🚀 Goodreads Books Scraper

Collect comprehensive book data from Goodreads.com without any technical setup. This tool lets you extract detailed information about any book - or hundreds of books at once - by simply providing a URL, a search term, or a genre name.

Whether you are tracking publishing trends, building a reading list database, researching competitive titles, or analyzing reader sentiment through ratings and reviews, this tool gives you clean, structured data ready for immediate use. No coding knowledge required.

Goodreads is the world's largest site for readers and book recommendations, with over 150 million members and millions of book listings. This tool gives you direct access to that wealth of information - titles, authors, ratings, genres, awards, ISBNs, publisher details, series information, and much more - all exported as CSV, Excel, or JSON.

✨ What Does It Do

• Title and author - Full book title, complete series-formatted title (e.g. "The Hunger Games, #1"), author name, and a direct link to their Goodreads author profile
• Ratings and reviews - Average star rating, total ratings count, total text reviews count, and a breakdown of 1-star through 5-star ratings for detailed sentiment analysis
• Genres - Full list of reader-assigned genre tags (e.g. "Young Adult", "Dystopia", "Science Fiction")
• Book description - Complete synopsis for content analysis or display
• Publication details - Publisher name, publication date, page count, and format (Hardcover, Paperback, etc.)
• Identifiers - ISBN, ISBN-13, and ASIN for cross-referencing with other databases and retailers
• Language - Language of the edition collected
• Series information - Series name, series URL, and position within the series (e.g. Book 1 of 3)
• Awards - Full list of literary awards won or nominated, including award name, category, designation, and year
• Cover image - Direct URL to the book cover image
• Goodreads link - Direct URL to the book's Goodreads page for easy reference

🎬 Demo Video

Demo video coming soon.

🔧 Input

You have three ways to tell the tool what books to collect. Provide one of the following - if you provide a Start URL, the other fields are ignored.

Start URL (startUrl) - Paste a direct Goodreads URL. This can be:

• A single book page: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2767052-the-hunger-games
• A search results page: https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=harry+potter
• A genre page: https://www.goodreads.com/genres/mystery
• A Goodreads list page: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1.Best_Books_Ever

Search Query (searchQuery) - Enter a keyword or author name to search Goodreads (e.g. harry potter, Stephen King). Used only if Start URL is not provided.

Genre (genre) - Browse books by genre (e.g. fiction, mystery, science-fiction, romance, fantasy). Used only if Start URL and Search Query are not provided.

Max Items (maxItems) - Limit how many books are collected. Free accounts are capped at 100. Paid accounts can collect up to 1,000,000 books.

Example Input

{
  "startUrl": "https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2767052-the-hunger-games",
  "maxItems": 10
}

To search by keyword:

{
  "searchQuery": "harry potter",
  "maxItems": 50
}

To browse by genre:

{
  "genre": "science-fiction",
  "maxItems": 100
}

📊 Output

Each book is saved as a structured record. Here is a real example from The Hunger Games:

{
  "imageUrl": "https://m.media-amazon.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1586722975i/2767052.jpg",
  "url": "https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2767052-the-hunger-games",
  "title": "The Hunger Games",
  "titleComplete": "The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)",
  "author": "Suzanne Collins",
  "authorUrl": "https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/153394",
  "description": "Winning means fame and fortune. Losing means certain death...",
  "genres": ["Young Adult", "Dystopia", "Fiction", "Fantasy", "Science Fiction"],
  "averageRating": 4.35,
  "ratingsCount": 9968802,
  "reviewsCount": 264151,
  "ratingsCountDist": [131704, 238950, 1096795, 3025516, 5475837],
  "isbn": "0439023483",
  "isbn13": "9780439023481",
  "asin": "0439023483",
  "pages": 374,
  "format": "Hardcover",
  "publisher": "Scholastic Press",
  "publishedDate": "2008-10-14",
  "language": "English",
  "series": "The Hunger Games",
  "seriesUrl": "https://www.goodreads.com/series/73758-the-hunger-games",
  "seriesPosition": "1",
  "awards": [
    {
      "name": "CYBILS Award",
      "category": "Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction",
      "designation": "WINNER",
      "year": 2008
    }
  ],
  "goodreadsId": 2767052,
  "scrapedAt": "2026-02-19T19:13:40.933Z"
}

Field guide:

• imageUrl - Link to the book cover image for display or download
• title / titleComplete - Short title and the full series-formatted title
• author / authorUrl - Author name and their Goodreads profile link
• averageRating - Star rating out of 5, averaged across all readers
• ratingsCount / reviewsCount - Total number of star ratings and written reviews
• ratingsCountDist - Array of rating counts from 1-star to 5-star, useful for sentiment analysis
• isbn / isbn13 / asin - Standard book identifiers for cross-referencing with retailers
• pages / format - Page count and physical format of the edition
• publisher / publishedDate - Publisher name and original publication date
• series / seriesPosition - Series name and which book number it is in the series
• awards - Literary awards with category, designation (WINNER or NOMINEE), and year
• goodreadsId - Unique Goodreads identifier for the book
• scrapedAt - Timestamp of when the data was collected

Download your results as CSV, Excel, or JSON directly from the Apify platform.

💎 Why Choose the Goodreads Scraper?

No proxies or complex setup required. Goodreads does not block automated access, so this tool works reliably without additional configuration or proxy costs.

Flexible data collection modes. Point the tool at a single book, a search result page, a genre listing, or a curated list - it handles all formats automatically and discovers book links for you.

Rich, structured award data. Most tools give you basic book details. This tool captures the full awards history - every nomination and win, with category and year - so you can analyze prestige and credibility alongside popularity.

Complete rating distribution. Instead of just an average rating, you get the full breakdown of 1-star through 5-star counts. This lets you understand reader polarization, not just overall sentiment.

Series-aware data. The tool captures series name, series URL, and position number so you can easily group, sort, and analyze books within a series.

Bulk collection at scale. Collect up to 1,000,000 books in a single run from search results, genre pages, or list pages. The tool processes books in parallel for efficient large-scale data collection.

Ready for any workflow. Export to CSV, Excel, or JSON. Schedule regular runs to keep your data fresh. Connect to 5,000+ apps via integrations.

📋 How to Use

No technical skills required. Follow these steps:

1. Sign Up: Create a free account w/ $5 credit
2. Find the Actor: Search for "Goodreads Books Scraper" in the Apify store, or go directly to the actor page
3. Set Your Input: Enter a Goodreads URL, a search keyword, or a genre name in the input form
4. Set Max Items: Choose how many books you want to collect (default is 10, up to 100 for free accounts)
5. Run the Actor: Click "Start" and the tool will begin collecting data immediately
6. Download Your Data: Once complete, download your results as CSV, Excel, or JSON from the dataset tab

The entire process takes just minutes. No code, no setup, no technical knowledge needed.

🎯 Business Use Cases

Publishers and Literary Agents

• Track competitor titles in a genre to understand market positioning
• Analyze rating distributions to spot books with polarized reader reactions
• Monitor award nominations and wins to identify emerging prestige titles
• Build a database of ISBNs and publisher details for rights research

Market Researchers and Analysts

• Collect genre-level data to identify trending categories and reader demand
• Compare ratings and review volume across titles for popularity benchmarking
• Analyze publication dates and formats to understand publishing patterns
• Build datasets of award-winning books for cultural trend analysis

Authors and Content Creators

• Research reader expectations in your genre by analyzing top-rated books
• Identify series patterns - how many books do successful series typically run?
• Study genre tags applied to successful titles to inform your own positioning
• Track reader sentiment through rating distribution across comparable books

Librarians and Educators

• Build reading list databases with full metadata including ISBNs and language
• Collect book data for catalog enrichment projects
• Research award-winning titles for curated collection development
• Export book lists with cover images for display materials and newsletters

E-commerce and Retail Teams

• Cross-reference ISBNs and ASINs to match Goodreads data with retail inventory
• Identify highly-rated books that may warrant stocking or promotion
• Monitor publisher data for sourcing and vendor relationship management

❓ FAQ

How does this work? You provide a Goodreads URL, a search term, or a genre name. The tool visits Goodreads, reads the page data, and extracts all available book information into a clean, structured format. No technical knowledge is needed - the entire process runs in the cloud.

How accurate is the data? The data comes directly from Goodreads pages in real time. Ratings, review counts, and all other fields reflect what is currently shown on the Goodreads website at the time of collection. Each record includes a scrapedAt timestamp so you know exactly when the data was gathered.

Can I collect data from multiple genres or search terms? Yes. You can run the actor multiple times with different inputs, or use genre pages and list pages to collect books across multiple categories in a single run. Large list pages and genre pages often contain hundreds of books that the tool will discover and process automatically.

Can I schedule regular data collection runs? Yes. Apify lets you schedule this actor to run daily, weekly, or on any custom schedule. This is useful for tracking how ratings and review counts change over time or for keeping a database of new releases current.

What if I need help? Visit the Apify Help Center or contact us through the support form linked below. We are happy to help with setup, troubleshooting, or custom data projects.

Is there a limit on how many books I can collect? Free accounts can collect up to 100 books per run. Paid accounts can collect up to 1,000,000 books per run.

🔗 Integrate this Scraper with any app

Connect this actor with your favorite tools:

• Make - Automate workflows
• Zapier - Connect 5000+ apps
• GitHub - Version control integration
• Slack - Get notifications
• Airbyte - Data pipelines
• Google Drive - Export to spreadsheets

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🆘 Need Help?

Check the FAQ section above for answers to common questions. You can also visit the Apify Help Center for platform documentation. If you need a custom data solution or have a specific use case, reach out using the contact form below.

📞 Contact

Contact us to request a new scraper, propose a custom data project, or report a technical issue with this actor at https://tally.so/r/BzdKgA

⚠️ Disclaimer

This Actor is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Goodreads or any of its subsidiaries. All trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.