Contributions

Last Updated July 25, 2025

Reference

What is a Contribution?

A Contribution in Hardcover represents the relationship between an author and a book or edition, along with the specific role the author played. This flexible system allows for various types of contributions including writing, illustration, translation, editing, and more, providing detailed credit information for all contributors to a work.

Fields

Field	Type	Description
id	bigint	Unique identifier for the contribution
author_id	int	ID of the contributing author
contributable_id	int	ID of the item being contributed to (book or edition)
contributable_type	string	Type of item: “Book” or “Edition”
contribution	string	Role or type of contribution (Author, Illustrator, Translator, etc.)
created_at	timestamp	When the contribution was recorded
updated_at	timestamp	When the contribution was last updated
author	Author	Author object with complete information
book	Book	Book object (when contributable_type is “Book”)

Common Contribution Types

Contribution Type	Description
Author	Primary writer of the book
Illustrator	Created illustrations or artwork
Translator	Translated the work to another language
Editor	Edited or compiled the work
Narrator	Narrated the audiobook version
Foreword	Wrote the foreword or introduction
Afterword	Wrote the afterword or conclusion
Cover Artist	Created the cover art or design

Authors - The contributors to books
Books - Works that receive contributions
Editions - Specific editions with unique contributions

Example Queries

Get Book Contributors

Retrieve all contributors for a specific book with their roles:

Query
Try it yourself

query GetBookContributors {
  books(where: {id: {_eq: 328491}}) {
      id
      title
      contributions {
          id
          contribution
          author {
              id
              name
              bio
          }
      }
  }
}

Get Author’s Contributions

Find all works an author has contributed to with their roles:

Query
Try it yourself

query GetAuthorContributions {
  contributions(
      where: {author_id: {_eq: 80626}}
      order_by: {created_at: desc}
  ) {
      id
      contribution
      contributable_type
      book {
          id
          title
          release_year
          rating
      }
      created_at
  }
}

Find Books by Illustrator

Search for books that have illustrators and display their names:

Query
Try it yourself

query FindBooksByContributor {
  contributions(
      where: {
          contribution: {_eq: "Illustrator"}
          book: {id: {_is_null: false}}
      }
      order_by: {created_at: desc}
      limit: 10
  ) {
      id
      contribution
      author {
          name
      }
      book {
          id
          title
          rating
          release_year
      }
  }
}

Find Authors with Multiple Roles

Discover authors who have contributed to books in different roles (e.g., as both author and illustrator):

Query
Try it yourself

query AuthorMultipleRoles {
  authors(
      where: {
          contributions_aggregate: {
              count: {
                  predicate: {_gt: 0},
                  filter: {contribution: {_neq: "Author"}}
              }
          }
      }
  ) {
      id
      name
      contributions_aggregate(
          distinct_on: contribution
      ) {
          nodes {
              contribution
          }
      }
      contributions(
          distinct_on: contribution
          limit: 5
      ) {
          contribution
      }
  }
}

Edition-Specific Contributors

Find contributors specific to particular editions:

Query
Try it yourself

query EditionContributors {
  contributions(
      where: {contributable_type: {_eq: "Edition"}}
      order_by: {created_at: desc}
      limit: 20
  ) {
      id
      contribution
      author {
          name
      }
      # The contributable_id field references the edition ID
      # You can join this with editions table to get edition details
      contributable_id
      created_at
  }
}