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They Still Call Me Sister
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Book Cover Help > Please help me change the cover--not a new edition!

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Deborah Bussey (dlplummer) | 9 comments Please change the cover to the one that is now listed as a new edition. It is not...same ISBN, just a new cover to match the others in the series. It is changed on every other site (Amazon, Huffington Post) except Goodreads.
Thank you!


Deborah Bussey (dlplummer) | 9 comments In searching I realized that there are two pages for the book...one for each cover. Please delete the cover that is pictured for this request. Thank you so very much!


message 3: by Scott (new)

Scott | 9255 comments If the cover was published, it must remain.


Deborah Bussey (dlplummer) | 9 comments Why if it was retired and a new one with the same ISBN was published? It automatically changed on every other website???


message 5: by Z-squared (new)

Z-squared | 8575 comments Because somebody out there owns the old edition with the old cover. People like their Goodreads bookshelves to reflect their actual bookshelves. If we changed the cover to reflect the new edition for everyone, readers with the old edition would be peeved. Here is GR's policy on alternate cover editions with identical ISBNs:

http://www.goodreads.com/help/show/85...

Also, check out messages 3 and 4 here:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...

Let us know if you need help making the alternate cover edition.


message 6: by Cait (new)

Cait (tigercait) | 4988 comments It may be automatically changed on sales websites, but Goodreads catalogs every edition of a book, including editions which are currently out of print, and we consider reprinting with a new cover to be equivalent to creating a new edition. There is more information in the FAQ:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...


Deborah Bussey (dlplummer) | 9 comments Ok. Sounds very rule bound to me just to serve the rules. I own the book and the rights as publisher and author so it would seem to me that my request would be honored. But I accept it as your rules. Thanks anyway.


message 8: by Z-squared (last edited Jul 23, 2013 06:07PM) (new)

Z-squared | 8575 comments I know, it seemed weird to me at first, too. It helped me to stop thinking of Goodreads as an advertising outlet and start thinking of it as a library catalog on crack. It's operated like Wikipedia, so the content is crowd-sourced and crowd-curated. As such, it's supposed to reflect every book ever published, every edition, every cover. It's as if anyone, anywhere, can pick up any book ever published, whether or not it's still being published at this moment, and find a corresponding entry on Goodreads that exactly matches.

That said, there are tools that make it author-friendly, like the new(ish) default edition toggle. I edited the entry for the old-cover edition to reflect that it is the alternate cover. Now all you have to do to set the new-cover edition as the default one is the following:

To use this feature, go to the edition you wish to set as the default, and click the "edit" link. On the edition's edit page there will be a link on the right side, about mid-way down the page and just before the link to refresh stats, to "Set this book as the primary edition for this work".

If you follow those directions, then anytime someone searches for your book with its title, "They Still Call Me Sister", the new cover will be the first thing they see. I'd do it for you if I could, but only the author or a GR employee can do it.


message 9: by Paula (new)

Paula (paulaan) | 7014 comments Z-squared wrote: "I edited the entry for the old-cover edition to reflect that it is the alternate cover. Now all you have to do to set the new-cover edition as the default one is the following:

This is incorrect, the new cover book is defined as the alternate cover edition.

I have undone the incorrect swapping of ISBN's between editions done by another librarian and moved your note to the appropriate edition


Deborah Bussey (dlplummer) | 9 comments So sorry...I am totally confused. Do I get to have the new cover or not? This is important to me because I am creating a series and spent a lot of time and money to have the covers in the series also be a theme. I know of other books that are listed on Goodreads that are shown as the new cover vs. an original cover. If that is the case every first original cover should be shown. That book cover is retired, no longer in print. I appreciate the non-advertising aspect but even libraries display the most current cover. It should be the other way around that the old cover is archived and accessible. Very confusing. Thanks for any clarification and most of all if you could just get the new cover displayed that would be even better.


message 11: by Banjomike (last edited Jul 24, 2013 07:32AM) (new)

Banjomike | 5166 comments Deborah wrote: "So sorry...I am totally confused. Do I get to have the new cover or not? This is important to me because I am creating a series and spent a lot of time and money to have the covers in the series also be a theme. I know of other books that are listed on Goodreads that are shown as the new cover vs. an original cover. If that is the case every first original cover should be shown. That book cover is retired, no longer in print. I appreciate the non-advertising aspect but even libraries display the most current cover. It should be the other way around that the old cover is archived and accessible. Very confusing. Thanks for any clarification and most of all if you could just get the new cover displayed that would be even better. "

Unless I am misreading this thread the alternate cover edition of the paperback book you linked to in your OP is already here:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18...

This is the procedure for setting the default edition of a book that will appear in searches etc:
i) Go to the book page of the edition you wish to become the default/primary edition.
ii) Click "edit details" below the book's description.
iii) On the right side of the page about halfway down, click "Set this book as the primary edition for this work".
iv) Click "Save Changes"


...every first original cover should be shown..
Yes. That is the idea.

A library will display whatever cover they have. They will not throw out a book simply because there is a newer cover image available. Or if they do they should be ashamed of themselves.

And not ALL websites have the new cover.


Deborah Bussey (dlplummer) | 9 comments Got it. Thank you all and thanks for the work you do.


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