ATT. Jaclyn - The case of two full length prequels

[Tami]

Hello fellow librarians, another full length prequel was just announced for the Hunger Games trilogy.

I found this post by rivka on such cases: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

"Decimals are only used for shorts and novellas. If there were a single prequel of novel length, we would number it #0. Since there are two, they have to be unnumbered."

This is the series page: https://www.goodreads.com/series/7375... it looks a bit weird right now but Sunrise on the Reaping it's not book 4.

Does this mean we have to edit Ballad to make it unnumbered now, or should it remain as zero? Do we have to edit the titles too if that's the case?

[Tami]

....and someone changed it to #0.5. It's not a novella, so that's incorrect. It's not 4 either as I mentioned that because someone set the book to #4 before. I can see this isn't covered in the manual. I'm adding Att. Jaclyn for an official response as I can see this possibly becoming an edit war. Please also consider adding this to the manual.

Here's another response by rivka I found: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

"There cannot be two different books numbered 0, but neither can a novel-length series entry be 0.5. I set the second prequel as unnumbered."

In this case one of the novel-length entries got to keep #0. It was handled differently that the response in my first message (both novel-length entries remained unnumbered.)

[Tami]

Update since my last reply: someone has removed the #0.5 and left it unnumbered. However both prequels are now marked as primary works.

[annob [on hiatus]]

I was hoping for other Librarians to voice their interpretation of policy, but I'd say going with either of Rivka's instructions are ok. As you say it's not worth the pain to go into an editing war to change it back and forth between Rivka's two options.

I've marked both prequels as non-primary items again, as that part is clear when it comes to policy for prequels.

[Arenda]

annob wrote: "I was hoping for other Librarians to voice their interpretation of policy, "

There is a similar issue with this series: https://www.goodreads.com/series/2101... that also has two prequels that were published later than the main books.

That series page has a note:
Though the numbering is nontraditional, the prequels are full length and should be left as primary works.
Numbered according to thread here- https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/....

look at the response in #34: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

which is contradicted years later here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[annob [on hiatus]]

Thank you Arenda, good threads to read through. I would say a newer staff decision overrules an older decision.

As for full length prequels as primary items, this is my bookmarked staff comment that they should not be.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Tami]

Thank you annob and Arenda. Just another update: Goodreads staff has changed it to #0.5 again. Just the title was changed, the series page remains the same.

Edit Jun 13, 2024: Someone edited the series page to #0.5.

[Tami]

Bump.

[Tami]

Bump. The series page was edited again, this time to remove the numbering. However, '0.5' still remains in the title fields for the book.

[Jaclyn, Librarian Program Manager]

Hi Tami. I've amended the series page. Reaching out internally to align on the book page title.

[Tami]

Jaclyn wrote: "Hi Tami. I've amended the series page. Reaching out internally to align on the book page title."

Hi Jaclyn, I wanted to follow up on this. Has there been any update on aligning the book page title? Thanks!

[Tami]

Jaclyn wrote: "Hi Tami. I've amended the series page. Reaching out internally to align on the book page title."

I noticed the series page was changed again despite your previous update. I did remove the numbering from the boxsets since the prequels were supposed to remain unnumbered, but I didn’t touch the prequels themselves. Should we wait for the book title changes before adjusting the prequels on the series page again? I’d rather not risk an edit being flagged on the series page if it's still under review.

Edit: The boxsets edit was also reverted.

[Emily]

I just found this thread as someone labeled "Sunrise" as .5 and I was wondering what if anything to number it since .5 would be wrong. As I suspected this had already come up.
I took out the .5 from the default edition title field.
I left it unnumbered. "Ballads" is numbered as 0. If anyone has further guidance please share. Thanks!

[Emily]

Someone has re-numbered it to 0.5. I changed it to unnumbered on the series page. It may help if there is a librarian note added to the series page and to the default edition.