& sign in Manage authors

[bigpallooka]

I get an error message when I try to place an '&' sign in the author column when I use manage authors. It replaces it with '%'. I can use it in the author sort section of manage authors and in the metadata window.

Why does this occur and can I get around it?

What is the proper way to list multiple authors so that they sort correctly?

[chaley]

The & sign is used to separate authors. A single author's name cannot contain one.

The manage authors dialog does not support splitting a single author name into two authors. Instead, you enter multiple authors for a book in the book, either directly on the spreadsheet or while editing metadata. As said above, separate the authors using &, such as in

Joe Blogs & Suzy Texts

[MSWallack]

Does Calibre support three (or more) authors? If so, what is the proper way to enter the authors names so that Calibre recognizes that there are more than two authors?

[itimpi]

As was mentioned above, simply enter as many authors as you like in the book metadata using & as the character between author names.

[MSWallack]

Thanks. I didn't realize that the ampersand could be used to separate additional authors. It makes sense. I was focused on how you'd normally see multiple authors written (A, B, & C or something similar) rather than how a database might be designed to interpret the info.

[bigpallooka]

Originally Posted by chaley

The & sign is used to separate authors. A single author's name cannot contain one.

The manage authors dialog does not support splitting a single author name into two authors. Instead, you enter multiple authors for a book in the book, either directly on the spreadsheet or while editing metadata. As said above, separate the authors using &, such as in

Joe Blogs & Suzy Texts

I may not be the brightest spark but i can't think why you imagine I would want to insert an & sign into a single author. It may be that you mean if multiple authors are listed with a comma separating them then Calibre identifies them as a single author and so you need first to insert the & sign at book metadata level. If that is what you meant then you must be correct because you can't replace the comma with an & in "author" column under "manage author" as I stated in my original post.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by bigpallooka

I may not be the brightest spark but i can't think why you imagine I would want to insert an & sign into a single author.

Some people like to use 'Fred & Mary Jones' as a single author name. That said, I was quite sure you were trying to split author names, something that manage authors will not do.

It may be that you mean if multiple authors are listed with a comma separating them then Calibre identifies them as a single author and so you need first to insert the & sign at book metadata level.

Commas are ignored. 'Joe Blogs, Suzy Texts' is one author as far as calibre is concerned, just as is 'Roosevelt, Franklin Delano, Jr. '.

If that is what you meant then you must be correct because you can't replace the comma with an & in "author" column under "manage author" as I stated in my original post.

Yes. From your post it appeared that you were trying to use manage authors to split what calibre considers to be a single author into 2 authors. Manage authors won't do that. You must instead split the authors in the books where they occur.

[bigpallooka]

Originally Posted by chaley

Some people like to use 'Fred & Mary Jones' as a single author name. That said, I was quite sure you were trying to split author names, something that manage authors will not do.

Commas are ignored. 'Joe Blogs, Suzy Texts' is one author as far as calibre is concerned, just as is 'Roosevelt, Franklin Delano, Jr. '.
Yes. From your post it appeared that you were trying to use manage authors to split what calibre considers to be a single author into 2 authors. Manage authors won't do that. You must instead split the authors in the books where they occur.

I was trying to organise a bulk import of books with all sorts of author combinations. I might go back to the bulk metadata option where multiple files from the same author/combination is concerned as that seems to do everything I need in one place. I began using the manage author option on advice for the issue regarding contractions like Jnr and PhD where it is still useful.
Regards