Goodreads Librarians Group discussion

Hi Librarians

I'm working on improvements to data imports between Amazon and Goodreads, and I'd appreciate your help.

Can you please add any examples of erroneous imports that you see that meet the following parameters:

- Import was made from Amazon
- Import was made within the last six months (June 2023 onward)

I might add more as I think of them.

Thank you!

I'm very glad to see this post as the automatic edits is causing so much damage. A few examples:

Incorrect invalidation of valid book records:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... (Last machine edit Feb 2024)
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... (Last machine edit Feb 2024)

These two editions above have user reviews, and the incorrect invalidation caused the secondary authors that were correctly listed (visible on the cover art) to be removed from the records.

Example of back cover images being imported, even though the front covers seem correctly listed on Amazon. These two examples have the last machine cover edit dating Nov 2023.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/2017217522

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
Amazon linkl https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CC8QQ4JR

Removing paragraph returns in the synopsis is my biggest pet peeve. It leaves no space, so if I go in for something small like adding page numbers or original publication date, it will reject the edit with a “websites are not allowed in synopsis” message. Short synopses don’t take long to fix, but some of them run very long and aren’t easy to find all the proper paragraphs.

Here’s one I did yesterday: Heroes without Capes.

Another huge help would be if there was any way of excluding used book imports, maybe by blocking them based on condition language used in the synopsis?? I do a lot of work on out of print books, and the used books getting imported keeps the catalog in constant disarray. I literally can’t keep up.

Don't forget that Europe doesn't use a comma in their numbers, but rather a period. That one has caused me problems, especially when I am dealing with a foreign language, and the entire description is underlined in red.
Also, can the system be updated to understand the the "u" in British spellings is correct, as well as the "s" instead of a "z". Webster created this mess. He couldn't leave well enough alone.

Import from amazon_catalog with messed up title and unknown author: https://www.goodreads.com/work/editio...

It looks like it was imported from Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Merkel-Demokra...

Amazon UK has correct data: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Zwielicht-Ze...

amazon_catalog removed the second author I added to this one;

https://www.goodreads.com/book/edits/...

Thank you for all the examples thus far! I'm working through them as you report them.

Also a reminder to please include links for examples in reports - makes it easier to illustrate the issues to others. 😊

Amazon imported this book on Feb 2, 2024 and formatted the description incorrectly (removed a paragraph return). "...army of monster!Due to..."

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

---------------

Amazon imported this book on Oct 26, 2023 with same description issue as above (removed paragraph returns). The author has since corrected the description and the original isn't appearing in the changelog, but maybe GR staff can see it.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

This author had an additional issue with their description because they used the phrase "Public Enemy No.1" and the lack of space between No. and 1 also triggered the annoying "Description may only include links to other pages on Goodreads" error.

---------------

Amazon imported on Jan 30, 2024 with same description formatting issue. Description has not been adjusted on Goodreads so you can see multiple instances where paragraph returns are being removed.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

---------------

Amazon imported on Dec 20, 2023 with same description formatting issue. Description has not been adjusted on Goodreads so you can see multiple instances where paragraph returns are being removed.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

Another one imported on Dec 24, 2023 with description formatting issues (line breaks removed). I fixed this one today but you can see the original in the changelog.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

---------------

I've also seen continued reports from authors who have proof copies of their books added to the database.

I'm not sure how to retrieve the book urls since I already deleted them, but you can see two I deleted in the changelog for the same book mentioned above:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/edits/...

---------------

Imported Jan 29, 2024 with same line-break description formatting issues. I fixed this one just now.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

Book imported on Feb 8, 2024 with description formatting issues (line breaks removed). I fixed this one today.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

Let me know if I should keep reporting these as I come across them. Not sure if the GR engineers need more examples or not.

gem wrote: "Book imported on Feb 8, 2024 with description formatting issues (line breaks removed). I fixed this one today.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

Let me know if I shoul..."

If they need more examples, they can check my librarian log. This is slowing me down & reducing the number of queries I answer.

This one https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
amazon_catalog appeared to reverse the author first & last names in November.

No more examples needed for the line break issue, thanks for these!

Adding my name to the subject so I can track this thread during my daily name search 😊

Import split up of ISBN pairs. Even though the ISBN13 was already in the database, the import feed added the corresponding ISBN10 to a different book record. Examples:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

Pet peeve of mine, import adding the value 0 to the page number field. It didn't happen before the amazon_catalog bot was created. Is there a single book ever published that truly has zero pages? To me it's obviously bad data that should be scripted away from the book records.

Example:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7...

I see a lot of editions where one has ISBN10, the other ISBN13, send dozens of them to support for merging, but now I can't find any examples created after June 2023. Usually this is spring 2023.

Found only this book
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
amazon bot created duplicate of this book
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8...

It has both ISBNs and was created a year ago. On 2024-02-07 an amazon bot created a duplicate. They have different ASINs. The first book links to the real book on amazon.com, the duplicate just uses ISBN10 as ASIN.

Paperback edition imported 2023 Dec 22 with ISBN in title field and unknown author:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

Paperback data is incorrect at Amazon. Kindle edition has correct data.
https://www.amazon.com/Book-978180150...

annob wrote: "Pet peeve of mine, import adding the value 0 to the page number field. It didn't happen before the amazon_catalog bot was created. Is there a single book ever published that truly has zero pages? T..."

A simple solution for kindles would be for the bots to go back to importing the page numbers. Why was this ever changed? We are only allowed to use Amazon as a source for them.

Jaclyn, are you looking for more examples of proof copies being imported? Here's one imported in Dec 2023 and the author asked me to delete it today.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/edits/...

added description in English to a German language edition

added page numbers as 0

https://www.goodreads.com/book/edits/...

October 2023

Thanks, I think we have enough reports of the following:

- Page number imported as 0
- Proof copies being imported
- Incorrect line breaks in descriptions

Changed author name from Patrick White to patrick-white on 16 February
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

*edited post, I was incorrectly reading the changelog. There is still something strange happening with the book entry, though.*

An author posted saying they had been removed from this anthology:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

Link to their post for more info:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

However, looking through the changelog for both editions, I can't find evidence of the author "Mere Rain" ever being added and then subsequently removed.

Noticed a different import error happening with book descriptions.

If the description contains a word followed by a colon, it will delete the word completely.

Examples:

"PLEASE NOTE: The Fear of the Dark ends..." was imported as "PLEASE The Fear of the Dark ends..."
https://www.goodreads.com/book/edits/...
Can see original incorrect description in edit #758109800.
Amazon listing:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C...

"Contains the stories:" was imported as "Contains the ".
https://www.goodreads.com/book/edits/...
Edit #755931122
Amazon listing:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C...

Let me know if you'd like more examples.

edit -- another example.

"HOLE PUNCH is:" imported as "HOLE PUNCH ".
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C...

Example of the import feed incorrectly marking an edition as invalid.

I'm including it mainly because I just saw it happening, Feb 21 2024. The only trace is in the Data Sources table in the changelog (classification set to invalid by amazon_catalog, causing all the contributor authors of the anthology to be permanently removed from the book record).

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

Book imported by amazon_catalog on Jan 19 2024 with messed up title and unknown author: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

Thanks for the continued reports everyone!

Not amazon bot, Goodreads mass editor. Was created on Feb 18, 2024. This is such an interesting book, I can’t help but share :)
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

The Import feed changing the format of valid ebook editions into 'unknown binding'. Examples below are edited by the bot in Aug and Dec 2023.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

This may be inconsequential, but I have noticed that the bots like to change "Editor" to "editor" for the main author. It hasn't changed any of the secondary ones.

Opened the Author profile, amazon bot has changed the real authors to "Author". Last time was in Feb 2024.

Examples:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
and much more...

Is it possible to undo this? There are a lot of books.

Amazon bot has changed all the data of this book - title, author, year, publisher... "Stanislavski" became "Mediaeval Europe"..

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

If anyone sees further examples of back covers being incorrectly imported, please let me know. It'd be helpful if you could not correct the cover and add a Librarian Note asking others not to either. Thank you!

Jaclyn wrote: "If anyone sees further examples of back covers being incorrectly imported, please let me know."

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

Two issues with this book:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

amazon_catalog bot stripped a word with a colon from the description.
"Note from the author:" imported as "Note from the "

The bot also set book status to "Deleted" despite it being a valid entry.

I've corrected both issues.

Thank you Arenda!

And thanks for those other examples gem. 😊

One more example of the back cover image issue, imported in Oct 2023:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

Edit: and another one.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

Quick question.
Is "onix ingram" an Amazon bot or one of ours?
It doesn't seem to be as problematic as the others, but there are still some changes that make no sense.
It doesn't seem to be arguing with itself like the Amazon ones, so that is a plus.

Ingram is a distributor that sells to libraries, schools, and bookstores. They get their data direct from publishers. Their feed is separate from Amazon and Goodreads.

I'm not a librarian, but I'd like to chime in on a specific error:

There is an error that occurs constantly across nearly every new book on the site where some automated process assigns an ebook's ISBNs to a Kindle edition that shouldn't have them. Over the course of 2023 and 2024 I have sent dozens upon dozens of emails to Goodreads support to remove the ISBNs from the Kindle editions and create a new ebook edition, and I'm very surprised this hasn't been fixed yet. If needed, I can provide screenshots of how many emails I've sent. It's a constant issue.

Thank you Melanie. At least that explains why they get so very few mistakes. I really wish Amazon had some oversight to what is placed on their rolls. The way they will lump books together that have NOTHING to do with each other is irksome.
Right now I am doing some medical books. The first author is a doctor from England. I gave them 2 spaces since it is a common name. There are at least three other authors that I can determine are completely different people. And then there is a fourth whose name is CONSTANTLY misspelled. The bots and Amazon itself are determined to make this author's name to be the same as the others. I am fairly insulted on behalf of the people involve.

Perhaps related to the back cover imports, I noticed some other books where not always the most logical image is imported. Those sets of books with an ISBN have sometimes the cover of one of the books shown here while on Amazon the image with all covers together is the first image. It can lead to confusion between the set and a single work.
Examples:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... (I reverted here a change but that turned out only to be the cover of the other book in the set)
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

I don't know if you will classify this as an error, but amazon_catalog just added some of the authors for this book - not the first ones listed according to the requester, but a random selection. November 2023.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/edits/...
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Hello,

A sample page/interior image is continually loaded as the cover for this book from amazon_catalog:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

We have corrected this several time but the amazon_catalog load overwrites it. Amazon has the correct cover on the product page and in Vendor Central.

Thanks,
Steven

Maybe these with "unknown author":

* https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... (edition of https://www.goodreads.com/work/editio...)
* https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... (edition of https://www.goodreads.com/work/editio...)

They was published two days ago

Back cover - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7...

Back cover:

1) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
2) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

The issue with the import removing secondary authors (including when a book set to invalid) should now be resolved.