Amazon metadata and covers?

[desertgrandma]

Just downloaded most current version of Calibre, ....

I bought the first 5 volumes of "The Golden Age of Science Fiction" from Amazon....and cannot get metadata or covers.

I've noticed this with other indi author books bought from Amazon or Smashwords.

What am I missing/not doing?

Thanks!

[kovidgoyal]

Those books probably dont have entries in either isbndb or google books. They most likely do not have isbn numbers either, which makes it rather difficult to get their metadata automatically.

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Those books probably dont have entries in either isbndb or google books. They most likely do not have isbn numbers either, which makes it rather difficult to get their metadata automatically.

Okay...I did manage to stumble and find the Amazon metadata download plug in and enable it.

That wouldn't make a difference?

[kovidgoyal]

no, the amazon plugin only comes into the picture after an ISBN has been found for the book.

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

no, the amazon plugin only comes into the picture after an ISBN has been found for the book.

Ah......thank you.

One more question.

They do have a "asin" number. Is that just Amazon's catalog number?

[kovidgoyal]

yes that's an Amazon specific number. IIRC Amazon has stopped getting ISBNs for e-book editions, it only assigns them an ASIN

[theducks]

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

Just downloaded most current version of Calibre, ....

I bought the first 5 volumes of "The Golden Age of Science Fiction" from Amazon....and cannot get metadata or covers.

I've noticed this with other indi author books bought from Amazon or Smashwords.

What am I missing/not doing?

Thanks!

DG
Since you can't use Calibre to Download the cover.:
You CAN drag the Cover from Amazons page onto the "Brown Book" in the meta-data editor. It may not be as "Spif", but you have a cover.
I also sometimes copy and paste text from the descriptions page into the "comments" section.

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by theducks

DG
Since you can't use Calibre to Download the cover.:
You CAN drag the Cover from Amazons page onto the "Brown Book" in the meta-data editor. It may not be as "Spif", but you have a cover.
I also sometimes copy and paste text from the descriptions page into the "comments" section.

Thanks.....thats exactly what I did, except I used the 'save picture as' to use the cover....

I guess it never occurred to me to actually manually save the metadata and cover.....

how spoiled it THAT??

[theducks]

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

how spoiled it THAT??

Don't Ask... Don't Tell...

Don't get Hit :P

[Gunnerp245]

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

Thanks.....thats exactly what I did, except I used the 'save picture as' to use the cover....I guess it never occurred to me to actually manually save the metadata and cover.....how spoiled it THAT??

Also do not overlook the author's website. Numerous times I have gotten book summaries; then via Edit Metadata; Edit Metadata Individually; and pasting into comments.

[Oldpilot]

I publish books and monographs on Amazon's Digital Text Platform, and it has never occurred to me to include metadata. Should I do that, and would it solve the OP's problem? What sort of stuff should be in it: author, title, publisher, narrative description? I write my stuff in html; I don't use Kindlegen or Mobipocket Creator.

I do include a cover, at least on my recent publications, but it's grayscale. I suppose I should future-proof these books by making it color. Would Calibre recognize the cover thus included? (Its name/id is merely "cover", which is how the Kindle navigation finds it.)

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by Oldpilot

I publish books and monographs on Amazon's Digital Text Platform, and it has never occurred to me to include metadata. Should I do that, and would it solve the OP's problem? What sort of stuff should be in it: author, title, publisher, narrative description? I write my stuff in html; I don't use Kindlegen or Mobipocket Creator.

I do include a cover, at least on my recent publications, but it's grayscale. I suppose I should future-proof these books by making it color. Would Calibre recognize the cover thus included? (Its name/id is merely "cover", which is how the Kindle navigation finds it.)

I'm not sure that is the problem, but Kovid can answer better.......the books I wanted to download metadata from did have covers and descriptions, but no ISBM#'s...that seems to be the problem

Am I correct, Kovid?

[kovidgoyal]

yes, the problem is the absence of an ISBN.

[ddjohn]

When looking for covers, don't forget Google Images. Pasting the title and author names into Google often returns the book cover in many different editions and sizes. I can then select the one I like best and past it into the meta-data.