Retrieve a public Goodreads author profile by legacy author id: name, birth and death dates when public, birth place when listed, the bio in HTML and plain text, and the works list with title, url, author, average rating, ratings count, published year, cover image, editions count and a 1-based position per work. The current author page markup carries no follower count, so none is returned. A valid author with an empty works list is a successful response.
Run this endpoint
Endpoint
Parameters
Start with the required fields, then add optional filters only when your use case needs them.
Runnable path
1 required parameter needed before sending a request.
integer
Required
Goodreads legacy author id (the number in the author url). Example: 656983.
656983
Request Examples
<?php
$curl = curl_init();
curl_setopt_array($curl, [
CURLOPT_URL => "https://scrappa.co/api/goodreads/author?id=656983",
CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
CURLOPT_ENCODING => "",
CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 30,
CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "GET",
CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => [
"x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"
],
]);
$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);
curl_close($curl);
if ($err) {
echo "cURL Error #:" . $err;
} else {
echo $response;
}
<?php
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Http;
$response = Http::timeout(30)
->withHeaders(['x-api-key' => 'YOUR_API_KEY_HERE'])
->get('https://scrappa.co/api/goodreads/author?id=656983');
if ($response->successful()) {
echo $response->body();
} else {
echo "Error: " . $response->status();
}
const options = {
method: 'GET',
headers: {
'x-api-key': 'YOUR_API_KEY_HERE'
}
};
fetch('https://scrappa.co/api/goodreads/author?id=656983', options)
.then(response => {
if (!response.ok) {
throw new Error(`HTTP error! status: ${response.status}`);
}
return response.text();
})
.then(data => console.log(data))
.catch(error => console.error('Error:', error));
const axios = require('axios');
const options = {
method: 'GET',
url: 'https://scrappa.co/api/goodreads/author?id=656983',
headers: {
x-api-key: 'YOUR_API_KEY_HERE',
}
};
try {
const response = await axios(options);
console.log(response.data);
} catch (error) {
console.error('Error:', error.message);
}
require 'net/http'
require 'uri'
uri = URI.parse("https://scrappa.co/api/goodreads/author?id=656983")
http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
http.use_ssl = uri.scheme == 'https'
request = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri.request_uri)
request['x-api-key'] = 'YOUR_API_KEY_HERE'
begin
response = http.request(request)
puts response.body
rescue => e
puts "Error: #{e.message}"
end
import http.client
import json
conn = http.client.HTTPSConnection("scrappa.co")
headers = {
'x-api-key': 'YOUR_API_KEY_HERE',
}
try:
conn.request("GET", "/api/goodreads/author?id=656983", headers=headers)
res = conn.getresponse()
data = res.read()
print(data.decode("utf-8"))
except Exception as e:
print(f"Error: {e}")
finally:
conn.close()
import requests
headers = {
'x-api-key': 'YOUR_API_KEY_HERE',
}
try:
response = requests.get('https://scrappa.co/api/goodreads/author?id=656983', headers=headers)
response.raise_for_status()
print(response.text)
except requests.exceptions.RequestException as e:
print(f"Error: {e}")
import okhttp3.OkHttpClient;
import okhttp3.Request;
import okhttp3.Response;
import java.io.IOException;
public class ApiExample {
public static void main(String[] args) {
OkHttpClient client = new OkHttpClient();
Request request = new Request.Builder()
.url("https://scrappa.co/api/goodreads/author?id=656983")
.addHeader("x-api-key", "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE")
.build();
try (Response response = client.newCall(request).execute()) {
if (response.isSuccessful()) {
System.out.println(response.body().string());
} else {
System.out.println("Error: " + response.code());
}
} catch (IOException e) {
System.out.println("Error: " + e.getMessage());
}
}
}
package main
import (
"fmt"
"net/http"
"io/ioutil"
)
func main() {
client := &http.Client{}
req, err := http.NewRequest("GET", "https://scrappa.co/api/goodreads/author?id=656983", nil)
if err != nil {
fmt.Println("Error creating request:", err)
return
}
req.Header.Set("x-api-key", "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE")
resp, err := client.Do(req)
if err != nil {
fmt.Println("Error making request:", err)
return
}
defer resp.Body.Close()
body, err := ioutil.ReadAll(resp.Body)
if err != nil {
fmt.Println("Error reading response:", err)
return
}
fmt.Println(string(body))
}
#!/bin/bash
curl -X GET \
-H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY_HERE" \
"https://scrappa.co/api/goodreads/author?id=656983"
using System;
using System.Net.Http;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
class Program
{
static async Task Main()
{
using var client = new HttpClient();
client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Add("x-api-key", "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE");
try
{
var response = await client.SendAsync(new HttpRequestMessage(HttpMethod.Get, "https://scrappa.co/api/goodreads/author?id=656983"));
var content = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
Console.WriteLine(content);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Console.WriteLine($"Error: {ex.Message}");
}
}
}
import axios from 'axios';
async function run(): Promise<void> {
try {
const response = await axios({
method: 'GET',
url: 'https://scrappa.co/api/goodreads/author?id=656983',
headers: {
'x-api-key': 'YOUR_API_KEY_HERE',
},
});
console.log(response.data);
} catch (error) {
console.error('Error:', error);
}
}
void run();
use reqwest::Client;
#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
let client = Client::new();
let response = client
.get("https://scrappa.co/api/goodreads/author?id=656983")
.header("x-api-key", "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE")
.send()
.await?;
println!("{}", response.text().await?);
Ok(())
}
Response Schema
Example response fields are illustrative; inspect the JSON before integrating.
Example response fields
Scan these fields before integrating.
success
data
meta
{
"success": true,
"data": {
"id": 656983,
"name": "J.R.R. Tolkien",
"url": "https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/656983.J_R_R_Tolkien",
"born": "1892-01-03",
"died": "1973-09-02",
"birth_place": "Bloemfontein, Mangaung, Free State, South Africa",
"works": [
{
"position": 1,
"id": "5907",
"title": "The Hobbit, or There and Back Again",
"url": "https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5907.The_Hobbit_or_There_and_Back_Again",
"author": "J.R.R. Tolkien",
"average_rating": 4.3,
"ratings_count": 4650420,
"published_year": 1937,
"cover_url": "https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1274575248i/5907._SY75_.jpg",
"editions_count": 1455
}
]
},
"meta": {
"endpoint_family": "author_detail",
"billable": true
}
}
Errors
Handle these documented responses before retrying or showing customer-facing failures.
Validation Error
The id parameter is missing or not an integer. This response is not billable.
{
"errors": {
"id": [
"The id field is required."
]
},
"message": "The request validation failed"
}Author Not Found
The requested Goodreads author was not found. This response is not billable.
{
"meta": {
"billable": false,
"retryable": false,
"endpoint_family": "author_detail"
},
"error": {
"code": "NOT_FOUND",
"message": "The requested Goodreads resource was not found."
},
"success": false
}Upstream Unavailable
Goodreads is temporarily unreachable. Retry later; this response is not billable.
{
"meta": {
"billable": false,
"retryable": true,
"endpoint_family": "author_detail"
},
"error": {
"code": "UPSTREAM_UNAVAILABLE",
"message": "The Goodreads API is temporarily unavailable. Please retry."
},
"success": false
}Generate Code with AI
Copy a ready-made prompt with all the endpoint details, parameters, and example responses. Paste it into ChatGPT, Claude, or any AI assistant to instantly generate working code.
Try It Live
Test this endpoint in our interactive playground with real data.