New Book with New ASIN etc.

[Z-squared]

I've seen this happen in the past. Short answer is... ask Rivka. Long answer is... I very much doubt you will get an exception granted, but I suppose it depends on just how different the new book is from the old. Are we talking a 10,000 word short story that became an 80,000 word book? Does the new book have an entirely different ending? New characters? New setting? Would someone who had read the old book have the plot of the new book spoiled for them?

Regardless, you'll probably end up talking to support at some point, so you might try contacting them directly:

https://www.goodreads.com/about/conta...

In the end, if you do have to combine them together, it's not the end of the world because as the author, you can set the new edition as default. And you can adjust the book description of the old edition to indicate that it is no longer available, as well as the blurb of the new edition that it has been edited and expanded from the original. See this example:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

[Z-squared]

Yeah, I can understand the frustration of not being in control of how your books are presented. I'm not an author, so my opinion is worth bupkis, but I figure the benefits of having a platform like Goodreads to help spread the word and connect with readers outweighs the pain of learning how to deal with its quirks :P If you're patient and willing to muddle through message boards like this one, there's usually some sort of workaround to most problems you'll come across anyway.

I'll also point out that even if YOU choose not to put your books on this site, your readers might. Plus we get autoimports from big databases like Amazon, so if you publish in any semi-traditional format (e.g., get ISBNs and sell on big retailer websites), your books WILL eventually make it on here. Better to take an active role, I would think, than to just let the process work indifferently.

[Z-squared]

Ha! Grrl power, indeed :)