# Book Series In Order - Reading Order Scraper (`jungle_synthesizer/bookseriesinorder-reading-order-scraper`) Actor Scrape book series reading order data from bookseriesinorder.com. Returns publication order, chronological order, series positions, and book metadata for thousands of authors and series. - **URL**: https://apify.com/jungle\_synthesizer/bookseriesinorder-reading-order-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [BowTiedRaccoon](https://apify.com/jungle_synthesizer) (community) - **Categories:** Education, Developer tools - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing Pay per event This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events. Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours, and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store. In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server. Actors are written with capital "A". ## How to integrate an Actor? If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects. You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready. The best way to integrate Actors is as follows. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md). For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below. For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt). # README ## Book Series In Order — Reading Order Scraper Scrapes book series reading order data from [bookseriesinorder.com](https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/). Returns publication order, chronological order, series positions, and book metadata for thousands of authors, series, and characters. ISBN databases and metadata APIs don't give you reading order. That's not an oversight — they weren't built for it. Bookseriesinorder.com is the canonical source for exactly this, and this actor walks its entire catalog. ### What It Extracts One record per book per section. An author with a 20-book series listed under both publication order and chronological order produces 40 records — same books, different sequence context. | Field | Type | Description | |-------|------|-------------| | `author` | string | Author or series/character name (from page H1) | | `author_slug` | string | URL slug identifying the author or series page | | `series_name` | string | Series or collection name, parsed from the H2 heading | | `order_type` | string | `Publication Order` or `Chronological Order` | | `book_title` | string | Book title | | `series_position` | integer | Position within this ordered list (1-based) | | `publication_year` | integer | Publication year | | `is_standalone` | boolean | True when the book appears under a standalone section | | `co_author` | string | Co-author name if noted in the title | | `notes` | string | Additional notes from the book entry | | `author_url` | string | Canonical URL of the source page | ### How to Use **Full catalog crawl:** Leave `startUrls` empty. The actor walks all 26 sitemaps (~5,000+ pages) and emits one record per book per section. Use `maxItems` to cap the total. Long runs take hours — set a generous timeout. **Targeted scrape:** Provide specific author or series URLs in `startUrls`. Returns all book sections on those pages. ```json { "startUrls": [ { "url": "https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/lee-child/" }, { "url": "https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/james-patterson/" } ], "maxItems": 500 } ```` ### Input Parameters | Parameter | Type | Default | Description | |-----------|------|---------|-------------| | `startUrls` | array | Lee Child example | Specific bookseriesinorder.com author or series pages to scrape. When empty, the full sitemap is used. | | `maxItems` | integer | 10 | Maximum number of book records to return. Leave blank for no cap. | ### Scale The site covers 5,000+ author and series pages. A full run returns millions of records — every book in every series listed under every available order type. Most use cases want a targeted subset via `startUrls`. ### Why This Data Open Library, Google Books, and Goodreads expose metadata — title, ISBN, cover, author, description. None of them expose clean publication-vs-chronological series ordering. Library apps, recommendation engines, and reading tracker tools need this distinction. Bookseriesinorder.com is the only structured source for it. ### Technical Notes - No proxy required. The site returns 200 on standard requests. - Concurrency is kept low (3 concurrent, 500ms delay) out of courtesy to a small content site. - Both author pages (e.g. `/lee-child/`) and character/series pages (e.g. `/scot-harvath/`) are handled. - `maxItems` caps total records across all pages. A single author page can produce hundreds of records. *** *Data sourced from bookseriesinorder.com. Actor by [OrbTop](https://orbtop.com).* # Actor input Schema ## `sp_intended_usage` (type: `string`): Please describe how you plan to use the data extracted by this crawler. ## `sp_improvement_suggestions` (type: `string`): Provide any feedback or suggestions for improvements. ## `sp_contact` (type: `string`): Provide your email address so we can get in touch with you. ## `maxItems` (type: `integer`): Maximum number of book records to scrape. Leave blank to scrape all. ## `startUrls` (type: `array`): Optional list of specific bookseriesinorder.com author or series URLs to scrape (e.g. https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/lee-child/). When provided, only these pages are scraped instead of the full site via sitemap. ## Actor input object example ```json { "sp_intended_usage": "Describe your intended use...", "sp_improvement_suggestions": "Share your suggestions here...", "sp_contact": "Share your email here...", "maxItems": 10, "startUrls": [ { "url": "https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/lee-child/" } ] } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `results` (type: `string`): No description # API You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup. ## JavaScript example ```javascript import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client'; // Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token // Replace the '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "sp_intended_usage": "Describe your intended use...", "sp_improvement_suggestions": "Share your suggestions here...", "sp_contact": "Share your email here...", "maxItems": 10, "startUrls": [ { "url": "https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/lee-child/" } ] }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("jungle_synthesizer/bookseriesinorder-reading-order-scraper").call(input); // Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any) console.log('Results from dataset'); console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`); const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems(); items.forEach((item) => { console.dir(item); }); // 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs ``` ## Python example ```python from apify_client import ApifyClient # Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token # Replace '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "sp_intended_usage": "Describe your intended use...", "sp_improvement_suggestions": "Share your suggestions here...", "sp_contact": "Share your email here...", "maxItems": 10, "startUrls": [{ "url": "https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/lee-child/" }], } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("jungle_synthesizer/bookseriesinorder-reading-order-scraper").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) # 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{ "sp_intended_usage": "Describe your intended use...", "sp_improvement_suggestions": "Share your suggestions here...", "sp_contact": "Share your email here...", "maxItems": 10, "startUrls": [ { "url": "https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/lee-child/" } ] }' | apify call jungle_synthesizer/bookseriesinorder-reading-order-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=jungle_synthesizer/bookseriesinorder-reading-order-scraper", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "Book Series In Order - Reading Order Scraper", "description": "Scrape book series reading order data from bookseriesinorder.com. Returns publication order, chronological order, series positions, and book metadata for thousands of authors and series.", "version": "0.1", "x-build-id": "UONo4ZBnKNxQfCfTi" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/jungle_synthesizer~bookseriesinorder-reading-order-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-jungle_synthesizer-bookseriesinorder-reading-order-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/jungle_synthesizer~bookseriesinorder-reading-order-scraper/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-jungle_synthesizer-bookseriesinorder-reading-order-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/jungle_synthesizer~bookseriesinorder-reading-order-scraper/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-jungle_synthesizer-bookseriesinorder-reading-order-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "sp_intended_usage": { "title": "What is the intended usage of this data?", "minLength": 1, "type": "string", "description": "Please describe how you plan to use the data extracted by this crawler." }, "sp_improvement_suggestions": { "title": "How can we improve this crawler for you?", "minLength": 1, "type": "string", "description": "Provide any feedback or suggestions for improvements." }, "sp_contact": { "title": "Contact Email", "minLength": 1, "type": "string", "description": "Provide your email address so we can get in touch with you." }, "maxItems": { "title": "Max Items", "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum number of book records to scrape. Leave blank to scrape all." }, "startUrls": { "title": "Start URLs", "type": "array", "description": "Optional list of specific bookseriesinorder.com author or series URLs to scrape (e.g. https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/lee-child/). When provided, only these pages are scraped instead of the full site via sitemap.", "items": { "type": "object", "required": [ "url" ], "properties": { "url": { "type": "string", "title": "URL of a web page", "format": "uri" } } } } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```