Goodreads Librarians Group discussion
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My book floating in system, How do I claim it as author?
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Laura
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Jan 03, 2017 02:56AM
I have an author page here and earlier books. I made an entry for my new book, The Three-Headed Dog, but something went wrong in the system. The book is out there in Goodreads database with data I entered though missing its cover (ASIN: B01N2V79UC). But I see no way to claim it as mine, and if I try to Add Book I get an error message. The book is up okay on my Amazon author page amazon.com/author/lauraagustin. Can someone delete the free-floating one so I can start over? Or what should I do? Many thanks for help.
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It's just a matter of changing the author name on the floating book to match your existing profile. You have no authority over it because at the moment it doesn't know its yours. You need a librarian to fix it.Working on it :)
You forgot your middle name. Added it and now it should appear on your profile soon
I added the cover from Amazon. Someone else added your author name as a secondary name to get the book to your profile.
OK found a couple of Sex at the Margins as well. At the moment we can't combine anything as the PTB are doing maintenance, hopefully tomorrow.You've actually published Three-Headed Dog under the other name, Maria Agustin, so that will remain the primary author. I've added your GR author name to it so it shows on your author page as well. But it means you can't do any edits to it as you aren't the primary author.
I suggest you claim the Maria Agustin name as well, though I think you need an extra email account to do so. I'm not too sure on Author stuff.
You can find out through the GR Author Feedback Group, they'll know.
Sandra wrote: "OK found a couple of Sex at the Margins as well. At the moment we can't combine anything as the PTB are doing maintenance, hopefully tomorrow.You've actually published Three-Headed Dog under the ..."
Thank you everyone. My name is Laura Agustín on The Three-Headed Dog. In Sex at the Margins my middle name was present: Laura Maria Agustín, and that appears in some of my chapters in books seen on Amazon. But my name is never Maria Agustín without the Laura. Before publishing the Dog I checked with Kindle support and they said both names were okay. When I made the entry here for the Dog I used what has become my conventional name (I suppose it's personality development over time.)
Lachgas wrote: "You forgot your middle name. Added it and now it should appear on your profile soon"I didn't forget the middle name, I just didn't use it for this book.
Sorry Laura, I meant Laura Agustin not Maria :)
Laura wrote: "Lachgas wrote: "You forgot your middle name. Added it and now it should appear on your profile soon"I didn't forget the middle name, I just didn't use it for this book."
but your profile here is Laura Maria Augstin at the moment and books do only appear in your profile when the name matches. (until you claim the laura augstin profile)
Laura publishes under both names, so hopefully the librarian who said they combined them has reverted those changes.
Sandra wrote: "Laura publishes under both names, so hopefully the librarian who said they combined them has reverted those changes."The way it looks now, the profile name at the top has all three names. Some of the books listed have both versions of my name - which seems like a good solution.
By 'claiming' the 2-name version (no Maria between Laura and Agustín), do you mean I'd have to maintain 2 separate profiles? That would be a drag, and search machines generally find me even when the surname is spelled wrong. But I am completely inexperienced at Goodreads so will do what you think best. Thank you again.
Sandra wrote: "Sorry Laura, I meant Laura Agustin not Maria :)"fine, I imagine there is a person with that name out there who might be miffed!
Sandra wrote: "OK found a couple of Sex at the Margins as well. At the moment we can't combine anything as the PTB are doing maintenance, hopefully tomorrow.You've actually published Three-Headed Dog under the ..."
What is it I won't be able to edit? Do I need to ask in another group?
If you want to keep both versions of your name, there will be two separate profiles. You won't be able to edit books that have Laura Agustín as primary author, unless you claim that profile as well (using a different email address and password).But if you prefer to have one profile, all books could have Laura Maria Agustín listed as the one and only author, because it encompasses the name Laura Agustín.
I am able to get into the edit book details for this new book, The Three-Headed Dog. Both versions of my name are listed for it - one above the other. I don't have any changes to make at the moment so can't test to see if I would be allowed, but I'm in there.
At the top of the page is a place to leave a note for a librarian, and I've written something there. Will it go out when I save changes at the bottom (although I made no changes)?
Librarian notes don't go out anywhere, they are only seen if someone is already looking at the book to edit something else. If you want to contact the librarians directly to get something done, you need to post on this group.Otherwise, as lethe explained in #14.
We can
a) Move all books to have Laura Maria Agustín.
b) Leave all the books with the name per their covers and maintain two entirely separate profiles. You will not be able to edit the ones on the Laura Agustín profile unless you claim it. This is the default, what we'd do normally, with a link from one to the other in the bio.
c) Put both variants on all the books, with the name on the cover first, and the other variant secondary as has been done for this book. Again you won't be able to edit any of the books in the Laura Agustín profile unless you claim it.
So you need to decide:
- Do you want all your books to show on a single profile (whether you claim it or not) or is it ok that there are two, since they can be easily linked.
- If you do, do you want to maintain both profiles, or only one.
- If only one, which one?
Laura wrote: "I am able to get into the edit book details for this new book, The Three-Headed Dog. Both versions of my name are listed for it - one above the other. I don't have any changes to make at the momen..."
That is because your claimed name is listed first, which is incorrect. The name as it appears on the cover should be first listed, and then you wouldn't be able to make changes to the record.
I see that you yourself changed the author order. I don't know how you were able to do that, but it is incorrect. I changed it back on this edition. I'll wait with the others until we know whether you would like to have one or two author names.https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
lethe wrote: "I see that you yourself changed the author order. I don't know how you were able to do that, but it is incorrect. I changed it back on this edition. I'll wait with the others until we know whether ..."I didn't touch anything. I just went in to look and see.
Krazykiwi wrote: "Librarian notes don't go out anywhere, they are only seen if someone is already looking at the book to edit something else. If you want to contact the librarians directly to get something done, you..."'So you need to decide:
- Do you want all your books to show on a single profile (whether you claim it or not) or is it ok that there are two, since they can be easily linked.
- If you do, do you want to maintain both profiles, or only one.
- If only one, which one?
Since this is my first day on GR I don't know what the ramifications are. I will claim the name Laura Agustín if that is sensible and I know how to do it. All the books need to be together on one page. The earlier books with 3 names still sell. The present book and future ones will only have 2 names, because that's how things have developed on social media.
Laura wrote: "I didn't touch anything. I just went in to look and see."According to the changelog, you changed the primary author...!?
Since my computer becomes incredibly slow in the course of the day, I'm not going to do any more edits this evening. I'd appreciate it if another librarian changed the primary author to Laura Agustín on the books that have that name on the cover. If not, it will have to wait until tomorrow.
Laura wrote: "Since this is my first day on GR I don't know what the ramifications are. I will claim the name Laura Agustín if that is sensible and I know how to do it. All the books need to be together on one page. The earlier books with 3 names still sell. The present book and future ones will only have 2 names, because that's how things have developed on social media. "So we still don't know what you want.
You can have one profile (with all three names) and we will move all the books there.
Or you can have the books show on both profiles, claimed or not. In which case all the books will have both names listed (the one on the cover of the first published edtion goes first on ALL editions, the other name goes second.)
And then you can choose which (either or both) you want to have claimed.
The ramifications are:
If you pick to use the full name profile, all your new books will probably be imported to the other name, since that's how they're published. You'll need to ask for them to be moved in this group. This is no problem, it takes a few seconds.
Lethe; I'll go through them and fix the names for now.
lethe wrote: "Laura wrote: "I didn't touch anything. I just went in to look and see."According to the changelog, you changed the primary author...!?
Since my computer becomes incredibly slow in the course of ..."
It's not true, I wouldn't have dared. I think it happened early on, just after I posted my first query.
How do I 'claim' the other author-name?
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...Click the "Is this you" at the bottom of the page. You'll need to use another email address though, than the one you already used.
I should point out, there's really no issue from GR's side to having two profiles. Many authors do it on purpose to distinguish genre (and it might even make sense to do so in your case.) Just add a link from one to the other and readers will find your books: "Also publishes non-fiction as ..." on one and "Also publishes as ..." on the other.
Krazykiwi wrote: "https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...Click the "Is this you" at the bottom of the page. You'll need to use another email address though, than the one you already used.
I sh..."
Sorry I am not able to know what's best so fast! I definitely do not want to separate by genre, since producing different sorts of writing that address the same topics is important to me and what I will be blogging about.
There's no rush either! Think about it for a day or two or however long you like - all your books are currently connected and show up on both profiles (and when the combine function is back from the current maintenance, editions of the same books will be combined too).
Krazykiwi wrote: "There's no rush either! Think about it for a day or two or however long you like - all your books are currently connected and show up on both profiles (and when the combine function is back from th..."thank you - I'll think it through and come back.
Laura wrote: "Krazykiwi wrote: "https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...Click the "Is this you" at the bottom of the page. You'll need to use another email address though, than the one you a..."
I signed up with another email in another browser and went to The Three-Headed Dog. There isn't a 'Is this you?' at the bottom of the page.
Both versions of my name appear, with GR author next to the 3-part one. In the details it says 'Published December 17th 2016 by Laura Maria Agustín'. (I've had an Amazon-author account since 2007 or 8 that I used to move into publishing this ebook. )
Or have I missed something else?
Yes, both versions of your name appear, because a librarian added the other one (today), so that the books would appear on both profiles. However you can't claim a book, you can only claim an author profile - that's what the link I gave you was to, the Laura Augustín profile.
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Mod
Actually, no two author profiles can have the same incoming blog feed.
Krazykiwi wrote: "Yes, both versions of your name appear, because a librarian added the other one (today), so that the books would appear on both profiles. However you can't claim a book, you can only claim an aut..."
All right, I'm doing it for author, but at the top are book covers with both versions of the name. Not a problem?
Not a problem. There is some ongoing site maintenance preventing us combining those as the feature is currently turned off, but it will be done in a day or two.
rivka wrote: "Krazykiwi wrote: "There's no problem connecting your blog to both profiles, if you claim them, either."Actually, no two author profiles can have the same incoming blog feed."
I don't see the advantage for me of having two different profiles. Already someone has tagged one of them and not the other. I don't want to need to check two places either.
There's an advantage if you want it that way, if you don't, there isn't. Some authors do, some authors don't, which is why we're all trying to avoid telling you what to choose, because it's up to you and doesn't really make any difference to us :)The only issue is, if you want to have one profile, it has to be the one with the more complete name: Laura María Augustín. If all your future books will be published with the shorter name, you may not want that (in which case, you could still claim both and replace the bio on the one you don't want to monitor with a link to the one you do.)
This is a site-wide policy because of how the GR search engine works. People who search for your shorter name will still find you, but if we went the other way around, people who searched for your longer name would not necessarily find your profile.
If that's what you want done, then we can post it on the appropriate thread, and the profiles will be merged, probably in a day or two. Again, there's no rush here, think it over.
Krazykiwi wrote: "Not a problem. There is some ongoing site maintenance preventing us combining those as the feature is currently turned off, but it will be done in a day or two."I did it. And I was sent to a page about names that includes 'However, we can add one common name of your choosing to each book published under each of your other pen names. This would automatically bring together all of your titles on your profile page.' (I know you mentioned this above) Although they are not pen names, and I understood there was a problem of not being able to edit some things.
As an author, you can only edit the books that have your claimed author name in primary author position. The books show on every listed authors profile (even if there's ten or 50 authors), but only the first one in the list can edit them. So we added both names, so now they show on both profiles currently.
If you're going to be publishing as Laura Augustín going forward, that probably isn't going to be much of an issue, because the books on the other one really don't need any editing.
I know we're trying to avoid telling you what to do, but here is what I think would best achieve what you want:
- Claim both profiles (as you have) but just ignore the Laura María Augustín one. Replace the bio there with a note that says something to the effect of "Now publishing as Laura Augustín, please follow that profile."
- Unhook your blog from that profile, and post a blog post on the built-in GR blog to say you will be publishing on the other profile from now on. Any friends or followers on that profile would get that blog post in their updates feed.
- Hook up your blog to the new (Laura Augustín) profile.
- Just pretend the other one doesn't exist. Unless you publish new editions of the books with the full name (and even then, you can just ask us here in this group to do any editing necessary). All your books are already on the new profile, and any new books will show up there anyway and it's newly added books that you are most likely to need to edit/update info on.
Krazykiwi wrote: "As an author, you can only edit the books that have your claimed author name in primary author position. The books show on every listed authors profile (even if there's ten or 50 authors), but on..."
Right, now I have more a sense of what it's all about. I appreciate the time you've taken. Now going to sleep and mull upon it (as well as see what things look like after the construction work now underway ceases).
Only PS and I say it with a chuckle is neither of my surnames has a u after the A - which people ubiquitously add as you have abive. Google-searches have learned to overcome the habit. Don't know about Goodreads!
Gah. Sorry! I got it right on most of the posts :) (Unfortunately GR's search engine is pretty twitchy unless you get the name exactly right)
I'm back and readier to make the decisions. I did 'claim' the shorter name and even added a picture and other details (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/6...), but when I search for that author now the page seems empty. On the LMA (all 3 names) author page a book is missing that was there before.
I don't know whether GR allows one to claim all the books one has contributed to, as Amazon does. Those come in both LMA and LA.
I want everything on one page (as it is on Amazon).
I don't know what it means to be able to edit a book.
I don't want to have to log out and log in to sign in, with 2 separate identities/procedures.
I am not sure how this all started, why The Three-Headed Dog went out floating in space. If it fixes things I can change author-name on the kindle site to include Maria, even though I didn't use that on the cover or title page.
I could have a single LMA page if those searching for laura agustin will be sent there in the GR search system. As noted before some will be searching for augustin, augustine, agostino and so on. Also with and without the í in Agustín.
What I don't want to do is set anything in concrete re Past versus Future. I talk to readers frequently about Sex at the Margins (2007). It has been reprinted often. I will now be blogging about it and the new book in the same breath.
You will note there's an Audible version of Sex at the Margins, on which they've put the generic green-white cover plus only LA (not LMA which is the author name on other editions).
Thank you again for help in an unexpectedly complicated situation.
The shorter name you link to is a user profile. It should have been merged with the author profile you claimed, you should let Support know.These are the two author profiles:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... (claimed)
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
If you want everything on one page, and no two logins, you can have Laura María Agustín as the sole author on all the books, see the last sentence in my comment #14. People searching for Laura Agustín would still find all the books.
yes lethe but I did make a new ID to log in with and claimed LA already a few days ago. I have a screenshot of that with the different photo I uploaded to the profile. It's gone. And books that were there are gone and also on the LMA profile.
Using the link given by krazykiwi several days ago I clicked 'Is this you?' and got the message Sorry, you are already in the author program as Laura María Agustín and only one author profile may be claimed at a time. For more information click here. I did click there (some days ago) and wrote the necessary information required by Support, along with an explanation of what's going on here. I received a confirmation of something for that new profile.
You can only claim two different author profiles if you use two different email addresses and logins. It sounds like you didn't do that.Anyway, librarians can't help with that sort of thing. You should probably wait until Support gets back to you.
As I said above I made a new ID to join, also using a different browser. That message came up. Maybe the site-maintenance mentioned going on got in the way.
But did you use a different email address?
It's been two weeks since I first asked my question on 3 Jan. On 8 Jan I followed up with more specific questions. Nothing has happened that I know of.I did again do what I was advised at the beginning - to 'claim' The Three-Headed Dog as a separate author with the name Laura Agustín. I promise I did that correctly with a separate email account, but I have had no word from Support, which is where one gets sent to when making the claim.
I'm willing to put everything under one name to avoid having to switch accounts to do things. (But I never got the second account). I understand that the 3-name version is the feasible one. NB
I have more books claimed on Amazon, under both versions of the name. And I note that the audible version of Sex at the Margins gives only the 2-name version.
I am not sure what is included in 'editing' books, but it doesn't make sense to me to not be able to fix or change things on books with both versions of the names.
I don't know how the new book ended up 'floating' in the first place but would it fix things for me to change the name on the kindle data (my amazon account) to include the middle name?
I appreciate the help because I would like to begin using GR but not before things are clearer. Thank you.
We didn't do anything because we wanted to wait until things were clearer too. We can't proceed until we know if there should be one or two author profiles.I see your user profile still exists. If I were you, I would check with Support to see what's going on with the second author profile you claimed. If you don't want to switch accounts each time when doing edits, it makes sense to have only the Laura Maria Agustín profile, as I suggested in msg #14.
If you do want to have two author profiles, then Support needs to approve the new one. Nothing librarians can do until then.
support (at) goodreads (dot) com
Thank you. Can you tell me what you mean by 'edits'? I am still not clear.I thought I had to have 2 in order for the latest book to get an author.
Do you know why both versions of my name are visible next to the books?
Edits = changes. If you one day wanted to reword the description, you will either have to have claimed the profile to change it yourself, or ask a librarian to change it by posting here. This is the main reason to claim the profile.You wanted all the books to show on the Laura Agustin profile. Because we can not change the first author on the Laura Maria Agustin profile, the only way to do that is to add both names.
IF you want all the books on one profile, it must be the Laura Maria Agustin profile, for technical reasons relating to the search engine. For that to happen, staff need to help out. We are not staff.
