Help with Re-Adding Covers

[Maxwell]

I've noticed some of the covers of books I've added have been deleted. The edition is still there with the same ISBN/ASIN, but the cover is just blank or missing.

I've heard it's easy to get the cover re-added by adding an alternate cover edition, but I don't know how to do it. Do I have to be a Librarian to do it?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!





For further reference, here are the books I've noticed vs. the covers they should (used to) be.

Turning Point

https://www.amazon.com/Turning-Point-...

Skin and Bones

https://www.amazon.com/Skin-Bones-Bow...

The Winter Lodge

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08...

Marrying Daisy Bellamy

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09...

[Maxwell]

Any help with this? Greatly appreciated!

[Maxwell]

Anyone able to help me with this? Much appreciated!

[Jeff]

I've also noticed a number of missing images over the last few weeks while scrolling through my shelves. I've never noticed this until recently so I know they had been there at some point. I saw your post while looking into whether this was a known issue of some sort.

These appear a little different than the icon it shows before an image has ever been uploaded. It just looks like the link to the file has been broken or something. I checked this in a couple different browsers just to make sure it isn't a browser-specific display issue of some sort, but same results in all of them.

Anyway, yes a librarian could do this but I'm not sure whether an alternate cover edition is required when an image is missing entirely like this. It's like the image is missing but not exactly, as the editing page has a "Delete Photo" link, rather than the usual "Choose File" button when there is no image file.

Can another librarian please weigh in on whether these can be treated like there is no cover image linked?

[Scott]

The problem with this is that we cannot tell if the image that was there is the same as a new one that would be retrieved. It may have been an earlier cover.

I would suggest contacting support about it; they may have a way of restoring the covers.

[Maxwell]

I will contact support. I think the more the better, as this seems to be an ever-growing issue. Very strange.

[Jeff]

Scott wrote: "The problem with this is that we cannot tell if the image that was there is the same as a new one that would be retrieved. It may have been an earlier cover.

I would suggest contacting support abo..."
Yes, that reason was why I thought it might not be as simple as replacing the cover with the current image from Amazon. Thank you, I did contact Goodreads support also.

[Maxwell]

Thank you both for helping! It helps to know I'm not the only one noticing the issue.

[Jeff]

I got a response from Goodreads support saying that they are aware of the issue and are actively working on fixing the problem.

[Maxwell]

Yes, I got the same message. Glad we all messaged together. Seems to have helped expedite the issue. Thank you again!

[Jeff]

Maxwell wrote: "Yes, I got the same message. Glad we all messaged together. Seems to have helped expedite the issue. Thank you again!"
Perhaps, but I'm still seeing quite a few missing covers in my shelves.

[Maxwell]

I would email the Support Team a list of them. That's what I did and they corrected them all. Might be the only way to go until they figure out whatever this 'bug' is.

[Jeff]

Hmm. I'm curious whether they're fixing (individually) whatever the issue is that's causing the existing images not to display, or if they're just deleting and replacing the image files.

[Maxwell]

Not sure. Probably the former, since it's the easier fix. I'm not a Librarian (yet), so I'm not sure how difficult the bug is to fix in the first place.

[Jeff]

I have no idea what the bug fix entails, but that's something a software developer would be doing, not a librarian. A librarian could delete the non-displaying image and add a new one, but as Scott mentioned above, without being certain that a currently available image would be the same as the existing one, replacing it could violate Goodreads policy.

By "fixing the bug individually", I meant somehow fixing the display issue, one book at a time, without replacing the image. I am still seeing some books with the covers not displaying, but it's only about one out of every 50 to 100 books, so about 1-2%, at least for me.

If Goodreads support is simply deleting and replacing the image, there's still the same issue discussed above with a librarian doing that.