Book covers

eddie19 · 04-21-2012, 04:05 AM

Can someone describe to me the correct procedure for replacing a cover on an epub book with Calibre. I have managed to do it by trial and error on some books but there is one which defeats me. The default cover is a picture of an open book with title and author. I found a more suitable cover using the download facility in Calibre after deleting the default cover, but when I copied it to the Kobo I still get the default cover plus a separate jpg version of the downloaded cover. Any ideas?

Canorka · 04-21-2012, 04:18 AM

Some epubs just refuse to cooperate on this matter. I sometimes have this problem with Penguin epubs, in particular. It's pretty random and I've not figured out a way around it.

Man I'm helpful, aren't I?

eddie19 · 04-21-2012, 05:37 AM

Random House must have the same problem. I did it for a couple of other books and it seemed to work, but obviously some epub formats don't let you do this. We will see if anyone else can solve this problem.

missjane · 04-21-2012, 06:21 AM

I am fairly new at this myself, but this is what I currently understand.

To categorically affix a new cover, you need to convert the ebook. (Even if it is already in the correct format, eg, you might convert epub to epub.) Sometimes even without the conversion the new cover appears, (it must depend on how the internal workings of the epub or whatever are set) but not everytime. The problem is that DRM books cannot be converted, so essentially if you are working with a DRM text, you are stuck with the cover as it came.

The 'sticky' second cover can be overcome on non DRM texts with a bit of fiddling in sigil (free, open source epub editing software.)

eddie19 · 04-21-2012, 06:47 AM

Yes I managed to find some other threads in a different part of this forum. I did an epub to epub conversion within Calibre, with the new cover in place. It now appears as the front cover within Kobo. The other cover is also there, but can obviously be ignored. At least now in the sleep mode the cover that I want appears on the screen.

JSWolf · 04-21-2012, 07:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by missjane

I am fairly new at this myself, but this is what I currently understand.

To categorically affix a new cover, you need to convert the ebook. (Even if it is already in the correct format, eg, you might convert epub to epub.) Sometimes even without the conversion the new cover appears, (it must depend on how the internal workings of the epub or whatever are set) but not everytime. The problem is that DRM books cannot be converted, so essentially if you are working with a DRM text, you are stuck with the cover as it came.

The 'sticky' second cover can be overcome on non DRM texts with a bit of fiddling in sigil (free, open source epub editing software.)

In an ePub, the way to change the cover is once you find the cover image you want to use, replace the image that's already in the ePub with the new image. Of course, you have to use the same name as the old image. Then go into the XML file for the cover and fix it if it needs fixing. Sometimes it will. Then once all that is done, you'll have the new cover. No need to convert ePub>ePub (which is a rather bad idea).

LuvReadin · 04-21-2012, 09:23 AM

Have you actually checked where this cover is located or if there's more than one? Often there will be an actual cover file (i.e. a JPG) in the book folder, and if you've replaced that with the new one, there shouldn't be any problem. But there's often a second cover that's been placed as an embedded picture within the actual book file itself, and if so, that might be where your problem is.

eddie19 · 04-21-2012, 09:25 AM

The epub to epub conversion appears to incorporate the new cover image, but the original image is still there. I have since had a play with Sigil and managed to remove the original image and change the xhtml code so that only the new image is called.

04-21-2012, 04:05 AM	#1
eddie19 Member Posts: 13 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2012 Device: Kobo Touch	Book covers Can someone describe to me the correct procedure for replacing a cover on an epub book with Calibre. I have managed to do it by trial and error on some books but there is one which defeats me. The default cover is a picture of an open book with title and author. I found a more suitable cover using the download facility in Calibre after deleting the default cover, but when I copied it to the Kobo I still get the default cover plus a separate jpg version of the downloaded cover. Any ideas?

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04-21-2012, 04:18 AM	#2
Canorka Connoisseur Posts: 90 Karma: 4254 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Norway Device: Kobo Touch	Some epubs just refuse to cooperate on this matter. I sometimes have this problem with Penguin epubs, in particular. It's pretty random and I've not figured out a way around it. Man I'm helpful, aren't I?

04-21-2012, 05:37 AM	#3
eddie19 Member Posts: 13 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2012 Device: Kobo Touch	Random House must have the same problem. I did it for a couple of other books and it seemed to work, but obviously some epub formats don't let you do this. We will see if anyone else can solve this problem.

04-21-2012, 06:21 AM	#4
missjane Member Posts: 20 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Melbourne, Australia Device: (kobo touch) (kobo glo) kobo aura 2nd ed	I am fairly new at this myself, but this is what I currently understand. To categorically affix a new cover, you need to convert the ebook. (Even if it is already in the correct format, eg, you might convert epub to epub.) Sometimes even without the conversion the new cover appears, (it must depend on how the internal workings of the epub or whatever are set) but not everytime. The problem is that DRM books cannot be converted, so essentially if you are working with a DRM text, you are stuck with the cover as it came. The 'sticky' second cover can be overcome on non DRM texts with a bit of fiddling in sigil (free, open source epub editing software.)

04-21-2012, 06:47 AM	#5
eddie19 Member Posts: 13 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2012 Device: Kobo Touch	Yes I managed to find some other threads in a different part of this forum. I did an epub to epub conversion within Calibre, with the new cover in place. It now appears as the front cover within Kobo. The other cover is also there, but can obviously be ignored. At least now in the sleep mode the cover that I want appears on the screen.

04-21-2012, 09:23 AM	#7
LuvReadin Addict Posts: 372 Karma: 1925568 Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: England, UK Device: Sony PRS-T1 and Cool-ER	Have you actually checked where this cover is located or if there's more than one? Often there will be an actual cover file (i.e. a JPG) in the book folder, and if you've replaced that with the new one, there shouldn't be any problem. But there's often a second cover that's been placed as an embedded picture within the actual book file itself, and if so, that might be where your problem is.

04-21-2012, 09:25 AM	#8
eddie19 Member Posts: 13 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2012 Device: Kobo Touch	The epub to epub conversion appears to incorporate the new cover image, but the original image is still there. I have since had a play with Sigil and managed to remove the original image and change the xhtml code so that only the new image is called.

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