Goodreads Librarians Group discussion

I have recently stumbled upon the fact that Amazon has better quality images than is immediately obvious.

Often, opening the main cover image in a new tab reveals a large but blurry, low-quality image. However, sometimes (though not always) there is a better quality cover available on amazon that you can get to by using one of the methods found below.

1) Using the "See this image" / "See all [#] images" link

The version of the cover found using this link is often of better quality than the main image. As far as I've seen, even when this link leads to the same image as the main, it does lead directly to it (so no need to remove the border by deleting the text between the points), so it is worth using directly.

2) Using the "Look inside" feature

The image found using this feature is often of both better quality and bigger in dimensions. Where it is available, this is probably the best option.
Important Note: When using this feature, you must be sure that you are seeing a preview of the edition you are looking for. There are tabs that make this clear.

Illustrative example 1:

Amazon page (Hardcover): https://www.amazon.com/H-P-Lovecraft-...

Main Cover Image: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.c...

"See all 2 Images": https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.c...

The "Look inside" feature shows the Kindle edition, so should not be used.

Clearly, the second image is of much better quality.

Illustrative example 2:

Amazon page (Kindle): https://www.amazon.com/H-P-Lovecraft-...

Main cover: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.c...

"Look inside" feature: https://d188rgcu4zozwl.cloudfront.net...

Hopefully, you will find this information useful!

ETA: Edited based on suggestions by Abcdarian and Tal. Thank you!

Is the "See This Image" link different from "See all 2 images"? If so, I'm not seeing it.

Oops, no, I was going off of other listings where there is only 1 image. I've edited my post to reflect your correction, thank you! :)

Thanks, thought I was losing it--again. ;-)
I always use the link, it's much better indeed.

I always grab the covers from the 'Look inside' -> Book section -> 'Cover' link. It's the higher res larger image. ;-)

You'd need to be sure it was the same ISBN/ASIN though; often the same "Look inside" serves for several different formats/editions.

(Plus I can't do a simple image save from those; maybe just don't know how. And not willing to take the time to screen save etc.)

Abcdarian wrote: "You'd need to be sure it was the same ISBN/ASIN though; often the same "Look inside" serves for several different formats."

The "Look inside" preview is tabbed for the different formats and tells you which preview is being used. :)

Edited, Thank you for the suggestions! Great tip Tal!

thank you!

I just right-click on the cover, "save image as" and get as good quality as is available. Is this not normal?

That's the thing, amazon tricks you into thinking that the cover from the page is the best quality there is, but actually it sometimes has better quality images. If you just "save image as" the examples I provided above, you actually get the lesser quality images. Or are you saying that it's different in your case?

Alex wrote: "That's the thing, amazon tricks you into thinking that the cover from the page is the best quality there is, but actually it sometimes has better quality images. If you just "save image as" the exa..."

I'm saying I haven't noticed the cover images I save are of poor quality.

I wouldn't say the standard cover images are of poor quality, just lower and can be slightly blurry, as seen in the examples. Since amazon does not indicate that sharper images are actually available sometimes, I thought I'd point it out.

Alex wrote: "I wouldn't say the standard cover images are of poor quality, just lower and can be slightly blurry, as seen in the examples. Since amazon does not indicate that sharper images are actually availab..."

As I said, I'm not able to notice any differences in the covers images, including those in your examples.

Oh, that's strange.
So, you see no difference between this and this? The second has about 2.5 times the resolution of the first according to the header though.

That one is bigger? Of course. But when it gets on GR there isn't enough difference to spend the time chasing around. It's what's inside the book that matters.

The bigger the image, the more helpful it is to us when identifying true duplicates (with regards to covers of course!). There are enough times when it's worth "chasing around", but if you don't have time, it's OK to leave that task to another librarian with more time to do that. :)

Emy wrote: "The bigger the image, the more helpful it is to us when identifying true duplicates (with regards to covers of course!). There are enough times when it's worth "chasing around", but if you don't ha..."

It isn't whether I have the time, it's whether I think it's worth the effort.

EDIT: In the examples given, there is not enough discernible difference to go to the trouble of even looking. If/When I see an image that is blurry, yes, I might look around. I rarely see the Amazon covers as being blurry enough to see if there is something clearer.

I do agree that there is only a small difference, but some of that fuzziness is removed, which I'm happy to see. That said, no one is chasing anyone down to get the crispest covers possible. This is purely an aesthetic tip.

Perhaps there are some situations where this can indeed be more useful, maybe with words written in very small sizes or weird fonts, but, as Elizabeth said, by and large that isn't the case.

I posted this tip because I had been annoyed at that little blurriness in amazon covers for years before accidentally discovering that there were better quality images on amazon itself. Anyone is free to use the information provided as they see fit. And really, it's literally one extra click for the "See all images" tip, though the "look inside" one can be more involved.

I do use the "look inside" but not for cover images. Sometimes there is additional publication information included there, sometimes a translator. As said above, one must be certain the edition for "look inside" is the same as the edition one is working with. All too often it is a different edition.

Anne wrote: "Please help. New at this. Book on my shelf has no cover: The Limitless Spirit of the Martial Arts by Marilyn Fierro, Hanshi Thank you."

This isn't the correct folder for cover requests. Next time, please open a new thread in Book Cover Help, and include a link to the Goodreads book record. In the meantime, someone has already added the cover to the only listing of the book that I found, The Limitless Spirit of the Martial Arts, paperback, ISBN 9780692851661.

I agree with Elizabeth. I can't see much difference. Just one is larger. If it's that good quality when large then yes that would mean less of a fuzzy image when small but the quality looks good enough to me anyway.

er. the post just above this one states that we should not use bookseller sites. Amazon is a bookseller site.

Would be happy to use them though, much easier than taking photographs and cropping them for posting...

Deborah wrote: "er. the post just above this one states that we should not use bookseller sites. Amazon is a bookseller site.

Would be happy to use them though, much easier than taking photographs and cropping th..."

Perhaps you should take a look at the manual and see which sites are acceptable to use. https://www.goodreads.com/help/librar...

Ah, yes, Amazon now own GR don't they, that was when it started working less well. How could I forget

Maybe it's right in front of me, but how do you get an image link from the 'look inside' feature on amazon?

Mirjam wrote: "Maybe it's right in front of me, but how do you get an image link from the 'look inside' feature on amazon?"

I open Look Inside and right-click to Open Image in new Tab; from there, I right-click again to Save Image, adding the .jpg tag to the download file if it's missing.

Hugo wrote: "I open Look Inside and right-click to Open Image in new Tab; from there, I right-click again to Save Image, adding the .jpg tag to the download file if it's missing. "

Looking Inside may not be the cover of the edition you're wanting to add the cover to.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Looking Inside may not be the cover of the edition you're wanting to add the cover to."

I check the listing as detailed above.

Please add a cover to my book Trafficked! The image is on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Trafficked-Nat...

Thomas A. wrote: "Please add a cover to my book Trafficked! The image is on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Trafficked-Nat......"

done