FAQ

You can search the catalog, view books, authors, and related contributors, and read public reviews without an account.

An account is required to track your reading, manage bookshelves, rate books, or write reviews.

Yes. OBDb is fully usable for free, with no required subscription.

Optional OBDb+ memberships add enhancements to existing features, but all core functionality remains available to everyone.

No. OBDb is independently run and not owned or operated by any retailer.

Some book pages may include affiliate links. These links help support the site but do not influence how books are listed, ranked, or reviewed.

A book is considered read when you add it to your Read bookshelf.

This creates an entry in your Read History, which you can modify or remove at any time without affecting your bookshelf.

Yes — with one exception.

A book can appear on multiple custom shelves at the same time, but it can only appear on one of the four default shelves (Must Read, In Progress, Read, Did Not Finish) at a time.

It records that you started a book but chose not to continue.
It’s simply a way to keep track — no judgment attached.

Yes. You can add, move, or remove books from shelves at any time.

Yes. Ratings and reviews are independent.

A like is a simple way to acknowledge a book without leaving a rating or review.

Yes — with some limits.

Ratings can be updated or removed at any time.

Reviews can be edited for up to 48 hours after posting. After that, they become permanent to help preserve the integrity of the review record.

At any time, you can choose to hide a review and it will no longer be visible to others. Hidden reviews can’t be made visible again for 30 days.

Helpful and unhelpful votes let readers signal whether a review was useful to them.
Over time, this feedback helps thoughtful, informative reviews rise to the top, while less useful ones gradually sink.

Yes. Members can add books and related contributors, as long as the book has a valid ISBN. This helps keep the catalog consistent and verifiable.

Books are added and shown based on the language you’re browsing the site in.
Because books don’t have subtitles, editions are language-specific. When browsing in English, only English-language editions are accepted and shown. As additional languages are supported, editions will be accepted and shown when browsing in those languages.

Mistakes are expected. Because the catalog is open and collaborative, information can be corrected over time — by you or by other members. You can update or fix details you’ve added, and the community helps keep entries accurate as the catalog grows.

Some core metadata is curated to keep the catalog consistent and reliable over time.

Your profile is visible by default. You can control who can see your bookshelves and connections in your account settings.

If you block someone — or they block you — profiles are no longer visible between you.

Yes. You can delete your account at any time from your settings.