Attn: Jaclyn, Has the policy on subscription only books changed?

[Tal]

Asking because of the following request ->

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

ETA: since topic was mysteriously deleted these are the books it was referencing,

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

These were available only through Broken Binding subscription service and last I knew they sold out and none were available for sale to the general public.

https://www.fondalee.com/2024/05/gree...

So, has the policy changed and now books only available through subscription services are valid to be added to GR?

It was clearly known that it was subscriber only since the information was added to the Edition field:

[Jaclyn, Librarian Program Manager]

No, these books are not permitted.

[Tal]

Jaclyn wrote: "No, these books are not permitted."

Thanks for the answer, I doubted it but so many have been getting added that I felt I should at least double check.

I assume volunteers can mark editions created by other volunteers Invalid/Deleted based on shelvings but I should contact support about ineligible editions created by GR employees, same as any other edit done by someone with higher privileges than volunteers?

Based on a conversation I had with a VL that had no idea about subscription print books from various platforms not being eligible, it might be worth fleshing out the manual in that section to explain about membership/subscription sites like Owlcrate, Illumicrate, Fairyloot, The Bookish Box, etc that unless they are selling these exclusive editions to the general public (usually leftover/unsold inventory made available in the public online store) they don't meet GR criteria to be added based on the subscriber/member only method of obtaining them.

It is easy to make the assumption that the subscription aspect of "Stories or books only available via subscription to a newsletter,.." applies only to digital books and not print if you don't have years of experience here.

[Jaclyn, Librarian Program Manager]

Probably best to contact Support so we can make sure the employee is coached on the policy.

Thanks for the suggestion on the Librarian Manual - I'll make a note to look into this the next time I'm working on it.

[Emmy]

Tal wrote: "...Based on a conversation I had with a VL that had no idea about subscription print books from various platforms not being eligible, it might be worth fleshing out the manual in that section to explain about membership/subscription sites like Owlcrate, Illumicrate, Fairyloot, The Bookish Box, etc that unless they are selling these exclusive editions to the general public (usually leftover/unsold inventory made available in the public online store) they don't meet GR criteria to be added based on the subscriber/member only method of obtaining them."

With regard to The Bookish Box see its comment in another topic:

Hi [librarian's name]. Per the comment you directed me to, it states that they are not eligible unless they are available to the general public.

If you go to the Bookish Box website, you will find that we do in fact sell these books to the public both online and in our upcoming brick-and-mortar store.
...

[Tal]

Emmy wrote: "With regard to The Bookish Box see its comment in another topic:"

See the following:

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

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

As I mentioned in my reply to Jaclyn above, "..that unless they are selling these exclusive editions to the general public (usually leftover/unsold inventory made available in the public online store) they don't meet GR criteria to be added based on the subscriber/member only method of obtaining them."

They are subscriber platforms by default and they do sell to the general public but on a case by case basis. The default assumption should be that they are not eligible until you can confirm they are available for sale in the public (as opposed to member only) online store on their respective websites.

[Tal]

Jaclyn wrote: "Probably best to contact Support so we can make sure the employee is coached on the policy.

Thanks for the suggestion on the Librarian Manual - I'll make a note to look into this the next time I'm..."

Okay I'll use support for those. With respect to the manual, I think it would be very helpful to a number of the current active volunteers. Thanks for your time.

[Jaclyn, Librarian Program Manager]

Very delayed, but the Manual has been updated with added details on book subscription services:

https://help.goodreads.com/s/article/...