Book Series Numbering Sequence Question

[Kathrynn]

I received an email from another librarian that they were "correcting" book series numbering that I had done many years ago because (they said) GRs has a (new?) policy that the numbering is not done to match an author's website anymore if there are novellas involved.

I searched the GRs Librarian policy and did not find a mention of this new system of numbering.

If the author has book 1 and 1.5 and 2 and 2.5 I feel we should number the series to match the author.

Please advise and show me where there is a policy that this is no longer done on GRs so that we are all on the same page.

Thanks a bunch.

Link to book series in question.

[Dee]

this needs a Rivka weigh-in - i always go by the authors website for how they have series listed, since they are the subject matter experts for their series

[Dee]

IMHO this should be how the series is laid out

http://robyncarr.com/series.html

[Cassandra]

Yes, but novellas and short stories are not primary works and are not listed as such on Goodreads, no matter how the author lists them on her website. Therefore they are listed as 1.5, etc., rather than a full series number. Series pages state this when you're looking at the series order.

[Dee]

you can make them full numbers and not mark them as primary works though - my understanding was always that authors website is the guide and if they aren't marked as a series number, then we apply the .5 etc

ETA there is no series guidance/policy in the librarians manual - so i'd recommend not making any changes until GR staff weigh in - either of you - i'll ping one of the superlibrarians as well to ask

[rivka, Former Moderator]

We have always numbered novellas and shorts differently from full novels. That is not a change.

[Dee]

but what if the author says it is 10 on her website, shouldn't we go by that? i couldn't actually find a policy that stated that - i was in general going by the author website for the authoritative for the numbering

she very specifically says #10 in the series is x with novella next to it

[Z-squared]

Dee wrote: "...she very specifically says #10 in the series is x with novella next to it
"

Unfortunately, then I think policy would support changing the novellas/shorts to fractions. The author herself makes it clear that it is a novella, and my reading of the book descriptions for it and the books that come before and after also make it clear it's skippable.

The only exceptions I ever make to this policy are:
1) if all the books in the series are also shorts/novellas, in which case they're all numbered with integers.
2) if the novella is really and truly a main work, such that subsequent full-length novels will be incomprehensible without it. Rare, but it does happen.

However, neither exception applies in this instance.

One compromise when the series numbering in Goodreads and an author's website (or Amazon) conflict is to link to the author's webpage with the preferred reading order in the series description field.

Regardless, the author's website is not the final word on series numbering if it conflicts with GR policy. Lots of authors have multiple series reading orders or have changed series numbering over time with re-releases/re-issues. Sometimes Goodreads is the only place to find a reliable reading order in these instances, partly because we strive so hard to maintain a consistent policy.

[Kathrynn]

I remember when we are just getting started and folks were constantly renumbering a reading order for a series based on a site they used or their own system that they felt was more accurate. It was a mess.

The true source of a book series order is from the author's own numbering system and to deviate from that would lead to confusion.

While I don't agree that this author should give whole numbers to all of her written work, she did, and for us to decide her numbering system should be different seems wrong and inaccurate.

I think if we do not use the author's site as our source for numbering a series reading order and start making up our own reading order, then we will have inaccurate information, people will continue to disagree and change the reading order based on what they feel is more accurate.

There has to be a point where we have a source for the data that we use and what better source than the author's own site.

[Dee]

Either way I think a policy that specifically says if x then y because there currently isn't one - especially if it's going to counter author's website or some other source readers may use to determine series

[Z-squared]

I agree wholeheartedly, Dee

[Meg]

Hey everyone, sorry for the delay and thanks for all the input. We're working on adding guidelines to the Manual for this and hope to have them posted soon - we'll post here once we've done so.

[Cassandra]

I just came across this seemingly new policy on numbering from GR- https://www.goodreads.com/help/show/4..., just an FYI :)

[rivka, Former Moderator]

We did announce the new section. And to be clear, it is not really a new policy, but clarification of what most librarians had been doing for some time.

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

[Cassandra]

rivka wrote: "We did announce the new section. And to be clear, it is not really a new policy, but clarification of what most librarians had been doing for some time.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/......"

Thanks! I knew it was just about clarification, but since I missed the announcement you posted, I thought maybe the others I had been talking with here had missed it too, and they were looking for something to be written in a "policy." But maybe they saw it- thanks again!