Goodreads Librarians Group discussion
Book Issues
>
2nd editions with different titles and covers
date
newest »
newest »
The old edition will stay as the default until more people have added the new one at which time it will become the new default.There is no way of changing this at this stage. The most popular edition will be the default.
Mod
Also, a book that is out of print does not "cease to exist". Just as libraries keep such books on their shelves, so do we keep them in our database.
Hi Kim,Thanks very much for a quick, clear answer to my problem. Should I delete the original edition or cover, or just leave everything alone? I have definitely had readers mention this has been confusing to them.
--EM
Mod
Goodreads policy is NOT to delete any book that has been published. Please leave these editions.
Just leave it as is, though you can add a note to the description of the old editions advising of the change.
Kim wrote: "Just leave it as is, though you can add a note to the description of the old editions advising of the change."I think that's redundant, the edition info is all that's needed. Can you imagine if we had to do this with classic books?
rivka wrote: "E.M. wrote: "Should I delete the original edition or cover"Goodreads policy is NOT to delete any book that has been published. Please leave these editions."
You'll be surprised how many unaware authors and ignorant Librarians do not know this... Rivka, can you put it forward to the Goodreads' heads to elucidate this super important but so little known rule?
Experiment wrote: "I think that's redundant, the edition info is all that's needed. Can you imagine if we had to do this with classic books? "How is it redundant to add a small line stating that the book is now released under a new title? Seems like something very simple and easy.
Experiment wrote: I think that's redundant, the edition info is all that's needed. Can you ..."
It is NOT enough, which is why I've been battling this issue since the second edition came out. Readers cannot find it. At least the old version won't be for sale anymore, but the wrong cover image is causing massive confusion, and because all the reviews are mingled, people don't know which one to purchase. They just give up and and buy a book they can figure out. I'm not a classic author, and I need my works to be easy to access here.
Mod
E.M. wrote: "It is NOT enough, which is why I've been battling this issue since the second edition came out. Readers cannot find it..."I empathize. I can only say Goodreads' main purpose is to catalog book, not to advertise or sell books (even though it does do those things) or else we would remove old editions. (Rivka, please correct if I am wrong.)
rivka wrote: "Experiment, why do you think so many deletions can only be done by superlibrarians? It was not always that way."
I see. That clear that other question for me I once pondered over. Nonetheless, I still come across this issue at least 1-3 per month, more frequent if I do more Librarian work. You scare me now with your pre-'only superlibrarians can editions with 5 ratings or more' time period.
Kim wrote: "How is it redundant to add a small line stating that the book is now released under a new title? Seems like something very simple and easy."
If we have to do it for one book, we'll have to do it for all of them. I'm not opposed to it, but I am hesitating making it a rule. Plus, why don't Goodreads have a checkbox or field that denotes this edition is in-print/out-of-print?
Experiment wrote: "I think that's redundant, the edition info is all that's needed. Can you ..."Classic books don't usually change titles completely though; do they? I think that's the problem this particular author is having. The story is pretty much the same, but the editions have totally different titles. I know I wouldn't assume they were the same story if I saw them lying side by side on a table and didn't read summaries for them. I can see extra information being needed somewhere in that case.
Tntexas wrote: Classic books don't usually change titles completely though; do they? I think that's the problem this particular author is having. The story is pretty much the same, but the editions have totally different titles. I know I wouldn't assume they were the same story if I saw them lying side by side on a table and didn't read summaries for them. I can see extra information being needed somewhere in that case.
Thank you for understanding. When readers go to my author page, they cannot see which books are "currently available" only the "most popular" editions, which isn't much use if they are trying to find more works by me (or any other author). The new editions are in effect hidden from their view unless they click on EVERY title searching for it. No one does that.
It's fair to say GR isn't about selling books, but making books easy for readers to find, review and buy is indeed a goal of the site, or why have links to places for them to purchase?
Experiment wrote: "If we have to do it for one book, we'll have to do it for all of them."No we don't, we only have to do it on the ones whose authors request it. I'm not saying this should be implemented as standard procedure but it's something simple and easy and if the author requests it we should just add it.
We're not selling anything just helping people find the latest edition.
E.M. wrote: "The new editions are in effect hidden from their view unless they click on EVERY title searching for it. No one does that."Most people look for books by searching through the search bar. Searching via the new title brings up the correct book.
@ E.M.I hope I did not give you the impression that there is a rule that you cannot put the current publishing status info in the book description. As far as I know, there is no rule against it. I went ahead and edited the book description to include this publishing status info.
Mod
Seems perfectly reasonable to me.
i started to put notes including link to the new book (at the very start of description field) about the new cover edition whenever an author strongly to change the cover image instead of creating an alternate cover edition.is that okay?
and maybe that can also solve this kind of problem?
eta:
as Kim said, only by the author request, not a standard procedure.
Nenangs wrote: "i started to put notes including link to the new book (at the very start of description field) about the new cover edition whenever an author strongly to change the cover image instead of creating ..."We only replace cover art if the existing cover art is of lower quality image being replaced with a higher one or if the existing cover art never belonged to that edition in the first place.
yes, agreed. replacement (of the same cover image) with higher quality is very acceptable.lots of times we have to explain to some GR authors who insist to put new covers on their works instead of creating a new entry with alternate cover editions.
that's when i started to put the notes about the new cover edition with link in the description field, to make it easier for people who looked for the new cover edition (and v.v.).
Goodreads Librarians Group
Books mentioned in this topic
Thief of Hearts: Tempted in Thailand (other topics)Rarer Than Rubies (other topics)
For example, On March 9 the original version of this book Thief of Hearts: Tempted in Thailand will cease to exist. It will be replaced with the second edition Rarer Than Rubies, which has a different cover and content. I would like to request that the image and main title which shows up be of the NEW edition, so readers looking to add/purchase/review the book will find the edition which is available, rather than be confused by not seeing that cover, and instead seeing a cover from an edition/title/book which is not available. Can someone please help me make this happen or explain why it's not possible? Thank you.
I have another book with the same situation, and readers are not finding these in order to buy/review/etc.