Goodreads Librarians Group discussion

As per Otis, librarians may now use Amazon data for Goodreads book records.

Have fun.

Finally o.O
Cool.

LOL...this should be interesting

Also, I updated the two Manual entries I know of that are relevant; please let me know if I missed one.

So back to the "Take the Look Inside" bits off images?

Yes. Edit: Wait, are you asking if those should be replaced with covers lacking that? Yes. If you're asking something else, I'm confused.

And only Kindle editions with the Kindle logo cover?

Covers either with or without the Kindle logo are ok, as far as I know.

so people can add a cover with "Kindle edition" on it to a paperback book if the cover is the same for the paperback edition?

I hope this won't mean a lot of images with the 2 white bands on the sides... (like this :-) Can we crop them?

Paula wrote: "so people can add a cover with "Kindle edition" on it to a paperback book if the cover is the same for the paperback edition?"

Ugh. No, that would be a good reason to substitute a different image.

Moloch wrote: "I hope this won't mean a lot of images with the 2 white bands on the sides... (like this :-) Can we crop them?"

Sure. Cropping whitespace is fine.

Moloch wrote: "I hope this won't mean a lot of images with the 2 white bands on the sides... (like this :-) Can we crop them?"

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I...

turns into

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I...

Better image :)

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

I have found those books with a note not to put description and covers, I though it is because they seem to be only on Amazon. Can I update? I'm asking because the reason for the librarian note is not stated.

Note: Please do not add a photo or description to these books. Failure to comply with this may result in the loss of your Goodreads librarian privileges.

I think it's good to crop the take a look inside text as well.

Emy wrote: "Moloch wrote: "I hope this won't mean a lot of images with the 2 white bands on the sides... (like this :-) Can we crop them?"

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I......"

THANK YOU! I didn't know that, you saved me a lot of time! :-)

Ellie [The Empress] wrote: "I though it is because they seem to be only on Amazon."

No. That's not why. Please do not alter those.

rivka wrote: "Ellie [The Empress] wrote: "I though it is because they seem to be only on Amazon."

No. That's not why. Please do not alter those."

Ok, thanks

rivka wrote: "Paula wrote: "so people can add a cover with "Kindle edition" on it to a paperback book if the cover is the same for the paperback edition?"

Ugh. No, that would be a good reason to substitute a di..."

phew! that's what I was hoping

okay...so does this mean I can provide all my new book data (including cover art) from amazon and someone will crop the photo?

Yup. Please start a new thread in the Adding New Books folder.

I saw a comment recently saying that we couldn't use Fantastic Fiction as a source for book covers because they draw their information from Amazon. Does this announcement mean that we can now use Fantastic Fiction?

This is great news. Thanks.

I would not think so, the legal issues of using other booksellers/ sites probably still exist.

We can use amazon again because amazon now owns GR and the legal issues have gone

Paula wrote: "I would not think so, the legal issues of using other booksellers/ sites probably still exist."

Correct. The ONLY site that has moved from the no-list to the yes-list is Amazon.

That's great, thanks for the confirmation

awesome!!! Thanks for keeping us in the loop. This will make book adding much easier since the proper edition and cover for books purchased from amazon are right there! :)

Does it also mean that the data feed from amazon will be fixing the books that say "unknown author"/"unknown book" (at least the ones that say that because amazon data was removed)?

Just a burning matter of curiosity (I stopped being a librarian but still want to know; partly because I know how many thousands of pages those were, was waiting so long to hear and partly because I read so many kindle books that if amazon data feed is coming back, I won't be so quick to post a request or to manually add kindle editions and will be patient).

Debbie wrote: "Does it also mean that the data feed from amazon will be fixing the books that say "unknown author"/"unknown book" (at least the ones that say that because amazon data was removed)?"

Presumably once the feed is back in place.

Emy wrote: "So back to the "Take the Look Inside" bits off images?"

rivka wrote: "Yes. Edit: Wait, are you asking if those should be replaced with covers lacking that? Yes. If you're asking something else, I'm confused."


Why should existing covers replaced with the ones with "look inside"?
Is there no other way of using covers from amazon? I don't like covers with this orange arrow on it.

The covers should not be changed.

If you see a cover with the Kindle Edition and look inside logo's they can be changed to a cover without these.

This includes a non kindle edition using the cover with the logos.


It is possible to remove the look in side a kindle edition logos

There was a post explaining how to do it by This is not the Michael, but I cannot find it now

I cannot take credit for this but:

Go to picture on amazon, right click, view image.
The URL will look like this:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I...
_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight
,35,-76_SX342_SY445_CR,0,0,342,445_SH20_OU02_.jpg

Delete all between commas (all the bold text)and save the logos should be gone. You can then upload this image.

I personally don't think that any book cover should have the look in side / kindle edition as when you buy the kindle edition these do not display on the the cover.

Paula wrote: "There was a post explaining how to do it by This is not the Michael, but I cannot find it now"

It was deleted in January 2012.

Paula wrote: "The covers should not be changed.

If you see a cover with the Kindle Edition and look inside logo's they can be changed to a cover without these.

This includes a non kindle edition using the cove..."

Very useful! Thank you

Just to clarify: This does not only refer to amazon.com, but to all other amazon sites as well?

Martini wrote: "Just to clarify: This does not only refer to amazon.com, but to all other amazon sites as well?"

Yes

Ellie [The Empress] wrote: "Yes"

Thanks for the confirmation. :-)

Fantastic news ;)

Paula wrote: "?..I personally don't think that any book cover should have the look in side / kindle edition as when you buy the kindle edition these do not display on the the cover. ..."

+1. Plus if you are on goodreads and click picture to look inside it doesn't work.

Does this also apply to other Amazon-owned sites, like Audible?

Edit: Nope, Audible is ok.

rivka wrote: "At this time, it's Amazon only."

But the covers from Audible are ON amazon. I hope they are allowed? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Inferno-Rober...

I don't see any reason why they would be any different than any other covers on Amazon itself (as opposed to data from the Audible site).

Yay!!! This made my day!

Vicky wrote: "Does this also apply to other Amazon-owned sites, like Audible?"

I checked on this, and Audible is fine.

When we request for a cover image to be added, should we place a link to the Amazon page where the image can be found?

That's fine. Publisher and author sites continue to be fine too, and often have higher-quality images.

Alright, awesome! Thank you!

rivka wrote: "As per Otis, librarians may now use Amazon data for Goodreads book records.

Have fun."

So Amazan data will return automatically? I'm so sad :(

It will, but not yet.

rivka wrote: "It will, but not yet."

Good. I hope the import will be improved. I remember many italian books set as turkish by Amazon.

If the data we import is incorrect (whether from Amazon or another source), there's not much that can be done from a programmatic point of view.

That's why we have librarians! :)