How to Customize a WordPress Book Plugin?

Using a book plugin on your WordPress site already puts you a step ahead. It gives you a clean way to display books, authors, and details without building everything from scratch.

But here’s the thing.

Most default layouts feel… a bit generic.

If you want your site to actually stand out, you’ll need to customize a WordPress book plugin so it matches your style, your brand, and the way you want content to feel.

The good news is you don’t need to be a developer to do that. Even small changes can make a big difference.

Why Customize a WordPress Book Plugin?

When you customize a WordPress book plugin, you’re basically shaping how your content is presented.

That includes things like:

• Colors and fonts
• Layout style
• What information shows first
• How users interact with book items

From experience, even simple tweaks can make the whole section feel more polished and easier to browse.

Ways to Customize a WordPress Book Plugin

1. Start with the General Plugin Settings

This is always the first step.

Most plugins, including GS Book Showcase, come with built-in settings that control layout and behavior.

You can adjust things like the following:

• Layout styles (grid, slider, filter view)
• Number of columns for different devices
• Popup or single-page details
• Pagination settings
• Visibility of book info like author, publisher, or date

If you want a quick improvement without touching code, this section is where you should spend most of your time.

• Shortcode Name: Assign a unique identifier to your shortcode for easy management and future reference.
• Style & Theming: Choose from over 30 templates, including Grid Style, Horizontal, Flip, 3D, Author, and Widget.

View Type: Select how books are displayed:

• Grid: Ideal for structured layouts.
• Slider: Showcase books in a carousel.
• Filter: Allow users to filter books dynamically.
  Unlock features across 20+ templates in Grid Style, Horizontal, and Flip.

Columns: You can control how many columns show up depending on the device.

• On desktop, you can go up to 6 columns.
• For tablets and mobiles, you can reduce it so everything still looks clean and readable.

It’s a simple setting, but it helps a lot with responsiveness.

Link Type Selection: You can decide how users view more details about a book.

• Popup: Opens the details in a modal window without leaving the page
• Single Page: Takes users to a separate page with full information

• Popup Style: You can choose from five different styles for displaying book details.
• Pagination: Turn it on if you have many books. By default, it’s off.
• Per Page: Decide how many books show at once when pagination is enabled.

You can also choose what information to show or hide, like:

• Book Name
• Book Details
• Bookstore
• Author
• Publish Date
• Publisher

Not everything needs to be visible. Sometimes showing less actually makes things look better.

2. Use Shortcodes Smartly

This is where things start to feel more flexible.

Instead of sticking to default settings, you can use shortcodes to adjust how everything appears.

For example, you can control:

• Layout style
• Number of books
• Categories or filters
• Which details are shown

When you customize things this way, you get more control without making the setup complicated.

3. Customize with CSS

At some point, you might want to tweak the design a bit more.

That’s where CSS comes in.

You don’t need to write anything complex. Even small changes can improve how everything looks.

Just go to:
Appearance → Customize → Additional CSS

From there, you can adjust spacing, colors, font sizes, or anything else that feels off.

.gs-book-title {
    font-size: 20px;
    color: #333;
    font-weight: bold;
}

.gs-book-wrapper {
    border: 1px solid #eee;
    padding: 15px;
}

The key is not to overdo it. A few clean changes usually work better than heavy styling.

4. Use Page Builders for Enhanced Customization

If you’re using Elementor or WPBakery, things get easier.

You can drop your shortcode into a section and then control:

• Spacing
• Background
• Alignment
• Layout structure

This is one of the easiest ways to customize a WordPress book plugin visually, without touching code at all.

5. Template Override (Advanced)

If you’re looking for full control, template override is probably the best option.

That said, it’s not something you want to jump into without a bit of caution.

You’ll be working directly with template files, so even a small mistake can break the layout.

The basic idea is pretty simple:

• Copy the plugin’s template file
• Paste it into your theme
• Then adjust the structure or HTML the way you need

One important thing, though, always use a child theme. Otherwise, the next plugin update can wipe out all your changes.

6. Customize Widgets (If Available)

Some plugins also come with built-in widgets, which can be handy.

They’re especially useful if you want to show books in places like sidebars or footers without doing much setup.

Usually, you can control things like:

• How many books to show
• The display order
• Titles or labels

And if something still feels off, you can always tweak it a bit with CSS for better spacing or alignment.

Pros and Cons of Customizing a WordPress Book Plugin

Customizing a WordPress book plugin can definitely be worth it, especially if you want things to match your exact needs.

But like most things, it comes with both upsides and a few trade-offs.

Pros

• You get a layout that actually matches your brand
• The design feels more consistent across your site
• You can remove unnecessary elements
• The overall experience becomes smoother

Cons

• Custom changes may break after updates
• Some tweaks take time to get right
• Plugin conflicts can happen
• Advanced customization may require coding

So yes, it’s worth it. But keep things controlled.

FAQs

Conclusion

You don’t need advanced skills to customize a WordPress book plugin.

Start with basic settings. Adjust layout. Then move to CSS or builders if needed.

Keep it simple.

From what we’ve seen, the best results usually come from small, thoughtful changes rather than heavy customization.

Once everything lines up with your brand, your book section just starts to stand out on its own.