Directory / plugin
Pretty Bookshelf
v1.0.1 · by PrettyPlugins
Display books on WordPress with beautiful galleries, author pages, ISBN lookup, and your own retailer links.
About this plugin
Create beautiful book galleries and author pages on WordPress—without coding.
Pretty Bookshelf gives authors and book lovers a simple way to display books, share descriptions, and help readers find where to buy. Add a book by ISBN or enter its details yourself, then display it with a block or shortcode.
Start free with five published books and unlimited drafts.
See sample layouts: Book gallery | Author page | Single-book page.
Everything you need to show your books
- Less manual entry. Look up book details and covers using Open Library, then review and edit the results.
- Ready-made layouts. Start with a bookstore gallery, author page, or single-book launch page.
- Your own purchase links. Add up to four retailer buttons per book, including your affiliate links.
- Update once. Edit a book in one place and its details update wherever you display it.
- Fits your site. Layouts inherit your theme’s fonts and colors.
Use a Pretty Bookshelf block in the WordPress editor, or choose display options and copy a generated shortcode from the Shortcodes & Layouts screen.
Need a larger collection?
The free version includes five published books. Plus supports 50 and Pro supports 500. Compare the paid editions.
Documentation & support
External services and privacy
ISBN lookup uses the Open Library APIs, operated by the Internet Archive. Requests happen when an editor clicks Find Book. An uncached lookup can make up to four server-side requests for an edition, description, and missing details. Requests send the ISBN, server IP address, and a User-Agent identifying Pretty Bookshelf and the site’s public URL.
Results are cached for 24 hours, or five minutes when details are incomplete. Repeated lookups use that cache. Lookups are spaced and serialized to respect provider limits. No API key or Open Library account is required. Manual entry works if the service is unavailable.
Imported covers load from Open Library’s cover service (covers.openlibrary.org), so visitors’ browsers send that service normal image-request information such as IP address and browser headers. Upload your own covers to avoid those requests. Saved metadata and descriptions are displayed from your website without catalog requests.
The plugin does not send book descriptions, retailer links, account credentials, or visitor details in ISBN lookup requests. It includes no analytics, tracking, or automatic external requests on activation. Check imported content and your rights to use cover artwork and descriptions before publishing.