Goodreads Librarians Group discussion
Book & Author Page Issues
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Tried to find a description; I can only find the same thing that is already there. Please post a link to the actual description, and I'll be glad to change it.I've cleared the original title field of the incorrect info.
The cover for the ebook matches the book currently for sale with that isbn on B&N: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Name... and on Borders. It appears to be different on other versions.
Just moved here from Visual Bookshelf so please forgive me if I'm doing this wrong. I went to add a book I just read "Comes the Dark" by Michael Prescott and the description is for some other book. Want to apply to be a librarian so I could've fixed it myself but you need 50 books and not sure if my importing is working. Thanks!
I changed it to what the author has on his site.Heh -- another simul-fix.
Mod
(FYI, a link to the book in question is helpful.)
And welcome!
Said I was new rivka. Thanks, willaful! Much better!
Welcome, Lily! You'll find us a (sometimes overly) helpful bunch. :)rivka is our ever-present volunteer mod, who knows everything about everything on here...the all-knowing, all-seeing. :)
(rivka, I think you should have been mentioned by name in the welcome letter to the Visual Bookshelf folks!)
Beth wrote: "Tried to find a description; I can only find the same thing that is already there. Please post a link to the actual description, and I'll be glad to change it.I've cleared the original title fie..."
Beth wrote: "Tried to find a description; I can only find the same thing that is already there. Please post a link to the actual description, and I'll be glad to change it.
I've cleared the original title fie..."
The cover image came from Penguin's website (the publisher) and the cover image they have is the one I linked. http://booksellers.penguin.com/nf/Boo... That is the entry for the book showing the correct cover. The link on that page for the cover image is under covers at 300 dpi.
I got the description from http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/patr... Sony's eBoostore. Feel free to use the one on Penguin's site if you prefer. But either is better then a review.
Also, the page number was not corrected. The correct number of pages is 692.
JSWolf, changed cover, description & page numbers :)
Mod
The PR firm is doing an excellent job, I see. ;)
Next up: convincing my kids.
Beth wrote: "(rivka, I think you should have been mentioned by name in the welcome letter to the Visual Bookshelf folks!) "
O_O
Sandra wrote: "JSWolf, changed cover, description & page numbers :)"Thank you.
On the cover for the original post...the cover was new, correct? The original cover was just an old one? If so, the old one should not be deleted...an alternate cover edition should be created.
Beth, there is already a DAW 2007 Hardcover alternate cover edition listed, with the other cover.
The edition I was asking for fixes for is the eBook edition. The cover has never been the older cover for that one. It's always been the new cover.
Help! I'm blogging a list handed out in a writing class, which specifies the 5th edition, 2009, of Robert Root and Michael Steinbergs's The Fourth Genre: Contemporary Writers of.on Creative Nonfiction. The latest I can find on Goodreads is the 4th edition, http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/93...Is there a 5th edition? On Goodreads? I've linked to the goodreads book pages on all of the others on the list.
Thanks. I've corrected the link in my blog.
This book http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/85... appears to have a review in the description instead of a publisher's blurb. I'd hate to make a change and remove the review. Any way to figure out who updated that field? Either way, can I safely remove the 'review' and add a proper blurb from one of the other editions?
The author updated the description. Since she's a GR author, I'd leave it.
Beth wrote: "The author updated the description. Since she's a GR author, I'd leave it."Yes, it did appear to be self-published. Since I'm still learning - where did you go to find the info?
go to the edit page, and look near the top...you'll see "librarian change log" -- click on that. That shows all the changes that have been made.
Beth wrote: "go to the edit page, and look near the top...you'll see "librarian change log" -- click on that. That shows all the changes that have been made."Thanks so much. :)
But surely even though the author put in a review instead of a description, the description field should be changed to an actual description instead of a review?The field is called Description, not Review.
JSWolf wrote: "But surely even though the author put in a review instead of a description, the description field should be changed to an actual description instead of a review?The field is called Description, n..."
I looked this book up on Smashwords where it has a short description. The long description matches what this author put in for the Goodreads page. It seems to be a collection of reviews. This is a self-published book so there's no 'official' description, I suppose.
A case can be made for both points, though I would lean towards using the short description from Smashwords for this book.
Thoughts?
JSWolf wrote: "...The field is called Description, not Review."Twilightmomoftwo wrote: "...Thoughts?"
I'd suggest contacting the author with this, asking for approval of this long-to-short description swap and suggesting that the author post the long description as a review. Authors aren't dense or unreasonable (well, mostly), anyway), and the sort of care for our members that asking first signifies is something that should be a librarian instinct.
Generally speaking, staying on top of everything, everywhere is a tiring and rather impossible task for authors -- it should be our job as librarians to do whatever we can to keep authors at their writing desks instead of burning up their time with a tug of war of editing and re-editing and counter-editing and anti-counter-editing a book page. Explain it, reach an agreement, edit once...
Just my two cents, if it's even worth that.
Excellent point, James. Who normally contacts an author in this type of situation? Can a librarian do that, or does that require one of the mods/supers?
Twilightmomoftwo wrote: "Excellent point, James. Who normally contacts an author in this type of situation? Can a librarian do that, or does that require one of the mods/supers?"I'd expect the one who wants to make such a change to put forth the effort of squaring everything with an author. Anyone who has taken the time to search out and compare things on websites outside of goodreads ought to also be willing and capable of doing appropriate research, contacting an author (or his publisher or agent), asking the right questions, discussing proposed changes, etc.
If that person's a librarian, then who makes the change is no big deal; if that person's a non-librarian, then either (a) the author can make the change on his/her own book, or (b) either party could post a request/justification for the change in an appropriate thread here.
**shrug** Thoughts from anyone else?
Twilightmomoftwo, If you decide to contact the author, the guidance in the GR Manual states what is acceptable in the description field - Reviews are notdescription
The description field is for entering a summary of the work. The best description to enter is one found on the back cover or on the dust jacket of the book. If the book does not have a summary listed anywhere on the cover or pages, you can copy a description from a different edition or you can write your own. The description can be a couple of sentences or a couple of paragraphs describing the content of the book. It should be a generic summary and should NOT include reviews or personal feelings (i.e. "This is a book about sisters. It was good. You should read it"). The summary should also NOT contain any important spoilers such as mentions of characters deaths, how the book ends, major twists or other information that would spoil the story for those who have not read it.
Descriptions copied from an outside source, such as Wikipedia, should contain a short citation stating where the summary originated from.
Paula wrote: "Twilightmomoftwo, If you decide to contact the author, the guidance in the GR Manual states what is acceptable in the description field - Reviews are not..."Thanks, Paula. Just to be clear, I'm not quibbling about that point (I'm a librarian; I know the difference between review and description). My concern here is that if we change a description-that's-a-review into a description-that's-a-description, the book's author is just as likely to change it back to a description-that's-a-review, and all the while that can cause ill-feeling to escalate on both sides of the issue. Better to get GR and an author in agreement first, snuffing out a potential flare-up before it becomes a wildfire.
Communicate! (and do it politely) and goodreads will continue to be the place to be.
Could someone delete the description for this book, it is incorrect, and also capitalize the title.http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22...
Thanks!
Danielle wrote: "Could someone delete the description for this book, it is incorrect, and also capitalize the title.Barefoot Bear and the Ice Cream Factory
Thanks!"
Got it, Danielle.
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss could use a few changes.
The description is not a description but a review. Please change with the actual description.
Told in Kvothe's own voice, this is the tale of the magically gifted young man who grows to be the most notorious wizard his world has ever seen.The intimate narrative of his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, his years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-ridden city, his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a legendary school of magic, and his life as a fugitive after the murder of a king form a gripping coming-of-age story unrivaled in recent literature. A high-action story written with a poet's hand, The Name of the Wind is a masterpiece that will transport readers into the body and mind of a wizard.
The original title field is filed in with the title of the second book in the series which is The Wise Man's Fear.
The actual number of pages is 692.
The cover is not the current cover for the book. Please use http://booksellers.penguin.com/nf/sha... for the cover.
Thanks.