Importing Your Books from Goodreads
If you've been tracking your reading on Goodreads, you can bring all your books, ratings, and reading history into Book Assembly. This guide walks you through the entire process.
What You Can Import
When you import from Goodreads, the following information comes across:
- Book details - Title, author(s), ISBN, page count, publisher, and publication year
- Your ratings - Any star ratings you've given (1-5 stars)
- Your reviews - Written reviews you've added to books
- Reading status - Whether you've read, are currently reading, or want to read each book
- Reading dates - When you finished reading each book
- Your shelves - Custom shelves become lists in Book Assembly
- Private notes - Any personal notes you've added
- Re-reads - If you've read a book multiple times, that's preserved too
What Doesn't Get Imported
Some Goodreads features don't have equivalents in Book Assembly:
- Friends and followers - Social connections stay on Goodreads
- Reading challenges - These aren't transferred
- Community ratings - Only your personal ratings are imported, not the Goodreads average
Before You Start
You'll need to export your library from Goodreads as a CSV file. Here's how:
- Go to Goodreads (opens in new tab) and sign in
- Click My Books in the navigation
- At the bottom left of the page, find Import and export
- Click Export Library
- Wait for the file to be ready (this may take a moment for large libraries)
- Download the CSV file to your computer
The file will be named something like goodreads_library_export.csv.
The Import Process
Step 1: Upload Your File
Once you have your CSV file:
- Go to Dashboard > Data in Book Assembly, then open the Import tab
- Click Import from Goodreads
- Click Select CSV File or drag and drop your file
Book Assembly will read your file and show you what it found. This doesn't import anything yet - you're just previewing.
Step 2: Select Books to Import
After uploading, you'll see a list of all the books found in your export. Each book has a checkbox to include or exclude it from the import.
What the columns mean:
- # - Row number, helpful for finding specific books
- Checkbox - Tick to include this book, untick to skip it
- Title - The book's title as it appears in Goodreads
- Author - The author(s) of the book
- Rating - Your star rating (1-5), or a dash if you haven't rated it
- Status - Read, Reading (currently reading), or TBR (to be read)
Filtering and searching:
Use the search box to find specific books by title or author. You can also filter by:
- Status - Show only read books, currently reading, or to-read
- Shelf - Show only books on a particular Goodreads shelf
The checkbox in the header selects or deselects all currently visible books. This is useful for bulk selections after filtering.
Understanding "selected for import":
The count at the top (e.g., "45 of 53 books selected for import") shows how many books will actually be imported. Books you've unticked won't be imported.
Step 3: Map Your Shelves
Goodreads has "shelves" for organising books. Book Assembly has "lists" which work similarly. In this step, you decide what happens to each shelf:
For each shelf, you can choose:
- Skip - Don't create a list; books on this shelf are still imported, just not added to any list
- Create new list - A new list with the same name will be created
- Use existing list - If you already have a list with a similar name, you can add books to it
Your "Want to Read" shelf:
Your Goodreads "Want to Read" (to-read) shelf appears first in this list. By default, Book Assembly will create a TBR list for these books - this keeps them in a browsable list just like on Goodreads. You can:
- Keep the default to create a "TBR" list
- Change the list name to something else (e.g. "To Be Read", "Want to Read")
- Skip it if you don't want a separate list for TBR books
Special shelves:
Some shelves have special meaning:
- DNF (Did Not Finish) - Books you started but decided not to complete
- Paused - Books you're taking a break from but plan to return to
- Abandoned - Similar to DNF
Book Assembly recognises these and can mark books appropriately. You'll see a coloured badge next to shelves that have been detected as DNF or Paused.
Step 4: Match Authors
If you already have books in your library, this step helps keep author names consistent. For example, if your existing library has "J.R.R. Tolkien" but Goodreads uses "J. R. R. Tolkien", you can choose which spelling to use.
For each author variation, you can:
- Keep as imported - Use the name exactly as it appears in Goodreads
- Use existing - Match to an author name already in your library
This keeps your library tidy and makes it easier to browse by author later.
Step 5: Import
Once you're happy with your selections, click the import button. Your books are imported in the background - you can navigate away and use Book Assembly while it processes.
What happens:
- Books are added to your library in the background
- Duplicate books (ones you already have) are automatically skipped
- New lists are created as needed
- Author names are updated based on your choices
- Cover images are looked up from online databases (if enabled)
- You'll receive an email summary when the import is finished
Cover images
If enabled, covers are looked up after your books are imported. A few things to keep in mind:
- Covers are found by ISBN when available, or by title and author as a fallback
- The covers found may not match your exact edition - they come from public databases
- Any book without a cover can have one added later from its edit page
Understanding Reading Status
Book Assembly tracks your reading in a slightly different way to Goodreads:
| Goodreads | Book Assembly | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Read | Finished | You've completed the book |
| Currently Reading | Reading | You're partway through |
| To Read | TBR | On your list to read |
| (custom shelf: dnf) | DNF | You started but won't finish |
| (custom shelf: paused) | Paused | Taking a break, may return |
Note about TBR:In Goodreads, "Want to Read" works as both a status and a browsable shelf. In Book Assembly, you can optionally create a TBR list during import to preserve this browsable list functionality.
Handling Duplicates
Book Assembly automatically detects books you already have to help prevent duplicates. It checks:
- ISBN - The unique book identifier (most reliable)
- Goodreads ID - The internal Goodreads reference
- Title + Author - As a fallback when ISBN isn't available
Books detected as duplicates are marked with a "Duplicate" badge and automatically deselected. However, if you want to import a duplicate anyway (for example, if it's a false positive or you want a separate entry), you can select it manually and it will be imported.
Multiple Authors
Many books have more than one author - co-authors, translators, editors, or illustrators. Book Assembly keeps all authors from your Goodreads export. They appear in the order listed, with the primary author first.
Books Read Multiple Times
If you've read a book more than once (indicated by "Read Count" in Goodreads), Book Assembly creates separate reading entries for each time. The first entry gets the date you finished; additional re-reads are recorded without specific dates since Goodreads only exports one date.
Import Limits
Books per import: Book Assembly imports up to 1,000 books at a time. This helps keep the import process fast and reliable.
If you have more than 1,000 books:Don't worry! You can import your library in batches:
- Import your Goodreads file as normal - the first 1,000 books will be imported
- After the first import completes, import the same file again
- Book Assembly automatically skips books you've already imported (using ISBN and Goodreads ID matching)
- Repeat until all your books are imported
This typically only takes 2-3 imports even for very large libraries, since duplicates are skipped quickly.
File size: The maximum file size is 50MB. A typical Goodreads library with several thousand books is usually around 1-5MB, so this limit rarely causes issues.
Tips for a Smooth Import
- Review before importing - Take time to look through the book list and unselect any you don't want
- Check shelf mappings - Make sure your important shelves are being handled correctly
- Don't rush - For large libraries, the import may take a minute or two
- Check the results - After importing, browse your library to make sure everything looks right
- Large libraries - If you have over 1,000 books, plan to do 2-3 import batches (duplicates are auto-skipped)
If Something Goes Wrong
File won't upload:
- Make sure it's the CSV file from Goodreads (not a screenshot or PDF)
- Check the file isn't larger than 50MB
- Try downloading a fresh export from Goodreads
Books are missing:
- They may have been filtered out - try resetting the filters
- They may have been detected as duplicates
- Check if they were unchecked before import
Wrong reading status:
- You can edit individual books after import to correct their status
- DNF and Paused books need to be on appropriately named shelves to be detected
Author names look wrong:
- You can edit books individually to fix author names
- For future imports, use the author matching step carefully
After Importing
Once your books are imported, you can:
- Add or change covers - If you skipped cover lookup, or want a different cover, you can add covers from each book's edit page
- Organise into series - Group related books together
- Add genres - Categorise your books by genre
- Edit details - Fix any information that didn't import correctly
Your Goodreads account is completely unaffected by this process. You can continue using Goodreads alongside Book Assembly, or transition fully - it's up to you.