# Goodreads Author Detail API Documentation

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.

- **Documentation:** [https://scrappa.co/docs/goodreads-api/goodreads_author](https://scrappa.co/docs/goodreads-api/goodreads_author)
- **API group:** Goodreads API
- **Endpoint:** `GET https://scrappa.co/api/goodreads/author`

## Authentication

Send your Scrappa API key in the `X-API-KEY` request header. Paid endpoints also support accountless x402 payments when called without an API key.

## Parameters

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `id` | integer | Yes | Goodreads legacy author id (the number in the author url). Example: 656983. |

## Example request

```bash
#!/bin/bash

curl -X GET \
    -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY_HERE" \
    "https://scrappa.co/api/goodreads/author?id=656983"
```

## Example response

```json
{
    "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

| Status | Error | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 422 | Validation Error | The id parameter is missing or not an integer. This response is not billable. |
| 404 | Author Not Found | The requested Goodreads author was not found. This response is not billable. |
| 503 | Upstream Unavailable | Goodreads is temporarily unreachable. Retry later; this response is not billable. |

## More Scrappa resources

- [API documentation](https://scrappa.co/docs)
- [Full LLM-readable API reference](https://scrappa.co/llms-full.txt)
- [OpenAPI specification](https://scrappa.co/docs/api.json)
- [Pricing](https://scrappa.co/pricing)