Reminder about series creation

[Cait]

Steelwhisper, this is a policy discussion thread -- please start a new one for specific book issues!

(That said, your series look correct to me. I'm not sure what you're asking.)

[Steelwhisper]

Okay, made an own post--what an odessey ;)

[Krystal109]

Hey Cait, some are deleted scenes that did not make it into the novel (that is why they have chapter numbers saying where they would have been in the book), some are extras, and some are short stories.

I didn't look at the companion link, that was my bad.

[Krystal109]

Quick question about series. Is a bunch of art books that all deal with the same subject (like a book of art for an anime or manga series) count as a series or should they just be throw in at the bottom or the subjects main series?

[Cait]

Krystal109 wrote: "Quick question about series. Is a bunch of art books that all deal with the same subject (like a book of art for an anime or manga series) count as a series or should they just be throw in at the bottom or the subjects main series?"

It can go either way, mostly based on how many there are and how complicated the main series already is.

Here's an example of the tie-in books at the bottom of a main series:
http://www.goodreads.com/series/49336...

And here's an example of the tie-in books as a tie-in series:
http://www.goodreads.com/series/55355...

[Moloch]

The Librarian Manual should really be updated re:series: it still says to add the series in brackets in the title field. I believe (I'm not sure) the part about the awards is outdated too.

[rivka, Former Moderator]

We have a folder for suggested revisions to the manual.

[Natasa]

I have a question. What if a particular series doesn't have an official name or it hasn't been announced yet? Would it be better to leave the series fields alone until it's announced from an official source, or as I've been considering, name the series "Untitled Series" and add a librarian note to input the correct name for anyone who knows it or until it's announced?

ETA: Here's an example
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11...

[Alejandro]

I kind of have the same question as Natasa. I found a series on a book blog, and I looked it here on Goodreads and realized that the books weren't classified as series. I want to make them series but I don't know the name of it! :(

These are books by M.M. Shelley, I haven't read them, but I think we should classify them for the interested readers.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11...

[Amara]

Re 109: There's only one book to that example (so far), right? In that case, I'd leave it alone until the sequel is added to the site; at that point, if there's still no official series title, I'd just use the title of the first book.

Re 110: Created series entries for both of her series. Used "Mishap" for the one without an official title (since the word's repeated in every installment's title).

[Natasa]

Yup, there's only one book so far. That's reasonable. Thanks Amara!

[Alejandro]

Thank you so much! :)

[Amara]

You're welcome. ;)

[Sean]

I am trying to setup a series,for example:

Series name: Tschai: Vance Digital Editions

For books such as ISBN's:
9781619470354 and 9781619470361




As there have been tons of reprinted editions of this book, I want the newest most definitive versions in the list, hence separating this series to the Vance Digital Editions (info on these editions: http://www.jackvance.com/ebooks/infor...).

Unfortunately when I create a new series to try to accomplish this, even when I search by ISBN, I cannot get these books specifically. Up pops up some old edition such as 'City of Chasch' ISBN 9780312940430 and Servants of the Wankh ISBN 9780879974671).





As you can see the titles are drastically different in these old editions as the new ebooks have been reformatted, updated with minor corrections along with the author's preferred original titles of his novels.

Initially I was going to try to just change the first series these are listed under 'Planet of Adventure' to the new ISBN's so they match and look all nice and clean, however I couldn't figure out how to do that. So, I thought I'll create the Tschai: Vance Digital Editions series as 'Tschai' is what this series is called by the Vance Digital Editions team.

While I don't want to separate the books as they are basically the same book as all the others, I do want the specific ISBN/Edition to be the default selection in the series list. However, a list with just those specific editions would be fine as well if need be.

I would see this as a problem for other scenarios where you may wish to create publisher-related series. For example ACE published Conan stories instead of the reprinted LANCER or TOR ones showing up by default, etc.

Is there a way to accomplish this?

[rivka, Former Moderator]

The default edition will always populate a series, and the default is whichever edition has been shelved by the most users.

[Cait]

Sean wrote: "I would see this as a problem for other scenarios where you may wish to create publisher-related series."

That's why publisher-related series aren't considered series by the GR definition. Series collect whole books, not editions of books. If you want a list of editions, you can use listopia or add the specific editions to a personal bookshelf.

I've added "Tschai" and some translated series names to the series description. You should only create a new series when the numbering is different; a different name for the series doesn't mean a new series object is needed.

[Sean]

Ah. Thank you very much folks, I understand now! :)

[Ashley]

Hi there. I hope I'm in the right place. I tried to add a series for my books but it looks like I do not have that access. I'm hoping someone can help me with it. The books are: The Soul's Mark: FOUNDThe Soul's Mark: HUNTED and the series name is The Soul's Mark
Thank you!

[Ashley]

Hi Again. Thank you for setting up the series so quickly, however, the title of the books have been changed and should not have been. The offical titles which are registered to the ISBN's are The Soul's Mark: FOUND and The Soul's Mark: HUNTED. Can this be changed back?

[rivka, Former Moderator]

That's not how we format series titles on Goodreads.

[Ashley]

rivka wrote: "That's not how we format series titles on Goodreads."

It is not just a series title. It is the actual book title.

[Cait]

Hi, folks! I've been seeing a lot of problems with this lately and I just wanted to bump this thread to help y'all keep the series creation procedure in mind. This is just a repeat of the steps on the first page of this thread.

Hey guys, just to remind y'all who are working with series how this works: to create a new series, you can click on the "add series" link from a book page only once. After that, you need to use the "add book" link from the series page to add the books to the existing series. If you click on the "add series" link for the next book in the series, you will end up with duplicate series with the same name and only one book in each series!

The steps for creating a new series:
1. Find a book in the series.
2. From the book's edit page, scroll down to series and click add.
3. In the edit series page, put in the series name.
4. Still in the edit series page, click "add book" and search for the other books in the series.
5. Add all of those books.
6. Save the series.

The steps for adding a book to a series once the series has been created once:
1. Find a new book which should be added to the series.
2. Memorize it (or just leave the record open in a different tab).
3. Find a different book that's already in the series.
4. Click on the series name in its title.
5. Click on edit to open the series for editing.
6. Click "add book", search for the new book, and add it.
7. Save the series.

Don't do this:
1. Find a new book in the series.
2. Open its edit page, scroll down to series, and click add.
3. Put in the same series name.
4. Save the series.
--This has not added the book to the series! You can test this by clicking on the series name in the book title: if you don't see the other books in the series, you didn't add the book to the existing series. If you've done this, delete the new series (click edit on the series page, scroll to the bottom, and click delete), go to the correct series listing, and follow the steps for adding a book to a series.

[C.P.]

Could someone please help me set up a series for my The Golden Lynx? It is book 1 of Legends of the Five Directions.

I tried to add the series myself using instructions in another forum but received an error message that only librarians could do that.

Also, once the series is set up, will I be able to add future books to it, or do I need to ask again for help?

Thank you!

[Caitlin]

C.P. I made the series for you. I'm not sure if you can do it but to add books to the series go to the series page and there should be an edit button, click on it. Then click add books and do a search for a the book you want to add and click add. Then give it a number in the series and hit save. And it should be added to the series.

[Deborah]

Caitlin wrote: "C.P. I made the series for you. I'm not sure if you can do it but to add books to the series go to the series page and there should be an edit button, click on it. Then click add books and do a sea..."

You have to have librarian status to edit a series, author status is not enough because a series isn't owned by the author record the same way a book record is.

[C.P.]

Deborah wrote: "Caitlin wrote: "C.P. I made the series for you. I'm not sure if you can do it but to add books to the series go to the series page and there should be an edit button, click on it. Then click add bo..."

Thanks so much, both of you!

The next book in the series won't be out till the fall, so I'll check back then for help with adding it to the series.

Much obliged to you, Caitlin, for the help—and to Deborah for the information.

[Caitlin]

You're welcome C.P. and thanks Deborah that's good to know.

[Jamie]

Can someone PLEASE help me list my book as part of a series?
Here's the link to my book and I just want it listed as Fight or Flight #1
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17...

Thanks so so much in advance!

[Vicky]

Looks like someone got #129

[rivka, Former Moderator]

This thread was meant to be a policy reminder, but has become a general series catch-all. Better to start a new thread for each series issue.