# 📚 Goodreads Book Scraper (`easyapi/goodreads-book-scraper`) Actor

Extract comprehensive book data from Goodreads search results. Get detailed information about books, authors, ratings, and more. Perfect for market research, data analysis, and building book recommendation systems. 🔍📚

- **URL**: https://apify.com/easyapi/goodreads-book-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [EasyApi](https://apify.com/easyapi) (community)
- **Categories:** Integrations, Other
- **Stats:** 72 total users, 3 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 4 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.99 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
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.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — 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

## 📚 Goodreads Book Scraper

Scrape detailed book information from Goodreads search results. Perfect for book researchers, publishers, and data analysts who need comprehensive book data.

### 🎯 Features

- 📖 Search books by keywords
- 🔍 Extract detailed book information including:
  - Book title and URL
  - Author details (name, profile URL, Goodreads author status)
  - Cover image URL
  - Rating information (average rating and number of ratings)
  - Publication year
  - Number of editions
- ⚡ Fast and efficient scraping with built-in pagination handling
- 🛡️ Advanced browser automation with anti-detection measures
- 🎚️ Configurable maximum items limit
- 🌐 Proxy support for reliable data collection

### 📝 Use Cases

- 📊 Market research for publishers and authors
- 📚 Building book recommendation systems
- 🔍 Competitive analysis of book ratings and popularity
- 📈 Tracking book performance metrics
- 🎯 Finding popular books in specific genres or topics

### 💡 Tips

- Use specific keywords for more accurate results
- Set appropriate maxItems limit based on your needs
- Enable proxy configuration for better success rates
- Consider rate limits and be respectful to Goodreads servers

#### Input Example

A full explanation of an input example in JSON.

```json
{
    "keywords": [
        "shaker"
    ],
    "maxItems": 50
}
```

#### Output sample

The results will be wrapped into a dataset which you can always find in the **Storage** tab. Here's an excerpt from the data you'd get if you apply the input parameters above:

And here is the same data but in JSON. You can choose in which format to download your data: JSON, JSONL, Excel spreadsheet, HTML table, CSV, or XML.

```json
[
    {
        "keyword": "shaker",
        "title": "Shaker (Blackwings MC, #5)Teagan Brooks",
        "url": "https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43999679-shaker",
        "author": {
            "name": "Teagan Brooks",
            "url": "https://www.goodreads.comhttps://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18042726.Teagan_Brooks",
            "isGoodreadsAuthor": true
        },
        "cover": "https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1550046473i/43999679._SY75_.jpg",
        "rating": {
            "average": 4.49,
            "count": 3196
        },
        "publishYear": 2019,
        "editions": 5
    },
    ...
]
```

### 🤝 Related Actors

Here are some other useful actors for content and social media scraping:

- 🎥 [TikTok Videos Scraper](https://apify.com/easyapi/tiktok-videos-scraper) - Extract comprehensive video metadata with advanced filtering capabilities
- 📱 [TikTok LIVE Scraper](https://apify.com/easyapi/tiktok-live-scraper) - Gather real-time data from TikTok live streams
- 👥 [TikTok Following Scraper](https://apify.com/easyapi/tiktok-following-scraper) - Extract detailed TikTok following list information
- 🔵 [Facebook Following Scraper](https://apify.com/easyapi/facebook-following-scraper) - Scrape Facebook following relationships and profile details
- 📝 [Reddit Posts Search Scraper](https://apify.com/easyapi/reddit-posts-search-scraper) - Extract Reddit posts with rich metadata and engagement metrics
- 👻 [Snapchat User Stories Scraper](https://apify.com/easyapi/snapchat-user-stories-scraper) - Scrape public Snapchat story content and details
- 🎯 [Snapchat Spotlight Detail Scraper](https://apify.com/easyapi/snapchat-spotlight-detail-scraper) - Extract Snapchat Spotlight videos metadata
- 👥 [VK Groups Scraper](https://apify.com/easyapi/vk-groups-scraper) - Comprehensive VK group data extraction
- 👤 [VK People Scraper](https://apify.com/easyapi/vk-people-scraper) - Extract detailed VK user profile information
- 📸 [Instagram Profile Scraper](https://apify.com/easyapi/instagram-profile-scraper) - Gather Instagram profile metrics and details
- 🖼️ [Instagram Post Detail Scraper](https://apify.com/easyapi/instagram-post-detail-scraper) - Extract comprehensive Instagram post data
- 📊 [Instagram Hashtag Scraper](https://apify.com/easyapi/instagram-hashtag-scraper) - Scrape Instagram hashtag posts and metrics
- 💬 [Instagram Comments Scraper](https://apify.com/easyapi/instagram-comments-scraper) - Extract Instagram post comments and engagement
- 📱 [Instagram Story Scraper](https://apify.com/easyapi/instagram-story-scraper) - Gather Instagram story content and metrics
- 🛍️ [Tokopedia Product Search Scraper](https://apify.com/easyapi/tokopedia-product-search-scraper) - Extract detailed product data from Tokopedia search results

# Actor input Schema

## `keywords` (type: `array`):

List of keywords to search for on Goodreads

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of books to scrape per keyword

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Proxy settings for making requests

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "keywords": [
    "shaker"
  ],
  "maxItems": 30,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}
```

# 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 '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("easyapi/goodreads-book-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 '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("easyapi/goodreads-book-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 '{}' |
apify call easyapi/goodreads-book-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=easyapi/goodreads-book-scraper",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/C7sSTF0fXxJLbArKk/builds/JxeUwTeEN07D1I16S/openapi.json