Frustrating changes at Goodreads

 

Goodreads no longer?

I used to track my reading on a spreadsheet, but a couple of years ago ended up using Goodreads which has been a good experience in the main. However, as of 20th June 2022 they've changed policies which means I may well end up heading back to a spreadsheet.

Goodreads is excellent for mainstream press, but much weaker for roleplaying games and small press, which usually means that you have to spend 5-10 minutes adding a book. It's not that much of a faff if you know how to do it, but you do see bad examples where people have added books which are done badly.

The new policy is that you need to request that a Goodreads Librarian add the book, and there are two pre-requisites which mean that smaller press books are unlikely to get in; you need an ISBN and a link to a publisher or author page that has the cover on. There are a limited number of other sites you can use (Amazon for example), but most aren't likely to have the kind of book that probably accounts for a third of my reading. DriveThruRPG and Itch.io would both be out, as they are seller websites.

It would be good if Itch.io and DriveThruRPG came to an agreement with Goodreads so they can validate books there and source cover images.

I understand why the policy has changed but it frustrates.

3 July 2022