[Answered] Author name/profile question

[♪ Kim N]

It's about this profile: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

I don't know why, but I'm always confused when the author is published under different names. I know that the primary author name needs to be the same in order to combine books. I was also instructed that the primary author should match the book cover. In this case I think it makes sense to have the profile under the author's full name. So is that what takes precedence?

[Arenda]

Kim N wrote: "I know that the primary author name needs to be the same in order to combine books."

This is true. It can also give technical issues when not all combined editions have the same primary author.

I was also instructed that the primary author should match the book cover.
This is not always true. There are many different situations:

- published under multiple names/pseudonyms: primary author should be the name under which it was first published, on all editions. Name on cover as secondary author when it is different from the primary author.

- when an author uses a different version of their name on editions of the same book (or on different books), the more complete version of their name can be used for all their books, but only when that longer name completely includes the shorter version.
(Example: when Richard Author also publishes under R. Author or Rich Author, Richard Author completely includes the other versions. When Richard Author also publishes as Dick Author, the longer name does not completely includes the shorter name. And the same when first name and initials are different.)

This is also not something that should always be done. When an author has published almost all their books under initials, I would not change the complete profile to their full name.
This situation is also very common for authors whose books are in the public domain. When they were published during their lifetime under their initials, that would be the primary author, no matter how many public domain editions use the full name on the cover.

Exception: when the author deliberately uses different versions for different genres.

As for your specific example: I think it is fine to merge both David Estrada and David Estrada-Herrero into David Estrada Herrero.

[♪ Kim N]

Thank you for the thorough explanation, Arenda. I really appreciate it.

[Arenda]

You're welcome.

I'm sure there are even more situations than what I've described.
When in doubt, it's always fine to ask for a second opinion from another Librarian.