diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/search_internet.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/search_internet.py
index 2b45caba0d..bb962e83eb 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/search_internet.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/search_internet.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function, unicode_literals
 
 from polyglot.builtins import iteritems
-from polyglot.urllib import quote_plus
+from polyglot.urllib import quote, quote_plus
 
 AUTHOR_SEARCHES = {
     'goodreads':
@@ -48,17 +48,21 @@ all_book_searches = BOOK_SEARCHES.__iter__
 all_author_searches = AUTHOR_SEARCHES.__iter__
 
 
-def qquote(val):
+def qquote(val, use_plus=True):
     if not isinstance(val, bytes):
         val = val.encode('utf-8')
-    ans = quote_plus(val)
+    ans = quote_plus(val) if use_plus else quote(val)
     if isinstance(ans, bytes):
         ans = ans.decode('utf-8')
     return ans
 
 
+def specialised_quote(template, val):
+    return qquote(val, 'goodreads.com' not in template)
+
+
 def url_for(template, data):
-    return template.format(**{k: qquote(v) for k, v in iteritems(data)})
+    return template.format(**{k: specialised_quote(template, v) for k, v in iteritems(data)})
 
 
 def url_for_author_search(key, **kw):