deleting an edition - super librarian needed

[Richard]

Help gratefully received:

At some point I added a smashwords e book version of The Amber Treasure.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/73...

Because it has the same cover image as my current in print version it seems most folk are adding that one.

Problem is that the "buy book links" go no where as the ebook is on smashwords only. This is a shame as IF folk wanted to get the book they would be put off by the fact they get error messages.

Now most folk have actually read THIS version:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11...
(I know this because a number of the reviews are by review blogs I sent books to!)
The current IN PRINT paperback
for which the buy links work just fine.

Is it possible for a super librarian to delete the smashwords one at which point all the reviews etc should transfer to the paperback

I can then LATER add the smashwords one back in for completeness - maybe editing the image to make the version clearer.

[Amara]

We don't delete books with a valid ISBN, and we certainly can't move around user's reviews. While there certainly are many reviewers who shelve whichever edition is the default, there are also plenty of users who shelve by ISBN, and they certainly wouldn't appreciate their shelvings/ratings/reviews switching around on them after they went through the trouble of picking a specific edition.

As for the issue with links, I'm not sure what can be done about that. Perhaps someone else will have some input on the subject?

[Richard]

But the reviews apply to all versions of the book don't they. So I am not asking you to do anything wrong here.

What I am trying to do is IMPROVE the usefulness of the Goodreads entries for my book by ensuing that the buy links go somewhere. IE if someone clicks on book links or online store that they get an option to buy.

I made an error in introducing the confusion of the smashwords edition (which is NOT the one these folk reviewed as I said). The problem is that if some one wanted to buy the book they cant as the buy links go no where. My fault, my error

If you cant delete the entry is it possible to edit the buy links to link to an isbn that offers for sale books
ie:
9780956810311

It CANNOT be a good situation to have an entry that refers to a minor edition (smashwords sales account for less than 20% of my total) rather than the main edition that is on sale in various places.

Nor can it be good for the buy links to go nowhere useful.

[Amara]

Users can review any edition they please. They can individually review all editions if they please. Thus reviews do not necessarily apply to all editions.

Buy links work by ISBN. If an ISBN is only available at a certain website, the buy links for other websites will not work properly. This is most commonly seen in the case of ASINs and B&N ids; they won't lead anywhere on other sites because they are site-specific numbers, which seems to be the case here. Other sites have set up their catalogues with exclusive numbers, and there's not really anything we can do about it.

The main edition on Goodreads is automatically set to be whichever edition is most shelved. In this case, that is the Smashwords-specific ISBN. This is unfortunate, but there's nothing that we can manually do about it. People can easily go to the other editions to get purchase links; this is done all the time in the case of out-of-print editions, the buy links of which often lead nowhere.

[Richard]

I thought when you combined editions that brought the reviews together. I may be wrong there.

OK - well thanks for replying.You have been helpful.

I guess the take home message here for authors is be cautious about eagerly adding all versions. One you did not intend to be the primary one becomes so and has unforeseen consequences. Yes folk CAN seek out alternative versions but every additional step you force a reader to take means less will do it.

If there was a feature that as an author I would like is the ability to choose the primary edition.

[Amara]

Combining brings the reviews into one place so that they're viewable on the same page, but reviews correspond to specific editions--whichever edition the user chose to attach the review to. There are some people who don't bother to attach their reviews to specific editions (choosing to attach it to whichever edition they see first), but there are many who take extra care to do so.

Perhaps when adding books in the future, try adding whichever edition you want to be primary first, then add it to your shelves. After that, go ahead and add the other editions. Your shelving of the edition you added first will then make that edition primary (unless there comes a point when more people shelve some other edition, which is certainly possible).

In the Feedback group, there has been plenty of discussion about the inability of authors and librarians to mark a specific edition as primary. I am quite sorry this can't be done for you the way the system is currently set up, but know that you're certainly free to make your voice heard on the subject in the Feedback group. :)