Please delete these books

[Gareth]

Hi,

Could a super-librarian please delete all editions of the following books? Both were projected works that were subsequently cancelled.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

Thank you,

Gareth.

[Sandra]

Hi Gareth,

Supers don't have that power. You'll have to contact support.

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

[Gareth]

Thanks, Sandra.

I think I've been down this path before with other books. I was told that they can't be deleted because they have reviews(!). Even though there is (and will be) nothing to review.

I wondered if a super-librarian would have greater discretion.

[Sandra]

No, supers are volunteers, only staff can make such a decision.

[Gareth]

Ok, thank you, Sandra. I'll approach them.

[lethe]

Subsequently cancelled? One has a pub date of 2018, the other has two editions published in 2012 and 2014, according to the info.

And I see you merged that 2014 edition with ISBNs 1405160098/9781405160094. Deleting editions with valid ISBNs is against policy.

[Gareth]

I merged the 2014 edition, thinking I could then delete both editions together.

I say "subsequently" meaning "subsequent to their being projected for publication". At the time the info was added, those were the projected publication dates.

Incidentally, I was not due to write the Churchill book, only to illustrate it (so the book not only does not exist, the author is incorrect).

[Gareth]

This seems like a problem with the Goodreads system. If a book is added with a publication date in the future, and then that time passes, does that mean the book has been published? Possibly not. Books get cancelled. Does anyone/thing check? I suspect not. In the meantime, various people rate the unpublished books - perhaps because they are trying to make out they've read more books than they have, or they're bots - and then this seems to add weight to idea that they were published. And of course they have an ISBN (because they were scheduled to be published, and acquiring an ISBN is part of that process). And so even when the projected author of the book comes to Goodreads and says, "You know, these books were never written, and never will be," Goodreads doesn't believe them.

[lethe]

Gareth wrote: "Books get cancelled. Does anyone/thing check? I suspect not."

No, of course we do not and cannot check whether all books published worldwide have actually been published.

You have been a Goodreads Author since 2016. It is your responsibility as the author to check whether the information on your page is correct. Yet you waited until now to have those books removed.

Librarians do not have the authority to remove apparently valid editions, that is why you will have to contact staff.

[Gareth]

And here I am contacting you! I'm not blaming Goodreads for having out of date information - as you point out, there has been time for me to correct it. In fact, I have attempted to do so, previously, and was told that the fact that the books had reviews/ratings meant they could not be removed! Reviews for a non-existent book! I was hoping that Goodreads policies had changed, or else that I would find someone more helpful and sympathetic.

[lethe]

Gareth wrote: "And here I am contacting you! I'm not blaming Goodreads for having out of date information - as you point out, there has been time for me to correct it. In fact, I have attempted to do so, previous..."

As Sandra already told you, we at the Librarians Group are not staff.

To contact Support: https://www.goodreads.com/about/conta...

[Gareth]

I understood that prior to your comment, when Sandra kindly explained that super-librarians do not have the power to remove books with ISBNS.

Apologies if I was mistaken, but I took your initial comment as implying that I was trying to do something nefarious (delete valid books). I'm just trying to make my author profile accurate.

Anyway, thank you for your assistance. I have contacted support.