Goodreads Librarians Group discussion
note: This topic has been closed to new comments.
Announcements (staff only)
>
Announcement: ASINs for physical books, and database expansion
date
newest »
newest »
Mod
In order to help address many outstanding ‘add book’ requests, Goodreads will be moving faster with the above-mentioned database expansion. We’ll add these books in stages as this will import many additional books listed in the Amazon catalog. Given the size of this project, it’s likely we’ll see some new works and authors. If you identify any major issues with the import, please reach out to us via our Contact Us form so that we can take action. Please include clear examples and any useful links in your email.
As always, a huge thank you to Goodreads Librarians for all their time and expertise in improving and maintaining our catalog
This topic has been frozen by the moderator. No new comments can be posted.
Goodreads has updated the Librarian Manual regarding adding an ASIN to physical books. In the past, the ASIN field in the Goodreads database was only set for Kindle and Audible editions. Going forward, ASINs will also be assigned to physical books that appear in the database. Where possible, Goodreads will populate the ASIN for existing books in the database. (Goodreads Librarians may add the matching ASIN from Amazon if they wish, or may leave doing so up to Goodreads.)
For physical books, in many cases the ASIN and the ISBN10 will be the same. For physical books with an ISBN13 beginning with 979 (which was introduced in early 2020) the ASIN will differ from the ISBN10 (as they have no ISBN10 equivalency).
The ASIN for an Audible edition may be found on either Amazon or Audible, but the ASIN field cannot be changed on an existing edition (unless you are moving an identical ASIN from an older edition to a more recently published edition of the same book using the Alternate Cover Edition tool). If the ASIN for one or the other editions is missing, please follow the usual process to manually add a new edition.
Expanding the Goodreads database
Goodreads will be expanding the Goodreads database in the weeks ahead to include many additional books that are listed in the Amazon catalog. Soon, all new book editions added to the Amazon.com book catalog will be automatically imported, and appear on Goodreads with in hours. This will simplify things for publishers and authors, who will no longer need to separately send import feeds or requests to Goodreads and Amazon separately.
The books being imported from Amazon’s book catalog have been matched to existing Goodreads works, and to Goodreads authors, wherever possible to prevent the duplication of existing works and authors. Due to the size of the import, it is unavoidable that some new works and authors will be created. We acknowledge that some duplicate editions and authors may be inadvertently created due to formatting differences, and are grateful for the curation skills and dedication of Goodreads Librarians for assisting with correcting any duplication or incorrect data.
Expanding the Goodreads database should alleviate many of the requests to the Librarians Group to add books to the Goodreads database which already exist in the Amazon US books catalog.
Goodreads will also be updating its processes to mark a book as “NOT A BOOK” to provide better controls for Librarians and to improve the customer experience. More information will be provided on this soon. Watch the group for more announcements!
If you have any questions or concerns, you are welcome to submit them via the Contact Us page.