Books On Track discussion
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Thenia
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Sep 21, 2020 08:32AM
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You can use the 'something-missing' form in the author's page or the 'Contact us' form, (or the 'something-missing' form in any page really, as long as there is enough information included).
The series I wanted to add (V. I. Warshawski) can't be done from an author page, as the author isn't in the database yet. I'll send something through Contact Us; what info do you need?And did I say yet that you're a rock star? You're a rock star! This is fantastic. Thank you for all your hard work on this!
Hi.. Is the site now up? Where can I find it?
Mod
And did I say yet that you're a rock star? You're a rock star! This is fantastic. Thank you for all your hard work on this!"
Aww, I'm glad you like it MBP!
I've added the V.I. Warshawski series to my list of series I need to add to the database so you don't have to add it again, but generally I need a link to the Goodreads/Amazon/author's website page that has the book/series you want added, or if you don't have any links handy, the author and series/book name would suffice.
Mod
Hi Janice, I'm currently testing the site, so only the testers have access to it, but hopefully it will be open to everyone by the end of this month.
I will make an announcement on this group (and change the group name with the site's title!) when it's ready, so please bear with me a little bit longer.
Thenia, I have just DM'd you. 😊
MBP wrote: "The series I wanted to add (V. I. Warshawski) can't be done from an author page, as the author isn't in the database yet. I'll send something through Contact Us; what info do you need?And did I s..."
Actually, the first book in that series was added to the database back in 2008. And she's been a GR author since 2011.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...
Mod
..."
I meant the site's database, but thanks for the link Sandra! - That's what I need from future missing books you guys spot. ;)
I don't think this will work for me as I have over 30 exclusive shelfs where I put books I have to read in either a genre or series (for series I am currently reading/need to read) shelves. only books that showed when I loaded csv was my read, to-read.
Mod
Hey Shane - I have left instructions for the import where I explain what you need to do before importing your csv.
In a nutshell, the only acceptable values for the Exclusive Shelf column (column S) are:
- 'read'
- 'to-read' or 'currently-reading'
- 'dnf', 'dropped' or 'skipped'
I cannot program the script to accept custom Exclusive Shelf names, since everybody uses their own style and wording, but all of them belong to one of the above three.
You will need to process your csv file using a spreadsheet processing software, like Google Sheets or Excel or similar, before importing:
- Filter your csv by column S to only mark the shelves that you use for books you've read and rename the shelf name to 'Read', then filter the shelves that contain books you want to read and rename them to 'To-read' and then the same for dropped books if you log those.
If your exclusive shelves contain both books you have read and ones you want to read, then I'm afraid you will either have to process the csv further, or add the books manually from their pages or the Next Books list page.
Hope that helps!
Edit: I just had a quick look at your shelves, and from what I understand you use 'g-genre name' for books of the genre that you want to read etc, correct? If so, you will need to filter by all of the 'g-genre name' and 's-series title' shelves in the Exclusive Column of your csv and rename all of them to 'To-read', or do a quick find and replace all for each of the shelves.
I feel like this is a dumb question, but here we go. Where do I get my Goodreads CSV? I love that that's an option. I just don't know how to even find it. (It would take me HOURS to manually get it all on the site.)
If you go to your My Books page, there should be a set of links running vertically along the left side with headings like Bookshelves, Your Reading Activity, etc. The very last one is Tools, and there's an Import/Export option. If you click that, it will take you to a page with an Export Library button.
Esther wrote: "If you go to your My Books page, there should be a set of links running vertically along the left side with headings like Bookshelves, Your Reading Activity, etc. The very last one is Tools, and th..."Thank you so much! I feel like such an idiot. I knew I'd seen it but couldn't find my way back to it! I appreciate the help! :-)
Heather wrote: "I feel like this is a dumb question, but here we go. Where do I get my Goodreads CSV? I love that that's an option. I just don't know how to even find it. (It would take me HOURS to manually get it all on the site.)"Just popping in to say that is not a dumb question Heather, because the link is not easy to find here and I'm glad someone helped you get to it.
kittykat (Jo Tortitude) wrote: "Just popping in to say that is not a dumb question Heather, because the link is not easy to find here and I'm glad someone helped you get to it."Thank you! I was just telling my students and kids this week that the only stupid question is the one you don't ask. Time to internalize that one! LOL
I have it all sorted out now. I am very grateful for the help! :-)
Heather wrote: "... the only stupid question is the one you don't ask. ..."So very true!
I'm wondering how best to submit a 'something missing' request for multi author/multi series anthologies?For authors I usually start form from Search page filling top box 'Author- Name' and bottom box 'link to most complete website'
For series I start from that authors listing and fill top box 'Series- name of series' and bottom box 'name of author and link to most complete list for that series'
For a book I start in the series it belongs to in top box 'Book-name of book' bottom box I usually tell series name and author then link to the book'.
With anthologies being anywhere from two to twenty or more books and/or series along with possibly authors who aren't yet on the site yet what info is going to be most helpful?
Mod
Multi author series are tricky since they require quite a bit more processing on our end.
You can follow your process of requesting a series starting from the page of one of its authors that's already in the database (or starting from the Search page if none of its authors are in the database yet) with the link to the series in the bottom box
followed by a list of the authors involved in the series.
- With anthologies being anywhere from two to twenty or more books and/or series along with possibly authors who aren't yet on the site yet what info is going to be most helpful?
Anthologies are even trickier and the way to request them depends on whether you want to request a specific short story or all of the stories in the anthology.
The short stories included in anthologies are added separately to the relevant series, so if your request is for a specific story in an anthology that is missing from a series already in the database, then you can request the short story as you would request a book, providing the anthology link as the book link.
If you would like to request all stories of the anthology to be added, the ideal for us would be separate requests for the short stories/series/authors that are missing.
Second best option for us would be one request with a list of the stories and series/authors in the anthology that we'll need to add.
Third option is a request for the anthology, with a note that you would like all of the stories/series/authors in it to be added.
The more information (with links) you provide, especially for complex cases like these, the less time it will take Kelly to process the request and pass it on to me for further processing before the information is added to the database.
I purposefully left the "something-missing" forms flexible, so that you can request the information from anywhere, and provide as much or as little information as you deem necessary, whether that's simply an author name, or a series with a detailed multi-author list etc.
Hope that answered your questions!
I've just discovered your site and it is great (I'm another user who sorely missed FictFact).I've seen that you say that if books were included in an imported CSV file but don't appear in your database, that they are automatically included in a list that will be manually added to the database - is that correct?
Do you have any general time frame about how long that takes? No pressure, just asking.
Thanks!
Mod
I've seen that you say that if books were included in an imported CSV file but don't appear in your da..."
Glad you found the site Linda!
Data from imported CSV files are indeed added to a list for processing, but requests sent in through the 'something-missing' forms are prioritized.
At this time processing requests submitted via the 'something-missing' forms takes from a few days to a few weeks, depending on the volume of requests we've received and barring any real life issues. Emails are sent out so that you'll know when each request has been fully processed.
Adding the data from the imported CSV files is a long term goal and the data on that list is ordered by algorithms that combine a number of factors, which means that the data from your import will most likely be processed at different times that, unfortunately, can't be specified.
No emails are sent out when data from this list is processed, so I would recommend using the 'something-missing' forms to send in your requests if you would like to receive notifications when the data is added to the database.
Enjoy the site!
Hi Thenia,I really love what you've done with Books on Track - if it's not already on your to do list, I'd really like it if I could reorder my Next Books list so that I could choose which ones I could put at the top (depending on what I was planning to read next and then I could put ones that have not yet been published further down the list) - I really appreciate all the work you've done. Thank you!
Mod
I really love what you've done with Books on Track - if it's not already on your to do list, I'd really like it if I could reorder my Next Books list so that I could choose which ones I..."
I'm glad you like the site Cindy!
Making the Next Books list sortable is already on my list for code fixes for a future release of the site, but I don't know when it will happen exactly. For the time being I am focusing on processing the many 'something-missing' requests we are receiving daily and growing the database.
There will be an announcement when I eventually update any features on the site to keep you guys informed, but it will likely be quite a while before that happens.
Hi Thenia,As authors and series are missing you would probably start getting many duplicate submissions. I would recommend building a google y form where people can submit new author and series as well as check what has already been submitted. Then you or other editors can easily mark thorough what you have added.
Mod
As authors and series are missing you would probably start getting many duplicate submissions. I would recommend building a google y form where people can submit new author and series as..."
Hey Daniyal,
Thanks for the recommendation, but creating a form like that would mean having someone maintaining and updating it, and we simply don't have the manpower for that.
For the time being we are not really receiving that many duplicate requests, and I recommend that people submit their requests even if they think they might be duplicates.
I know you have mentioned plans to incorporate some way to add books off goodreads imports down the road. Are you also planning to implement any other automatic updating at least when an author has been added? Some authors release books very frequently so right now these books are usually missing when I import my goodreads. For example, I just submitted 7 books for one author who was already on the site.
Mod
There are already a number of processes and periodical checks in place to update the data and add missing series and books to authors already in the database using a number of sources, including, but not limited to, Goodreads.
However, the necessary information is not always readily available and requires manual intervention, which means that I can only automate things up to a point.
Additionally, new requests take priority, and when there is a backlog these periodical updates are pushed back.
In a nutshell, I'm afraid we can't completely avoid the need to submit requests for missing data no matter how many processes I automate.
