If you already have a list of your books, you can import them all at once instead of adding them one by one.
Before you start
- The importer reads CSV, TSV, TXT, XLSX and XLS files.
- The first row must be your column headings, with one book per row below it.
- You can import up to 500 books at a time. For a bigger catalog, split it into several files.
- Only a title is needed for each book.
Not sure how to lay out your file? Click Download a template in the importer to get a sample CSV.
Import your books
- Go to Book Library and click Add New Book.
- Choose Import CSV.
- Drop your file onto the window, or click to choose one.
- Under Match your columns to book details, check what each column will be imported as. The importer guesses from your headings. Change any column with the dropdown, or set it to Don't import. You must pick a column for the title.
- If some books have no author, choose a pen name under Books with no author are published under.
- Review the preview. Each row is marked Add or Skip, with a note explaining any problem.
- Choose whether to keep Look each book up and confirm the match ticked:
- Ticked: click Next: confirm and pick the right catalogue result for each book, one at a time.
- Not ticked: click Import to add the books exactly as they are in your file.
- When it's done, a summary shows how many books were imported. Click Undo import if you want to take them all back out, or Done to keep them.
Columns the importer understands
Title, Author or pen name, Series, Series number, ISBN, ASIN, Genre, Language, Publication date, Page count, Formats, Tropes, Amazon link and Description.
- Formats: use Ebook, Paperback, Hardcover, Hardcover with dust jacket or Limited edition, separated by semicolons. Common misspellings are fixed for you. Anything else is added as your own custom edition and flagged in the preview.
- Tropes: separate several with commas or semicolons.
- Store links: a column headed with a store name, such as Kobo or Apple Books, is read as that store's link. Links must start with http:// or https://.
Confirming each book
If you leave the lookup ticked, the importer searches Google Books, Hardcover, Apple Books and Open Library for each title. For each book you can:
- Click This one on the right result. It fills in any details your file left blank, such as the cover, description and page count.
- Change the title or author and click Search again.
- Click None of these, add it as it is to keep only what's in your file.
- Click No Match, skip this book to leave the book out.
- Click Import the rest as they are to stop confirming and import the remaining books from your file.
Covers picked from a catalogue are saved to your own storage, so they won't disappear if the catalogue changes.
After importing, open each book to add sales links, inventory and costs if you want to track those.