Goodreads book and author scraper in n8n
Look up Goodreads books by URL, search query, or ISBN, or pull every book by an author, in a series, on a Listopia list, shelf, or genre page. Filter by rating, ratings count, publish year, language, genre, or author.
What this workflow does
Import it and n8n runs the Goodreads Book, Author & Listopia List Scraper Actor on Apify every day at 08:00 with the starter input below. Each row comes back with title, author, rating, # ratings and 9 more; repeats with the same url are dropped. A Google Sheets append is included and stays off until you add your sheet. The only credential it needs is your Apify API token.
Read from the workflow file, built for Goodreads Book, Author & Listopia List Scraper version 1.1.1. Updated 2026-11-14.How the rows travel
6 nodes, in the order n8n runs them. The yellow stop is the call to the Apify Actor; the dashed stop is optional.
- Daily trigger Schedule trigger
- Configure input Code
- Run Apify Actor HTTP Request
- Normalize + dedupe Code
- Rows ready No operation
- Google Sheets (optional) Google Sheets, off until you switch it on
From the Short
This workflow is the one the video points to: the number in each video opens this page.
Input
The Configure input node holds the starter input. Change it there; every setting the Actor accepts is listed below.
{
"mode": "isbns",
"bookUrls": [
"https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4671.The_Great_Gatsby"
],
"isbns": [
"9780743273565"
],
"maxItems": 25,
"maxReviewsPerBook": 3,
"maxEditionsPerBook": 3,
"quoteTags": [
"love"
],
"maxQuotesPerSource": 3,
"maxSimilarPerBook": 5,
"maxListsPerBook": 5
}| Setting | Type | Required | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| mode | string | Yes | auto | What to scrape. Auto runs every non-empty input you provide. 15 choices. |
| bookUrls | array | No | – | Goodreads book URLs, bare book IDs, or ISBNs. Used by books, reviews, editions, similar, and bookLists. (mode=books, reviews, editions, similar, bookLists, auto) |
| searchQueries | array | No | – | Titles, authors, or keywords to search for. (mode=search, auto) |
| isbns | array | No | – | ISBN-10 or ISBN-13 values. Hyphens and spaces are accepted. (mode=isbns, auto) |
| authorUrls | array | No | – | Goodreads author URLs or bare author IDs. (mode=authors, auto) |
| seriesUrls | array | No | – | Goodreads series URLs or bare series IDs. (mode=series, auto) |
| listUrls | array | No | – | Listopia /list/show/ URLs or bare list IDs. (mode=lists, auto) |
| shelfNames | array | No | – | Popular shelf names such as mystery, fantasy, or historical-fiction. (mode=shelves, auto) |
| genreNames | array | No | – | Genre slugs such as fantasy, romance, or science-fiction. (mode=genres, auto) |
| maxItems | integer | No | 50 | Hard cap on every record emitted in the run, including review, edition, quote, list, and summary records. |
| detailLevel | string | No | full | Full returns complete book records. Listing returns lighter row records for search, author, series, list, shelf, and genre results. One of: full, listing. |
| includeMetadata | boolean | No | false | Also emit one author, series, or Listopia summary record alongside the books. |
| includeRelated | boolean | No | false | In auto mode, also collect reviews, editions, similar books, and lists for each book URL. |
| minRating | number | No | – | Drop books rated below this value. Decimals such as 4.5 are supported. |
| minRatingsCount | integer | No | – | Drop books with fewer ratings than this. |
| publishYearMin | integer | No | – | Drop books first published before this year. |
| publishYearMax | integer | No | – | Drop books first published after this year. |
| language | string | No | – | Keep books whose language starts with this text, for example en, English, or fre. |
| containsGenre | string | No | – | Keep books with a genre containing this text. |
| containsAuthor | string | No | – | Keep books with an author name containing this text. |
| maxReviewsPerBook | integer | No | 30 | Reviews to collect for each book. (mode=reviews) |
| reviewSort | string | No | DEFAULT | Order reviews by Goodreads default, newest first, or oldest first. (mode=reviews) One of: DEFAULT, NEWEST, OLDEST. |
| reviewLanguage | string | No | all | Only collect reviews written in this language. (mode=reviews) 61 choices. |
| reviewRatingMin | integer | No | – | Only collect reviews with at least this star rating. (mode=reviews) |
| reviewRatingMax | integer | No | – | Only collect reviews with at most this star rating. (mode=reviews) |
| excludeSpoilers | boolean | No | false | Skip reviews Goodreads marks as containing spoilers. (mode=reviews) |
| maxEditionsPerBook | integer | No | 20 | Editions to collect for each book. (mode=editions) |
| quoteTags | array | No | – | Quote tag pages to scrape, such as love, life, or wisdom. (mode=quotes) |
| quoteAuthorUrls | array | No | – | Author quote pages as Goodreads URLs or bare author IDs. (mode=quotes) |
| quoteWorkUrls | array | No | – | Work quote pages as Goodreads URLs or bare work IDs. (mode=quotes) |
| maxQuotesPerSource | integer | No | 30 | Quotes to collect from each tag, author, or work. (mode=quotes) |
| maxSimilarPerBook | integer | No | 20 | Similar books to collect for each input book. (mode=similar) |
| maxListsPerBook | integer | No | 20 | Listopia lists to collect for each input book. (mode=bookLists) |
| releaseYear | integer | No | 2026 | Year of the new-releases chart. (mode=newReleases) |
| releaseMonth | string | No | all | Month of the new-releases chart, or all for the yearly chart. (mode=newReleases) 13 choices. |
What each row holds
Every field the Actor returns stays in the row (13 in its dataset schema). Normalize + dedupe trims text, drops empty fields, removes repeats with the same url and adds _source and _scrapedAt. The main fields:
| Field | What it is |
|---|---|
| title | Title |
| primaryAuthor | Author |
| averageRating | Rating |
| ratingsCount | # Ratings |
| publishedYear | Year |
| url | URL |
What the first run costs
With the starter input (maxItems = 25) a first run costs about $0.42 on the Apify Free plan: $0.40 to start the run at 4 GB of memory and $0.02 for the results, plus platform usage.
The Actor lists $0.99 per 1,000 results; its catalogue page breaks the price down by Apify plan. The Apify Free plan includes $5 of usage a month.
The Actor behind it
Goodreads Book, Author & Listopia List Scraper: Look up Goodreads books by URL, search query, or ISBN, or pull every book by an author, in a series, on a Listopia list, shelf, or genre page. Filter by rating, ratings count, publish year, language, genre, or author.
The same job from an AI agent
The matching agent skill gives Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and other agents the same Actor, input and fields. Install it in one line:
npx skills add https://scraperfinder.com --skill goodreads-book-author-and-listopia-list-scraper The goodreads book and author scraper skill, with manual install and run steps
Questions people ask
How do I import this workflow into n8n?
Copy https://scraperfinder.com/n8n/goodreads-book-author-and-listopia-list-scraper.json. In n8n, open a new workflow, click the three-dot menu, choose Import from URL and paste it. Or download the JSON file and use Import from File; both give the same 6 nodes.
Do I need an Apify account?
Yes. The workflow calls the Goodreads Book, Author & Listopia List Scraper Actor through the Apify API with your own token, and each run is billed to your Apify account. The Free plan includes $5 of usage a month.
What does a run cost?
With the starter input (maxItems = 25) a first run costs about $0.42 on the Apify Free plan: $0.40 to start the run at 4 GB of memory and $0.02 for the results, plus platform usage. The Actor's Store page shows the current price.
Can I change what it collects?
Yes: edit the input object in the Configure input node. The Actor takes 35 settings; the table on this page lists each one with its default. Raise maxItems once the first rows look right.
Does it work without Google Sheets?
Yes. The rows wait in the Rows ready node, so you can connect any other node there: a database, Airtable, a webhook or an email. The Google Sheets node is only one option.
Workflow updated 2026-11-14