Useless sort by author "feature"?

Damætas · 04-06-2009, 11:57 PM

Am I right in thinking that I cannot change how my DRM'd Topaz-formatted books sort by author. Some sort by first name and others by last name and still others by the name of editors or illustrators. This would be my preferred sort order if I could get all my books to sort by author's last name. Is it possible?

Damætas · 04-07-2009, 08:01 PM

Anyone?

wallcraft · 04-07-2009, 08:19 PM

I have not seen any tools for editing TOPAZ metadata, but the author is near the start of the ebook in plain text. This is usual for metadata that is needed by external programs (like the list by author feature). So one thing you could try is to edit the .azw1 file using a binary editor. Don't change the number of characters in the author string, but try switching it to the format you want.

Damætas · 04-07-2009, 08:47 PM

Thanks! I tried that, and it kind of works. If the author's name is listed as "John Smith" and I change it to "Smith, John" then it shows up on the Kindle as "Smith, Joh" because of the added number of characters introduced by the comma. I suppose I could live with "Smith John" but it would be so much nicer to have everything match.

wallcraft · 04-07-2009, 09:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Damætas

If the author's name is listed as "John Smith" and I change it to "Smith, John" then it shows up on the Kindle as "Smith, Joh" because of the added number of characters introduced by the comma.

It will be safest not to change the number of characters or overwrite any extra characters. In this case, the best you can do might be "Smith,John" (if this works) or "Smith, J. ".

TallMomof2 · 04-08-2009, 10:45 AM

FWIW, I've found a huge amount of azw and mobi books do not format the author's name properly i.e. Last_Name, First_Name. I wonder if the mobi books are created in MobiCreator or other software? In MobiCreator, on the metadata page the comments beside the entry for author's name states to enter in the author's name Last_Name, First_Name and to separate multiple authors by "&". Wonder how many people actually read that.

04-06-2009, 11:57 PM	#1
Damætas Connoisseur Posts: 52 Karma: 152 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Kindle 2	Useless sort by author "feature"? Am I right in thinking that I cannot change how my DRM'd Topaz-formatted books sort by author. Some sort by first name and others by last name and still others by the name of editors or illustrators. This would be my preferred sort order if I could get all my books to sort by author's last name. Is it possible?

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04-07-2009, 08:01 PM	#2
Damætas Connoisseur Posts: 52 Karma: 152 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Kindle 2	Anyone?

04-07-2009, 08:19 PM	#3
wallcraft reader Posts: 6,975 Karma: 5183568 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Mississippi, USA Device: Kindle 3, Kobo Glo HD	I have not seen any tools for editing TOPAZ metadata, but the author is near the start of the ebook in plain text. This is usual for metadata that is needed by external programs (like the list by author feature). So one thing you could try is to edit the .azw1 file using a binary editor. Don't change the number of characters in the author string, but try switching it to the format you want.

04-07-2009, 08:47 PM	#4
Damætas Connoisseur Posts: 52 Karma: 152 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Kindle 2	Thanks! I tried that, and it kind of works. If the author's name is listed as "John Smith" and I change it to "Smith, John" then it shows up on the Kindle as "Smith, Joh" because of the added number of characters introduced by the comma. I suppose I could live with "Smith John" but it would be so much nicer to have everything match.

04-08-2009, 10:45 AM	#6
TallMomof2 Kindlephilia Posts: 2,017 Karma: 1139255 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Snowpacolypse 2010 Device: Too many to count	FWIW, I've found a huge amount of azw and mobi books do not format the author's name properly i.e. Last_Name, First_Name. I wonder if the mobi books are created in MobiCreator or other software? In MobiCreator, on the metadata page the comments beside the entry for author's name states to enter in the author's name Last_Name, First_Name and to separate multiple authors by "&". Wonder how many people actually read that.

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