Book Search

Bookworm searches across multiple book databases to help you find the right edition of any book.

How to Search

1. Click + Add Book from your library or Dashboard.
2. Type a book title, author name, or ISBN.
3. Browse the results and select the right book.

Tip

For best results, search by the book’s original title or the author’s last name. If you can’t find a book, try shorter search terms.

Search Results

Each result shows:

• Cover image (when available)
• Title and author
• Year published
• Page count
• ISBN

Select a result to add it to your library with your chosen reading status.

Searching by ISBN

Type or scan the ISBN from the back cover to find the exact edition. Both the 10-digit and the 13-digit ISBN work — they point to the same book.

For books published in Brazil (ISBNs starting with 978-65 or 978-85), Bookworm also checks the records of the CBL, Brazil’s national ISBN agency. That helps a lot with Brazilian comics and manga (Panini, JBC, NewPOP and others), which are often missing from international catalogs. Results from it show a CBL (Brazil ISBN) badge.

Note

The CBL record has the official title and publisher but usually no cover and sometimes no author. You can add a cover photo after adding the book.

Language Prioritization

The search prioritizes results in your preferred language. If you’re using Bookworm in Portuguese, Portuguese editions appear first.

Pagination

Search results load in batches. If you don’t find what you’re looking for in the first results, scroll down to load more. The search continues fetching results until there are no more matches.

Adding a Book from Search

1. Click on a search result.
2. Choose a reading status (Want to Read, Currently Reading, etc.).
3. Optionally set the format (Physical, Digital, Audiobook).
4. Click Add to Library.

The book is now in your library with its cover, metadata, and an Amazon affiliate link for quick purchasing.

Manual entry

If you can’t find the book in any database, switch to the Manual tab and fill in the metadata yourself.

When a search returns nothing, tap Add manually right below the message: Bookworm opens the manual form with the ISBN you searched (or scanned) already filled in — or with your search text as the title.

The manual form now also lets you set the initial reading status when you add the book — pick Finished and Bookworm will ask for the completion date. This is the fastest way to log books you read before joining Bookworm.

Tip

You don’t need to mark a book as Currently Reading before marking it Finished. Set the status straight to Finished and Bookworm fills in a start date automatically so your stats stay coherent.

Barcode Scanner (Mobile)

On mobile, you can scan the barcode on the back of any physical book instead of typing a search.

1. Tap + Add Book from your library or Dashboard.
2. Select the Scanner tab in the Add Book dialog.
3. Point your camera at the ISBN barcode on the back cover.
4. Bookworm automatically detects the ISBN and fetches the book details.
5. Tap Add to Library to confirm.

Tip

The barcode scanner reads ISBN-13 and EAN barcodes. Make sure the barcode is well-lit and fills the camera frame for the fastest detection.