Can I retrieve a cover that vanishes?

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Can I retrieve a cover that vanishes?

1elainepy
Nov 27, 2020, 3:29 pm

Sometimes if I add books on the app, using my mobile phone as a barcode scanner, the correct cover is shown... but then I look at my catalogue on the website (or later on the app) and a different cover is shown, and if I try 'change cover' the right cover is not shown as even available (from Amazon or a member). Is there any way to retrieve the cover that originally popped up? (Hope it's not a silly question. I'm a newbie, and I have tried searching FAQs.)
Thanks, Elaine

2timspalding
Nov 27, 2020, 3:31 pm

Thanks for the note. That cover will often be there if you click to edit the book and then click "cover images" on the left. You can then choose it.

If this is unclear, or you have other problems, reply back, and give the book you're dealing with.

T

3lilithcat
Nov 27, 2020, 3:35 pm

No, it's not a silly question.

Are you using Amazon as your source? If so, then the image is subject to their whims. If Amazon changes it on their site (which might happen with a new printing/edition), it changes every place where their source was used. So it won't appear on the "Change cover" page, either.

4aspirit
Editado: Nov 27, 2020, 4:44 pm

You can add new cover images. The LT app and full website both have features to help with uploads, from a photograph you take, a download, or a weblink (URL).

Oh, here, this Help page might be useful.

https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/HelpThing:Work/Covers

5aspirit
Nov 27, 2020, 4:55 pm

By the way, a tip that's a little off-topic, but something I didn't know about until a member went off-topic to tell me, is that we each can find a Help page on a specific feature by going to the site page before clicking "Help" in the right corner of the header menu. (In the new design, "Help" might be elsewhere on the page.)

I hope I'm explaining that clearly.

6timspalding
Nov 27, 2020, 5:19 pm

FWIW, the reason this happens is that the addbooks function just links blindly to the Amazon image, whereas more complicated logic obtains once you add the book. I need an example, however, to see what's going on in a particular instance.

7aspirit
Editado: Nov 27, 2020, 5:40 pm

>6 timspalding: are you looking for an example of a work with no cover image?

the example work recalculated to add an image so has been removed from this message

8elainepy
Nov 28, 2020, 12:47 pm

Many thanks for all replies.
If I scan these books - or, I now find, search for these ISBN - with Amazon.com as the source, it pops up with the right cover; but when the books are in my library, no cover is there, and none is available:
184003789X
1844171949
1840039485

If I scan/search for this one, the right cover pops up; but in my library a different one appears, and the right one is not available:
1840038268

My original question was how to retrieve the cover that popped up on 'add books'. But if Amazon can change a cover once it's in my library, it seems this won't fix the problem permanently.
Thanks, Elaine

9Opteryx
Nov 28, 2020, 1:20 pm

>8 elainepy: Find your cover picture on Amazon.com, right-click on it and select "Copy image address" or similar, and then go to the LT cover-editing page for that book and paste the image address into the "grab one from the web" box and click the Grab button. Then you will have the image originally from Amazon uploaded to LT in a way that won't let it change on you in the future, as long as at least one person keeps using that image on at least one book entry on LT.

10Maddz
Nov 28, 2020, 2:37 pm

Goodreads is a reasonable source of covers, although they tend to be somewhat US-centric. My other go-to source is AbeBooks or Kobo.

Be careful grabbing covers from Amazon - make sure you don't have a look-inside' cover; if you do, there is a way of editing the URL to remove the look-inside framing. Sometimes, you can click inside the look-inside and select the cover from the resulting pop-up but right-clicking as above.

If all else fails, try a Google search with images.

11lilithcat
Editado: Nov 28, 2020, 3:05 pm

>10 Maddz:

If all else fails, try a Google search with images.

That's where I start!

12MerryMary
Nov 29, 2020, 7:30 pm

13Bettesbooks
Nov 30, 2020, 1:14 am

>1 elainepy: If it is an ebook that you purchased thru Amazon:
1. you can go to manage content and copy the image on the thumbnail; or
2. using the kindle app on your computer. Search the library for the title of the book, the cover that was used when the book was epublished will be avail there. just go to title page and using the full screen image copy and then upload to LT.

14elainepy
Nov 30, 2020, 3:26 pm

Many thanks to all for the helpful suggestions, I will have to experiment. I've also now discovered that I can 'review' a book while it's on the 'added' list on the app on my phone, and photograph and upload the cover within the app.
There's a lot more to LT than I imagined when I signed up - I'm really impressed.

15saltmanz
Nov 30, 2020, 4:19 pm

>9 Opteryx: >10 Maddz:

The edit is simply to remove everything between the first period in the filename and the jpg at the end:

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/P/B07WYSGHC7.01._SY95_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg (unedited)
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/P/B07WYSGHC7.jpg (edited)

That nets you the full-size Amazon image.

16elainepy
Fev 11, 2021, 1:31 pm

If the correct cover is available when I click on change cover, but only from Amazon, I have found that I can right-click on it, save it to my computer, then choose it and upload it.
My question is firstly, is this a legitimate thing to do, and secondly, will it attach this cover permanently to my entry?
Many thanks (and apologies if I should have started a new thread for this). Elaine

17Maddz
Fev 11, 2021, 1:46 pm

>16 elainepy: I just right-click the Amazon cover, select image address and drop the address into the from the web box.

Seems to work...

18lilithcat
Fev 11, 2021, 2:22 pm

>16 elainepy:

Yes, it's legit. And, yes, it should be permanent.

19MarthaJeanne
Editado: Fev 11, 2021, 2:41 pm

>16 elainepy: And this was a good place to ask, as it keeps all the 2020/21 hints on how to deal with covers together. (If you are looking at this a few years down the line, the hints may or may not work.)

I'll add another one. You can see on your memes/stats page how many Amazon covers you are using, and follow a link to see them. This page can be reached from the top of your home page or profile page, and has lots on interesting information about your account.

You can also turn Amazon covers off generally in your account settings (Your books> Other settings). Again through profile or home.

20elainepy
Fev 11, 2021, 3:59 pm

Thanks so much, that's all really helpful.
And pasting in the link is even quicker, great.

21Petroglyph
Fev 12, 2021, 9:23 pm

>17 Maddz:
If you remove the "._SX900_SY1270_SCLZZZZZZZ_" parts from the end of the amazon image urls, you get access to a higher-quality image. Anything between "._" and the extension.