let..."

And a couple I rescued already...

Methinks Goodreads didn't tell us everything, or else Auntie Ammy is really really pissed. :)

Ok, I've got other things I need to do tonight. Will check again tomorrow for any other books that need help.

Missing title? No book description? Missing cover? Let us know and someone here should be able to get it fixed. I'll keep a sharp eye out for anyone asking for help. I don't want anyone's book to be deleted 'cause Goodreads and Auntie Ammy are butting heads.

Big J

Help! All my book covers disappeared. To whoever helps me out with this (Bless you!), you won't find one for S.I. It's a trilogy and I pulled it to republish in its component books, and redo the cover on the combined edition, so people realize it is a trilogy, not one monster book (396,000 words).

Hi Sharon - I'm on my iPad at the moment so I can't fix covers. I need my laptop for that. If no one has fixed for you by morning, I'll do it for you.

Big J

I'm not sure, but I think they're fine, Deb. 1100 pixels wide by 1200 tall, so almost square, except Paradox Equation.