Book Library

What can I track for each book in Book Library?

Book Library is the catalog the other tools read from. For each book you can record: - Title, author, series, and series number - Genre, tropes, and page count (a range, if your formats differ) - ISBN-13, ASIN, and publication date - Cover art - Retailer links, including Amazon, Kindle, Nook, print, and libraries - Inventory by format Switch between list and grid, and search by title, author, or genre.

Can I auto-fill a book's details from Amazon?

Not from the Amazon page itself. Amazon blocks that, so Book Library looks the book up in Google Books, Hardcover, Apple Books and Open Library instead. 1. In Book Library, click Add New Book. 2. Choose Create Manually for one book, or Bulk Search by Title for several (one title per line, up to 500, then you pick each result). 3. For one book, under Find your book by title, choose Published under (your pen name), type the Book title and click Search. 4. Click This one on the right result. That fills the title (using the catalogue spelling), series, ISBN-13, ASIN, description, genre, page count, publication date and cover, but only where a field is still empty. Your pen name is kept as the author. Check the result before you save. Not every book is in those catalogues, and a title may not come back as an exact match. If nothing matches your author, you get results for the title alone, with a note to check the author on each one. If none is your book, choose None of these, go back and try another spelling, or add it yourself. This needs an active trial or paid account.

How do book costs factor in?

Open a book in Book Library and go to the Costs tab. Add a line for editing, cover design, formatting, marketing, and anything else you paid for. Sales Tracker reads those costs. Its Dashboard tab shows net income per title.

Can I track reviews across platforms?

There is no review tracker yet. Sales, ARCs, and piracy are what the app follows today. Add retailer links on the book in Book Library so you can jump to each store's review page. Pulling reviews in from those stores is on the roadmap.

Getting started with Book Library

Book Library is the catalog of your books. Sales Tracker, ARC Tracker, Piracy Monitor and the other tools take their book lists from it, so add a book here once and you can use it everywhere. Add your first book 1. Click Book Library in the left sidebar. 2. Click Add New Book. 3. Choose how you want to add it: - Import CSV brings in many books from a spreadsheet. - Bulk Search by Title lets you type or paste titles and pick the right match for each. - Create Manually opens a blank book form. 4. In the book form, fill in at least the Title. Every other field is optional. 5. Click Add Book. A message confirms the book was added and offers an undo. What's in the book form The form has four tabs: - Details: title, pen name or author name, series name and number, ISBN-13, ASIN, genre, language, publication date, tropes, page count range, description, blurb, editions and formats, cover image and manuscript. - Sales Links: links to the stores and libraries where readers can buy or borrow the book. - Inventory: how many physical copies you have on hand, by format. - Costs: production costs, with a Profit Summary that compares your revenue with your costs. At the top of the Details tab, Find your book by title can fill in blank fields for you from book catalogues. Book status Each book shows a status based on its publication date: - Draft: no publication date set. - Pre-Order: the publication date is in the future. - Published: the publication date is today or earlier. The cards at the top of the page count your Total Books, Published, Pre-Orders and Drafts. Find and arrange your books - Use Search books… to search by title, author, series, genre or trope. - Filter by pen name. Once your books have a series or more than one language, Series and Language filters appear too. - Use Sort to order by title, author, series, genre or publication date, and click the arrow next to it to reverse the order. Books are listed newest-added first until you pick a sort. - Switch between List and Grid. In grid view you can also change the Cover size. Edit or delete a book - Click a book's cover or title, or the pencil icon, to edit it. Click Save Changes when you're done. - Click the trash icon to delete a book. You'll be asked to confirm, and you can undo it from the message that appears afterwards.

How do I import my back catalog from a spreadsheet?

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 1. Go to Book Library and click Add New Book. 2. Choose Import CSV. 3. Drop your file onto the window, or click to choose one. 4. 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. 5. If some books have no author, choose a pen name under Books with no author are published under. 6. Review the preview. Each row is marked Add or Skip, with a note explaining any problem. 7. 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. 8. 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.

How do I add books by searching for their titles?

If you don't have a spreadsheet, you can add books by title. Author's Toolbox searches Google Books, Hardcover, Apple Books and Open Library and lets you pick the right result. Not every book is in these catalogues, and a result may not be an exact match, so check what you pick. Add several books at once 1. Go to Book Library and click Add New Book. 2. Choose Bulk Search by Title. 3. On the Bulk search tab, choose the pen name under Published under. 4. In Titles, enter one title per line. If all your titles are on one line, separate them with commas. You can search up to 500 titles at a time, and repeated titles are only searched once. 5. Click Search for these titles. 6. Review the list, then click Next: confirm and pick the right result for each book. You can also skip any book, or add it with just its title. Add a single book 1. In Bulk Search by Title, open the Find one tab. 2. Choose the pen name under Published under and type the Book title. 3. Click Search. 4. Click This one on the right result. The book form opens with the details filled in, ready for you to check and save. If nothing matches, click No match, add it myself to open the book form with just the title and pen name filled in. Fill in an existing book You can also search while editing a book. At the top of the Details tab, use Find your book by title. Picking a result only fills in fields that are still blank, so nothing you've already typed is overwritten. Tips - A search needs a pen name. If you haven't added one yet, you'll be asked to save your author name first. It's saved to your pen names in Settings. - If nothing matches with your author name, you'll see results for the title alone. Check the author on each one before picking it. - If a search finds nothing, try another spelling.

How do I add a cover image or manuscript to a book?

Each book can have a cover image and one linked manuscript. Both are on the Details tab of the book form. Add a cover image 1. Go to Book Library and open the book, or click Add New Book. 2. Scroll down to Cover Image on the Details tab. 3. Click Upload cover file and choose an image, or paste a link to an image under or paste a URL. 4. Check the preview, then click Save Changes (or Add Book for a new book). Cover files must be JPEG, PNG, WebP or GIF images under 10 MB. Uploaded covers are saved where your files are stored: built-in storage, or the Dropbox or Google Drive account you chose in Settings. A cover you paste as a link stays a link. If the website hosting it removes the image, your cover will disappear too. Uploading the file is more reliable. Covers you pick from a title search are saved to your storage for you. Attach a manuscript 1. Open the book and go to Manuscript on the Details tab. 2. Either: - Click Upload new, choose a PDF or EPUB file, then pick the Storage folder to put it in, or - Click Choose from Storage to link a PDF or EPUB you've already uploaded. 3. Click Save Changes. To unlink the manuscript, click the x next to its name and save. The file stays in Storage. Put a book's files in a folder Use the Folder field on the Details tab to give the book a Storage folder. New manuscripts you upload for that book are suggested for the same folder. Choose + New Folder… to create one. Tip To start a new book from a file, drag a cover image or a PDF or EPUB onto the app and drop it on Add Book (cover) or Add Book (manuscript). A new book form opens with the file ready to use. A spreadsheet dropped on Book Importer opens the importer instead.

How do I manage my own tropes and editions?

Book Library comes with a list of common tropes and built-in editions (Paperback, Hardcover, Hardcover w/ Dust Jacket, Limited Edition and eBook). You can add your own to both lists and use them on any book. Add tropes to a book 1. Open a book in Book Library. 2. On the Details tab, open the Add a trope… dropdown under Tropes. 3. Pick a trope from Common tropes or Your tropes, or choose Other… to type your own. Separate several with commas, then click Add. 4. Click Save Changes. Any trope you type is saved to your own list, so it's there for your next book. Manage your tropes 1. On the Book Library page, click Your tropes (or Manage your tropes → in the book form). 2. Under Add tropes, type one or more tropes separated by commas to add them. 3. Use the pencil icon to rename a trope, or the trash icon to delete it. Renaming or deleting a trope also changes it on every book that uses it. Before deleting, you're told how many books it will be removed from. The common tropes can't be changed. Add editions to a book 1. Open a book and find Editions & Formats on the Details tab. 2. Tick each format the book is available in. 3. To add your own, type it in Add your own (separate several with commas) and click Add. 4. Click Save Changes. Your own editions also appear as choices on the Inventory tab, so you can count stock for them. Manage your editions 1. On the Book Library page, click Your editions (or Manage your editions → in the book form). 2. Add, rename or delete your own editions. Deleting an edition takes it off your books. Stock counts and shipments you've already recorded keep the name. The built-in editions can't be changed.

Why can't I add, find or import a book?

Here are the most common reasons Book Library doesn't do what you expect, and what to do about each. I can't see some of my books Check the filters above the list: - Search books… may still have text in it. Clear it to see everything. - The pen name filter may be set to one pen name. Choose All pen names. - Series or Language may be set. Choose All series or All languages. The count next to the list (for example "12 shown") tells you how many books match your current filters. The Add New Book button is greyed out You're working in an account where your role can view books but not edit them. Ask the account owner to give your role edit permission for Book Catalog in Collaboration. The same goes for the trash icon, which needs delete permission. If you see No Access instead of the library, your role doesn't include Book Library at all. The Add Book button won't click A book needs a Title before it can be saved. Fill it in on the Details tab. "Not a valid ISBN-13 — check digit doesn't match." The ISBN-13 field only accepts 13 digits, and checks that the last digit matches the rest. This usually means a digit was mistyped or two digits were swapped. Hyphens and spaces are removed automatically. An ISBN-10 won't work here. The title search isn't working - "This account has no author name yet. Ask the account owner to add one in Settings." A search needs a pen name. Only the account owner can add one, in Settings. - "Too many searches. Wait a moment and try again." You've run a lot of searches in the last minute. Wait a minute and try again. - "Subscription required" Title search needs an active trial or paid plan. - "Nothing found for that title. Try another spelling, or skip it." The book isn't in Google Books, Hardcover, Apple Books or Open Library under that title. Try a shorter title, or add the book by hand. Some rows in my import were skipped The preview explains each skipped row: - No title: the row's title cell is empty. - Already in your library: a book with the same ISBN, the same ASIN, or the same title and author is already in your library, or earlier in the same file. Other notes don't stop a book being imported, but tell you what was left blank, such as an ISBN, ASIN, publication date or page count that couldn't be read. If you see "That file has … rows. Import 500 at a time or fewer.", split your file into smaller files. My cover won't upload - "Cover must be a JPEG, PNG, WebP, or GIF image." Save the cover in one of those formats and try again. - "Cover must be under 10MB." Export a smaller version of the image. - "Couldn't access your connected storage…" Your files are stored in Dropbox or Google Drive and the app can't reach that account. If you're asked to Enter Your Master Recovery Key, enter it. If that doesn't help, reconnect the account under File Storage in Settings. A cover has disappeared If you pasted a link to a cover image, the cover is shown from that website. If the website removes it, the cover can't be shown. Upload the image file instead.