Book Cover Images

>1 William_I_Zard: There's a button to recalculate the cover in the lower right corner of the work page. I recalculated and your book should have a cover now.

Welcome to LibraryThing! Please do note that one of the biggest differences between LibraryThing and GoodReads is that author self-promotion is not allowed here except in a few special places:

https://www.librarything.com/groups/hobnobwithauthors

https://www.librarything.com/groups/writersbragandragbag

Here is a page that explains how authors can use LibraryThing:
https://www.librarything.com/about/authors

And here are the terms of service, which prohibit advertising and promotion:
https://www.librarything.com/privacy

But that is still an Amazon image, and is dependant on Amazon continuing to use that image. If they change the image, or stop using one, the image here will change or disappear. You would do better to upload an image.

LibraryThing does not need to 'grow into a replacement for GoodReads.' LT has been going strong since 2006.

>3 MarthaJeanne: I think he was saying the site might grow into a replacement for his uses.

I’ve added the book and added a member uploaded cover, which is available to choose.

Also note that you can link your profile to your author page. https://www.librarything.com/author/zardwilliami at the bottom of right sidebar there's a link 'is this you'. You can also fill in author info there, add links to your homepage and such

>5 SandraArdnas:

I presume you are referring to LibraryThing Author. I think he's done that, but he can't do the linkage until it's approved.

the first thing I did was . . . apply as author, I presume that's still in progress and may have to wait for a business day or two to elapse

>7 William_I_Zard:

Am I allowed to rate my own book with stars? I'm not clear on that.

You are allowed to, but, frankly, I wouldn't if I were you. People take an author rating with a very large pile of salt, and it gives a bad impression.

Does my library influence how the books I write are recommended?

In a roundabout kind of way. If your library shares a lot of books with someone else, or someone has books on similar subjects, then LT might recommend your book to that person. This article should give you an idea of how LT comes up with its recommendations: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/Recommendations Members can also recommend a book on another book's page (kind of a "if you read/liked this, here's another one to look at"), but these are intended to be "good-faith, disinterested recommendations", and "recommending your own book is strictly forbidden". So something to avoid.

And may I just add here that it is appreciated that you are trying to learn the ways of the site, and work within them. We've encountered too many "drive-by" authors, those whose only engagement with the site is to promote their books all over the forums, after which they disappear until their next book comes out. Hope you'll stick around.

>7 William_I_Zard: You've mostly got the gist.

(Side Q: Am I allowed to rate my own book with stars? I'm not clear on that... I am of course biased, but then again if one rating has any measurable effect, the number of ratings will not be inspiring confidence anyway...)
It is not against the rules to rate your own book with stars, but ratings do not have much effect on the site (they don't boost a book in site searches or anything like that) and at this point it will be obvious that the author is the person who rated it.

I would recommend asking your questions in one of the groups for authors. They would probably be more help.

If the only person to enter a book on the site is the author, and the author has given the book a 5* rating, I have no problem adding that book to the list of ones I never want to read.

>11 William_I_Zard: The point is people don't pay much attention to ratings to pick their reading, even more so if there's only a few, and the system doesn't include it at all in it's own rec system.

>12 SandraArdnas:

The point is people don't pay much attention to ratings to pick their reading

That's certainly true for me. I'd much rather read a decently written review and find out what the book's about, and why the reviewer liked or didn't like the book. A 5-star rating may mean anything from "this is a well-researched book that breaks new ground" to "I haven't read it, but my brother-in-law wrote it so I'm giving it 5-stars to keep peace in the family".

>10 MarthaJeanne: Totally agree

I totally ignore any 5* ratings anywhere unless it is attached to a good review explaining why this particular book (or other item) is really that much better than the rest. In general they just don't seem serious to me.

>15 William_I_Zard: I suspect there's a whole category of readers that have a minimum rating below which they just never click. ... The reality is anything under 5 stars reduces readership, and harms the sales of the book.
That is probably true on other book sites, but it is not true here, because this is not a book marketing site. While an individual 5-star rating here is not remarkable, I would view any book with an average rating of higher than about 4.5 to be extremely suspicious, and would assume shenanigans are going on.

>17 William_I_Zard: You do not get to control how other users enter your book in their catalog. Everyone here is equal in terms of entering catalog information, Common Knowledge information, etc. If someone wants to tag your book as "celebrity memoir", that is their prerogative.

Tags entered into individual catalogs will eventually show up on the work page, but it can take a couple weeks for a newly-added book.

I’m reminded of the term “helicopter parent.”

>20 William_I_Zard:

You can create any tag you like for your book, or any other books you have in your catalog.

>22 William_I_Zard: everything I've read that seems credible indicates that throwing a book up on Amazon and then ignoring it is a fast track to complete failure.
Again, this is not a book marketing site. It's not Amazon. If you're only here to keep an eye on the book you wrote and not to catalog the books you own or read, maybe this site is not a great fit for you.

>15 William_I_Zard: I mean on LT, we're here and discussing rating your own book here. While not against the rules as pointed out, you're likely to turn off some people, while not attracting any readers with it.

LT recommendations most definitely do not use ratings at all in their algorithm. I move those I rated low to a collection that isn't used for recs for that reason.

Perhaps a refresher -

https://www.librarything.com/about