How to specify book editors

[ivanm]

Apologies if this has been asked before, but I couldn't find it.

What is the recommended way of dealing with books that have an overall editor rather than an author? If I take for example http://www.webscription.net//p-1166-citizens.aspx then I can't find any sane way of having Calibre recognise that these "authors" are in fact the book editors, especially when it puts them on my device in saved order.

[speakingtohe]

hmmm....
I just leave them as an author
I notice that in the last few upgrades, Calibre supports multiple authors. ie. an anthology will show up under each of the authors individually which is better than the old mish-mash of authors as an individual authorI used to get.

Would also be interested in knowing of the prefered way

[kovidgoyal]

There isn't really a preferred way. There are too many variations on the "author" role to accommodate in a sane way. Editors/illustrators/translators/consultants the list goes on. I would suggest leaving them in the author field and making a note about them in the comments. Or creating a custom column if you have a lot of books with editors.

[technomom]

Are there instructions somewhere as to how to deal with multiple authors properly? I've been searching and cannot find them so far.

Thank you so much for this marvelous software!
Cyn

[chaley]

Originally Posted by technomom

Are there instructions somewhere as to how to deal with multiple authors properly? I've been searching and cannot find them so far.

Separate the authors with either "and" or "&". For example, if a book has two authors Joe Blogs and Alice Comments, then enter

Joe Blogs & Alice Comments

in the authors box.

Some people (like me) prefer to enter

Blogs, Joe & Comments, Alice

so authors appear in the library as "Lastname, Firstname" (ln, fn). If you wish to do this, then be sure to set the 'tweak' that controls how author_sort is computed from author. See https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=77901for some discussion.

NB: The next release of calibre will have a simple tweaks editor available under preferences -> advanced.

As for the original question (editors), when a book/document has multiple roles, I enter something like

Blogs, Joe (Editor)

For example. I enter the author(s) & editor(s) for a paper that appears as a chapter in an edited book as:

Comments, Alice & Blogs, Joe (Editor)

This scheme has at least one inconvenience: an editor who is also an author will appear twice in the authors list, once for each role. I don't mind, because they sort together. The author_sort value is automatically correct because I use ln, fn order; "(Editor)" becomes a middle name. If you use fn ln order, then you will need to adjust the author_sort for the editor so that it doesn't sort under "(editor)", because calibre will think it is the person's last name. You can change the author_sort for authors using the authors manager, found by right-clicking any author in the tag browser.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by technomom

Are there instructions somewhere as to how to deal with multiple authors properly? I've been searching and cannot find them so far.

If you enter the authors as Chaley says above in the edit metadata window in the author field:

Joe Blogs & Alice Comments

Then press the auto create button the author sort field will be filled in as:

Blogs, Joe & Comments, Alice

This will sort on the first author in the field.

[neilmarr]

The problem here starts at home with the publisher, Ivan. Official listings and the restrictions of front cover text mean it's more effective to single out an editor rather than include all author names on a co-authored anthology. And, whereas many editors (like me) are pretty well unknown to the reading public, a famous acquisistions editor's name can be a powerful selling point -- collections 'by' Alfred Hitchcock et al. Cheers. Neil

[ivanm]

That may be true neilmarr, but it doesn't really solve my problem ;-)

[neilmarr]

Right Ivan. I can't solve your problem, I'm afraid, (others here probably can), but I thought you might be interested in knowing its root. Best wishes. Neil

[technomom]

Thank you to all who responded. I greatly appreciate the information :-) I grow more and more impressed by Calibre as I learn more about it. This community seems to be every bit as impressive.