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Restoring a series
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Eric
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May 18, 2013 01:02PM
Is there any way to restore a series. I'm reading through the 90 or so books in the Battletech Universe and this morning found that the series has been deleted. I can go through and recreate the series manually, but if it's possible to get it back an easier way it'd be appreciated.
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There might be a reason why they were deleted, so you better council yourself with the librarian manual. I've never seen series going to number 90. This is usually imprints and they are not allowed as Series. The best way to handle Imprints is with creating listopia list.
Even if you create imprint as a list it will be deleted again when a librarian sees it.
http://www.goodreads.com/librarian_ma...
This is an imprint: http://www.sarna.net/wiki/List_of_Bat...
Also I think it was me who deleted them. I've left the series that are correct.
Another thing.You might want to create the same series for each author and list only their books with the number corresponding for the whole imprint and the leaving the links for the other series in the description. It would be good if you also explain if the books can be read not in order, or as standalone works or just the works of one author.It's a bit more work but it is possible. I can help you tomorrow but I'm off to bed now.
I'm positive BattleTech is no more of an imprint than Sailor Moon, 3-eyes, Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, Star Trek or Star Wars; at worst it's a "multiverse" type of series. Not having the exact same primary author for every book in a series does not disqualify it as a series. Nor does spinoff, trilogy or miniseries within the universe disqualify ( at worst some books belong both to the universe series and their own subseries).
I'm with Debbie.Battletech share the same universe, so that would be a series by GR standards.
Series can have more than one author, and there is no limit on the number of books that can make up a series.
Ellie, although there are multiple authors the same characters appear throughout the series, and there is a strict timeline. There definitely is a reading order as events in earlier books are referred to in later books.Looks like I'm going to have to recreate it manually then.
Unfortunately, we regularly get selfish idiots deleting a series for their own, inexplicable, reasons. Often their attempts to 'improve' a series are worse than outright deletes. These BattleTech series have gone:
Classic BattleTech series by Ardath Mayhar
Battletech Universe series by Ardath Mayhar
BattleTech: MechWarrior: Dark Age series by Michael A. Stackpole
Twilight of the Clans
Saga of the Grey Death Legion
A cache of the Classic BattleTech series is here.
I'll bring them all back Banjomike I'm very well acquainted with the universe and the various series as I've read them all.
Anyway I started adding them again by the timeline: http://www.goodreads.com/series/10422...
I think when someone is making a list where things are not clear they should also leave a note. And I don't understand what selfish reasons I might have?
Ellie wrote: "Anyway I started adding them again by the timeline: http://www.goodreads.com/series/10422...
I think when someone is making a list where things are not clear they should also leave a note. And I don't understand what selfish reasons I might have?
I wasn't specifically referring to you. We have had people deleting a series because they thought they could create a better one eg. Guinness World Records, but then they never bothered so the end result is a poorer Goodreads.
I admit that I cannot think of a reason to delete a series of, was it 90 titles, without first checking that it should be deleted. A quick Google will show that BattleTech has loads of books/series/authors etc and could easily add up to 90+ titles and has many sub-series which need linking.
I agree with the others above who say the old series was NOT an imprint any more than Star Wars is an imprint.
Banjomike wrote: "Ellie wrote: "Anyway I started adding them again by the timeline: http://www.goodreads.com/series/10422...
I think when someone is making a list where things are not clear they should al..."
I know that you were not referring specifically to me. I just feel guilty :)
I think I don't fully understand the definition of imprint. I understand why this is a series, but still a bit confused. Anyway I'm almost finished with adding all the books and will create the series for the books that don't have one (trilogies and etc.)
There are also a lot or repeating authors and books for combining.
I'll post again when I'm finished with the main series, if Eric can kindly provide information if the order is correct. I've put them in print order and if I should number them.
Thank you.
Edit: Eric do you now if those are the same author:
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...
And which name should be left?
Ok, that is done. 101 works, I have not included the German titles. Leaving that for Eric.
Looks like they are the same author. No idea where the J. Keith, Andrew comes from. Looking on the covers of those books, those that have names on the cover just show Andrew Keith.
Eric wrote: "Looks like they are the same author. No idea where the J. Keith, Andrew comes from. Looking on the covers of those books, those that have names on the cover just show Andrew Keith."It's quite possible it is a spelling mistake.
There is also a lot of books that are not under the correct author
http://www.goodreads.com/search?utf8=...
But I say you focus on the series as you are familiar with them, and I'm gonna try to clean those this weekend.
Ellie wrote: "I think I don't fully understand the definition of imprint...."My understanding:
Related books (particularly shared characters or fictional universes) = series.
Unrelated collections = imprints, particularly if works had been in more than one collection that was often clearly just a publisher brand/imprint.
Imprint - might just be a division or line of a publishing house (like "Signet Classics", "Harlequn Intrigue" or "Good Housekeeping") or brand a publisher slaps on a collection of not even necessarily remotely connected books.
Even if a series was being deleted as being an imprint versus a series--usually something like the BattleTech is preferrably made nto a listopia so info not lost.
One example would be "Dummies" and "Complete Idiot's Guide" guidebooks to everything from taxes to gardening. Those are imprints, not series.
Another example of an imprint might be something like a publisher re-issuing binding assorted mysteries from different authors, different time periods, no settings or characters in common, much less a story plot on a tme line -- "Great detective classics" or some such title.
Can get really bad with the public domain ebook reissues where a "publisher" reprints a set/collection of stuff free elsewhere with a big old logo ...
Because the brand/imprint/division logo or text usually predominantly displayed on book cover and copyright page, sometimes mistakenly gets turned into a series on goodreads when should not be. And sometimes with no respect for another librarian's efforts some yahoo sees a logo on a book and thinks is an imprint logo instead of the series logo.
Just because BattleTech logo shown on lots of the covers, does not make it an imprint (really is a series).
Librarian Manual notes at http://www.goodreads.com/help/show/23... specifies imprints as "... unrelated collections ..." - Battletech's definitely related.
When in doubt, I leave be. Doubt = maybe it is. Admittedly, that's because I know a series once deleted is not easily restored (must be done manually and not all series have nice websites, author websites or neat listing inside cover of a book librarian has to hand). I don't think I have ever deleted a series for being an imprint without asking.
If something in particular confuses me on imprint vs. series, I'd ask in group or of more experienced librarian friends. Usually f I'm not sure, means could very well be a series so why delete?
I get more confused about some title issues with imprints.
I know I had worked on adding some books to BattleTech myself (I think I remember also adding some official url links on individual book pages if those help in recreating the series)
Got some of the other series. You can see them in the Battletch description.Thanks Debbie. I was really not in doubt when deleting, I will be more careful with lists in future, and I recovered whatever I could. Hopefully Eric won't be feeling too bad. I can imagine the feeling seeing all your work deleted after hours and hours of editing.
Some series examples with 90+ books;http://www.goodreads.com/series/40963...
http://www.goodreads.com/series/58723...
http://www.goodreads.com/series/40642...
Don't even get me started on all the Darkover, Gor, Star Trek, ... scifi/fantasy works that also have short stories, novellas, multiple anthology appearances ... And runner up series that have 50-90 books in a series by authors like Ian Fleming (James Bond), Agatha Christie ( Hercules Poirot), Sir Arthur Conan Doyle...
It wasn't my work originally Ellie. I'm just rereading the series and had gone to look up what the next book in the series was this morning to find that the series had disappeared.
Ellie wrote: "... I was really not in doubt when deleting,..."It worried me that you said series do not consist of 90+ books as I have and am reading dozens of just such series.
Plus three of my personally reading series have been fouled up recently (some of which I had been very dependent on goodreads to track as members more familiar by having finished reading had tracked down the short works and straightened out where had been repeated in various omnibuses, one of the series that affected me had a collection and a novella with same title and new editing had gotten rid of accurate series numbering for both and merged editions to boot...). Yes, I know, I should be using fictfact and am trying to transfer over my series reads as goodreads series that were so well done I became a member are persistently being deleted or ruined with no research....
The " no series over 90" and the fact I had done some of the editing on the BattleTech series obviously pushed my buttons.
Debbie wrote: "Ellie wrote: "... I was really not in doubt when deleting,..."It worried me that you said series do not consist of 90+ books as I have and am reading dozens of just such series.
Plus three of ..."
I decided it is an imprint because of the authors, not of the numbers. But I do admit my mistake and try to fix.
Eric wrote: "It wasn't my work originally Ellie. I'm just rereading the series and had gone to look up what the next book in the series was this morning to find that the series had disappeared."Eric, can I ask you if there is anything else I can assist with on this series?
I see they are numerated now :)
Thank you.
German novels: http://www.goodreads.com/series/10424...
I've got them back into the same state as before. The german books were not included as part of the series previously. I'd need to do some more research on them before adding them.
Debbie wrote: "Ellie wrote: "I think I don't fully understand the definition of imprint...."My understanding:
Related books (particularly shared characters or fictional universes) = series..."
Good description Debbie. I usually add (mentally):
Is it the TITLE or the EDITION?
i.e.
Series: The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings #1) - whoever prints that specific title, it remains the first LotR book.
Imprint: Principles of Literary Criticism (Routledge Classics) - this is only a "Routledge Classics" book for the edition that is published by Routledge, if the author republishes with another house, the book would remain intact in content, but different in series...
