Goodreads Author Program

The profile exists whether or not you claim it, so leaving it alone means the picture, biography, and book list readers see are whatever the database assembled, and a book by a different writer with your name can end up attached to you. Reader reviews and ratings sit outside your control by design, and claiming the profile does not change that. All three routes do the same thing here; what differs is how the book record arrives in the first place, normally through the publisher's data for a traditionally published book, and through your platform or a volunteer Goodreads Librarian for a self-published one. You're done when the profile is claimed and every edition is grouped under the right work and author.

The Goodreads Author Program is the free way for an author to take control of the author profile that Goodreads creates automatically when a book by that name enters its database. Once approved, the profile shows an official Goodreads Author badge and the author can manage the picture, biography, and book list, run giveaways, connect a blog, answer reader questions, and advertise.

Goodreads states the one requirement plainly: you need a published or soon-to-be published book that can be found in its database. You sign in, find your book by ISBN, ASIN, or title, click your name on the book page, scroll to the bottom, and choose the option that asks whether this is you. Goodreads says it emails approval within two business days.

Your author profile on Goodreads and which book records are attached to it. Book data itself (title, edition details, cover) is maintained by Goodreads Librarians, volunteer members with editing rights; a Goodreads Author can request fixes and, for some fields, edit their own books. Reader reviews and ratings are outside your control by design.

Wait until at least one edition of your book exists on Goodreads. If none does a few weeks before publication, ask the publisher whether the metadata feed reaches Goodreads (it usually arrives through Amazon and Ingram data) or, for a self-published book, check whether your platform sends it; a Goodreads Librarian can also add a book manually.

Then claim the profile, add a photo and biography, and check that every edition is combined under one work and attached to your profile. If a book by a different author with the same name has been attached to you, ask the Librarians group to separate the profiles. Decide separately whether you want to use giveaways or advertising; the profile itself needs neither.

1. Search Goodreads for each ISBN and confirm a record exists for every format.
2. Open your author profile and confirm the Goodreads Author badge is shown and every book appears under Books by this author.
3. Check that editions are combined into one work with the correct primary edition and cover.
4. Search your name and make sure there is no second, unclaimed profile splitting your books.

The Author Program is not Amazon Author Central, although Amazon owns Goodreads and the two are separate systems with separate claims. Claiming the profile does not let you edit reviews or remove ratings. The profile is not an identifier and does not feed library catalogs.