what happens when you correct an author's name ?

[K,]

When there are already books by the same name added under the correct profile, I'd like to correct it, though am concerned about making a mistake :)

correct profile
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...

Thank you for any advice or help.

[Paula]

If only some of the books belong to the author profile then you have two options:

1) Use the edit author link, then the disambiguate link that allows you to select a number of titles to assign to a new author name.

2) Edit the books that do not belong to the author profile one by one.

http://www.goodreads.com/help/librari...

[K,]

HI Paula,

Thank you, they are all the same author, I'm concerned about what actually happens to the record (as there are several editions)if I correct the name.

[rivka, Former Moderator]

Where is the incorrect profile?

[K,]

Hi Rivka,

Thank you.

The one I was referring to appears to have gone and I've checked via my internet history(apologies for not incl in first post); though I found these looking for it.

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10...


Much appreciated.

[rivka, Former Moderator]

K, wrote: "The one I was referring to appears to have gone"

Most likely that means another librarian fixed it already.

The others need to be merged into the main profile. You can do so, or I or another librarian can do it for you. That will move all the books, fans, etc. to the resulting profile.

[K,]

Hi Rivka,

Thanks, librarians are so gratifyingly fast on this site...I've done it before, and someone has gotten to the first ones I mentioned before me (cheers); though in this case
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10...
illustrates my concern/caution and prompted my first question.

I haven't read the author and don't have a copy of the book, though had noticed the different profiles.

It's been combined.... though there's no cover pic, isbn, and the series tag isn't quite the GR suggested format.
Thinking that this might be what happened is what held me back from correcting these myself, (which pretty much answers my question about what happens).

Would it now be correct procedure to go through the merge (to keep the reviews etc) and then delete this book?

Sorry to be long-winded, and/or pedantic I'm just cautious about the effects of changes, and the manual doesn't spell it out. Am guessing that might be a challenge because every situation is different :)

[Paula]

Since the book is already combined all you would need to do is merge the book using the delete button.

As there is no identifiable data on this edition to indicate which edition it actually is then by deleting it any reviews/shelvings will transfer to the most popular edition.

If for example the edition was a Spanish edition then you would look for another spanish edition, separate and combine those two, then delete the wrong edition. This would make sure anyone shelving the wrong spanish edition still has spanish edition on their shelves. you would then recombine with all the other editions.

[rivka, Former Moderator]

The series info not matching isn't terribly relevant -- that's fixable. But yeah, no pub date, publisher, ISBN/ASIN, cover image, etc. I merged it.

FYI, "merge" = combine + delete. Or in this case, since it was already combined, delete.

We'd much rather have librarians who are cautious and ask questions than otherwise!

[K,]

rivka wrote: "The series info not matching isn't terribly relevant -- that's fixable. But yeah, no pub date, publisher, ISBN/ASIN, cover image, etc. I merged it.

FYI, "merge" = combine + delete. Or in this case..."

Thanks Paula,
Thanks Rivka,
That's what I thought, and you taking the time to verify/clarify helps a lot, much appreciated. I was happy to do this for books I am really familiar with, (and I checked and checked the manual!), in this case because there are so many editions I wanted to be sure.