Kindle Paperwhite (2015) Author sort order

[markcumbria]

Hi everyone.

Author sort is driving me mad and I’d appreciate any simple advice.

I have a mix of books, some purchased from Amazon loaded directly to my Paperwhite (new 2015 version), and some loaded via Calibre. On my old kindle (standard) the Amazon books sorted correctly (last name, first name) but the books loaded from Calibre were in the reverse order (first name, last name).

I have resolved to try to sort this before I upload all of my books to the new Paperwhite!

So, I now have my Amazon books installed, in the correct order – last name, first name. However books loaded from Calibre usually appear at the end of this list - it looks like they are in the order in which they were loaded.
Having said that the occasional book appears in first name, last name order! It’s very frustrating!

By reading these forums, I’ve learned about the `Use author sort for author` option in the conversion and have re-converted with this option checked. When I open the books using the viewer in Calibre and view the metadata the Author Sort field is correct (eg Smith, John) but this doesn't seem to have made any difference when viewing the list of books on the device.

Any ideas? I’d even edit a metadata field manually if I knew where to look!

Thanks in advance,
Mark

[theducks]

Did you use the Plugboard (obviously, with a setting entry for your model+format, as it can support more than 1 device model or format)

[eschwartz]

CTRL+A (select all books)
Edit Metadata (now in bulk mode)
Check "Remove stored conversion settings for selected books"

BTW, reconverting isn't necessary -- calibre updates the metadata anyway when exporting (via save-to-disk, send-to-device, send-to-email, you name it).


As theducks said, a plugboard which modifies the "authors" field when sending books to that device, will override the conversion option.

[markcumbria]

Thanks for the advice. Hopefully I'll get a chance to try it in the next few days and will report back.

[markcumbria]

After much trial and error I created a plugboard that maps {author_sort} to authors and this seems to have sorted the problem.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction

[eschwartz]

Well, I don't know why a plugboard would be necessary (the conversion option works for everyone else) but I suppose it works as an alternative method.

...

There is a checkbox by both MOBI and AZW3 conversion I have both ticked.

[darwinev0lved]

Originally Posted by markcumbria

After much trial and error I created a plugboard that maps {author_sort} to authors and this seems to have sorted the problem.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction

would you mind sharing the plugboard you have.
I've got a kindle paperwhite and despite having use author_sort for authors checked for my azw3 output, my kindle is still sorting by first name.

thanks,
J

[eschwartz]

I can't remember exactly, but you *might* need to have the option checked under MOBI output, not AZW3 output.

[markcumbria]

Hi darwinev0lved - apologies for the late reply.

In the plugboard I mapped {author_sort} in the Source Template field to authors in the Destination field.

Hope this makes sense,
Mark

[hrynkiw]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

CTRL+A (select all books)
Edit Metadata (now in bulk mode)
Check "Remove stored conversion settings for selected books"

It's rare when technical information that is four years old still holds true. This tip from 2015 finally solved my problem (in 2019) with getting Author sort to display properly on my new Kindle Paperwhite 2018. Thank you.