Book image not returned in API results, but appears on goodreads.com and in JS widget

[Chris]

I'm currently working with the review/list method of the API, and for some books I get the "nophoto" placeholder image if there is no book cover image available. For example:

https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophot...

Curiously, this is also happening for some books that _do_ have a cover on goodreads.com, and the cover also shows up on your JS widget.

An example is the excellent 'Wait Until Spring, Bandini' (book ID 1471028), which gives me the placeholder image via the API:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2...

...but has a cover image elsewhere on Goodreads:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2...

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2...

Any ideas what might be causing this?

[Michael]

I suspect this is due to the licensing terms on those book images. The API surfaces only the data we are allowed to syndicate.

[Chris]

Thanks for the reply Michael.

Are your externally-embeddable JS widget and the API covered by different licensing terms? Do you know what proportion of books roughly are affected by this API restriction?

I'm trying to assess the impact for users switching from a plugin based on the JS widget to a new one that uses your API directly.