mysql did not like your query: 'SELECT books.id, users_bio.bio, publisher.firstname AS publisher_firstname, publisher.lastname AS publisher_lastname, publisher.username AS publisher_username FROM books LEFT OUTER JOIN users_bio ON books.author = users_bio.email LEFT OUTER JOIN users AS publisher ON books.publisher = publisher.username WHERE books.id IN ( )', err= You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near ')' at line 1