General Goodreads Site Questions

[Rachael]

My star ratings have disappeared from my profile page! If you go into the book pages you can still see ratings and reviews, but on the main page it looks as though nobody's read any of my books. Worried this will have a knock on effect on sales etc. Has this happened to anyone else?

[[deleted user]]

I have the opposite problem. My star ratings appear on my dashboard, but they disappeared from the book pages days ago. This has happened before, and appears to be a Goodreads glitch. I've given up on correcting their glitches, since it could be a full-time job, and only worry about keeping tabs on the places where my books are actually sold. If it worries you, you might contact a Goodreads Librarian and let them know about it.

[[deleted user]]

My ratings are back. Apparently the Goodreads glitch fixed itself, and I never had to do a thing.

[Ken]

Ken wrote: "My ratings are back. Apparently the Goodreads glitch fixed itself, and I never had to do a thing."

Mine have been glitchy, off and on, for the past couple of months. Like you, I've given up worrying about them--it seems to be the best course of action :)

[Rosemary]

Help please! I have just finished writing a scifi novel and starting with some pre-publication marketing. Can anyone tell me whether and how I can add my book on Goodreads before it has been published anywhere, and have an author page? Can this be done? Thanks ever so much!

[Rosemary]

Rosemary wrote: "Help please! I have just finished writing a scifi novel and starting with some pre-publication marketing. Can anyone tell me whether and how I can add my book on Goodreads before it has been publis..."

Okay, I figured out how to do it. For any other authors who may be struggling with this, you simply add your book manually. Here is the rather-hard-to-find link to do that: Goodreads Add a New Book

[Alfred]

For some reason I am suddenly unable to create new discussion threads or post on some things because Goodreads says my email has to be verified. I don't have any emails from Goodreads in my email inbox, so I don't know what they expect me to do.

Is there any way to get Goodreads to either send me another email verification (or whatever it is they did) or to resolve that issue from my profile here?

[Alfred]

Never mind.

It seems the problem was with my email treating Goodreads as a social media spammer.

So I guess I'm fixed. You know how it works in the horror movies: you have to complain about the monster that is chasing you, and then it is not there anymore.

[G.G.]

lol I get what you mean. Happens ALL THE TIME.
Glad you found a solution. :)

[Greg]

Can someone please tell me why my thread got deleted? It was called Thriller/Suspense writers. I just started it the other day and now its gone. I can't imagine how it violated a rule.

Thanks.

[G.G.]

Greg wrote: "Can someone please tell me why my thread got deleted? It was called Thriller/Suspense writers. I just started it the other day and now its gone. I can't imagine how it violated a rule.Thanks."

I don't see anything wrong with it, but maybe another mod did so I can't speak for them. I may have been posted in the wrong folder. It would help if you'd mention where you post it.

[Greg]

I put it in author resources. If that was wrong, can't it just be moved to the right folder and not completely remove it?

Could you please let me know the correct folder to put it in then?

Thanks.

[G.G.]

Greg wrote: "I put it in author resources. If that was wrong, can't it just be moved to the right folder and not completely remove it?

Could you please let me know the correct folder to put it in then?

Thanks."

You've found the reason. It's been deleted so we can't move it. If you want the original post (without paragraphs (you can surely add them)), send me a pm and I will copy paste it to you. It's in my email.

We already have a thread for that...go in this thread:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Greg]

What I meant was couldn't it have been moved in the first place and not deleted?

And that thread is just social media contacts in general. I was making a thread for people who were just into thrillers and suspense to attract the right people to our genre.

And that thread is also in author resources. If the threads are so similar than why was mine considered to be in the wrong folder?

Whatever. Maybe I'll just post it in that thread. Thanks anyway.

[Christina]

Greg wrote: "What I meant was couldn't it have been moved in the first place and not deleted?

And that thread is just social media contacts in general. I was making a thread for people who were just into thri..."

Hi Greg. We don't have a genre specific social media thread. You are welcome to add your info to the existing thread, but we would prefer not to have dozens of social media threads to monitor. This, along with being posted in the folder that specifically asks for no new posts, is the reason it was deleted. That is covered in the rules that pop up when you comment.

[Ava]

Does anyone know if there is a way to contact the Goodreads site adminstrators? I had an account fifteen years ago that I stopped using for a couple of years. I have tried everything to get back into it, but nothing works. I have always used the same email address so it makes no sense. I hate losing my bookshelf.

[Riley, Viking Extraordinaire]

Ava wrote: "Does anyone know if there is a way to contact the Goodreads site adminstrators? I had an account fifteen years ago that I stopped using for a couple of years. I have tried everything to get back in..."

No idea except for the contact us button or the librarians group.

[Riley, Viking Extraordinaire]

Groovy wrote: "Does anyone here use a different name than your GR profile to review books? If so, how do you review under a different name?"

I know authors that have more than one profile for review purposes. Only way to change your name just for reviews to my knowledge.

[Groovy]

I didn't know you could have more than one profile, aanndd for review purposes. Thank-you, Riley:)

[Riley, Viking Extraordinaire]

Yeah, you just create a new user profile, and post your reviews to it.

[Sam (Rescue Dog Mom, Writer, Hugger)]

Once you accept someone as a friend, does anyone know how you can Follow them? I see the option for members I'm not friends with, but not for current friends. Thank you.

[Peter]

I just noticed that all of the ratings and the review number for my four books have been reset to zero. I can still find the reviews and the ratings if I click on the book cover link but they no longer show up on my authors page. It makes it look like no one has ever read, rated, or reviewed my books. Does anyone know what's going on?

If I missed a thread and am coming late to this topic, I apologise.

[[deleted user]]

Another Goodreads glitch. It happens from time to time. Mine are the same. They've had quite a few glitches lately. For awhile all of my reviews showed up twice. Other weird things appeared also. Maybe they'll eventually straighten it all out.

[Christina]

Sue (Rescue Dog Mom) wrote: "Once you accept someone as a friend, does anyone know how you can Follow them? I see the option for members I'm not friends with, but not for current friends. Thank you."

Hi Sue. I think you will see the option in a drop down on author profiles. You can only "follow" authors and friend readers, I think.

[Peter]

Rachael wrote: "My star ratings have disappeared from my profile page! If you go into the book pages you can still see ratings and reviews, but on the main page it looks as though nobody's read any of my books. Wo..."

Rachael, I belatedly saw your note and the same thing happened to me.

[Peter]

Ken wrote: "Another Goodreads glitch. It happens from time to time. Mine are the same. They've had quite a few glitches lately. For awhile all of my reviews showed up twice. Other weird things appeared also. M..."

Thanks Ken. I hope the glitch gets fixed soon.

[[deleted user]]

It happened once before, and I contacted them, but it didn't help. They told me it was an ongoing problem and would be fixed, but couldn't give me a time frame.

[Sam (Rescue Dog Mom, Writer, Hugger)]

Thanks, Christina. I'll check that out. Hugs

[[deleted user]]

Okay, here's a tip I had to relearn about the disappearing ratings at the top of your book page. You may be able to fix it yourself. Click on "edit details" and scroll down to the area just below the book cover on the right. You'll see "refresh book and work rating stats," and once you click that, the rating should come back in a few hours. You can do the same with your author stats by editing your profile.

If it doesn't work, and it didn't for me the first time I tried it, join the Goodreads Author Feedback Group and leave a post about the problem. https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

[Paul]

Hi group. I've recently refreshed my book with a new cover and description, but I've noticed the Goodreads website defaults to the old cover. Is there anyway to change this? Many thanks, Paul.

[Doemar]

I have a book out there I can't claim because the original upload had a typo on the author name. I've also updated the cover, but Goodreads doesn't update, so I guess it's just stuck out there that way. I wrote to them in my claim email, but nothing happened.

[G.G.]

Doemar wrote: "I have a book out there I can't claim because the original upload had a typo on the author name. I've also updated the cover, but Goodreads doesn't update, so I guess it's just stuck out there that..."

Did you try asking in this group?

https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

They are the official Goodreads Librarians. If someone can help you it's them. Just join the group and ask away. They are usually quite fast to answer and to fix problems.

[Dwayne, Head of Lettuce]

Some people have two profiles, so it is possible. Personally, once I published, I converted my profile to an author profile.

[Dwayne, Head of Lettuce]

Yes. You would have two profiles and two accounts on Goodreads.

[Shannon]

So much good info on here! Apologies if this has been covered because I only read a few of the pages, but is there a way to have Amazon reviews reflect on GR as well?

[Dwayne, Head of Lettuce]

Shannon wrote: "So much good info on here! Apologies if this has been covered because I only read a few of the pages, but is there a way to have Amazon reviews reflect on GR as well?"

As far as I know, no, unless the person posts in both places.

[James]

Apologies if this has been asked and answered a dozen times...

I changed my book's subtitle and book cover on Amazon a few weeks ago. I can update everything in my GoodReads profile except the book cover.

The correct subtitle is "A Novel of Puritan New England." I'm entering a one-for-one review round and would like to ensure I'm not causing any confusion.

Are there any librarians who can help me with that? Thanks

Jim

https://www.amazon.com/My-Fathers-Kin...

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

[G.G.]

James, Goodreads contrarily to Amazon, keeps all the different covers used on a book.

You should find a librarian who can do it for you here:
https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

Since the cover will be added and not replaced, make sure to change the main edition for your book to the new cover after it's done.

[James]

Thanks G.G

[Chandi]

Hi all, I am new here and struggling to get my book listed in both formats. The kindle one listed fine. The paperback one is not... it shows a blank cover after I'd added only the ISBN 13. So I went back in to edit, thinking more info was needed. I added the ISBN 10 and filled in the page count that I'd left blank. Then I hit save and got an error saying that the ISBN was already being used for a book with that same name. (Well, yes, that very page I was trying to edit is using it.) I am stumped as to why I cannot get my paperback version to show the proper cover and why this the ISBN thing got messy. I took a screen shot but don't see a place to upload it here. I also don't see a specific forum for technical troubleshooting so I also feel lost about where I am supposed to go for that kind of thing...???

[Christina]

Chandi wrote: "Hi all, I am new here and struggling to get my book listed in both formats. The kindle one listed fine. The paperback one is not... it shows a blank cover after I'd added only the ISBN 13. So I wen..."

You will need to add the cover. If you can't do this, your best bet would be to contact Goodreads customer support or join the librarian group. They can help you with adding book data.

[Chandi]

Could you tell me where to find customer support? I looked for a technical support type of place and not found one.

[Christina]

Click help at the very bottom of the page.

[Chandi]

Oh, thanks! I also found the "librarian" page and there seemed to be a lot of requests on there for covers to be added so I guess this is a common situation.

[G.G.]

When I have a problem of any kind with the book or book page I as the librarian group. That what the group is for and they help quickly. I would say faster than contact help support.

[Chandi]

Thanks!

[Justin]

Did you know you can buy books now on Goodreads? They send out an email about it every once in a while.

[Carol]

I'm trying to set up a book giveaway for my new book and I'm getting an error message that says, among other things, that neither my book nor its ISBN are in "our database", yet my book comes up on GoodReads searches just fine and links to Amazon where the print book is listed with the correct ISBN. Clearly it IS in the database. What gives? I didn't enter my book into GoodReads, an enthusiastic reader did. Could that have anything to do with it? The error also says "Book can't be blank", which mystifies me because I can't find anywhere on the form where there is a blank space into which I should have entered my book's name. The only identification for my book that I can see is where it asks for the ISBN, which I've triple-checked and I'm sure is entered correctly.

[G.G.]

Not sure if that would fix it but when you list a giveaway the original setting asks for the book ID. Have you tried clicking the 'switch to ISBN' clicky to the right? That is what I always do for mine. Oh and make sure you get the ISBN and not the ASIN.

[Christina]

Hi Carol. The Kindle edition is the only edition on Goodreads. You'll have to add the paperback to run a giveaway. It's pretty easy though, on your books details page, there is a link to add an edition. Click that and supply the ISBN info needed.