Preferred method for Author Name

[danwatto]

Hi All,

Getting the hang of organising my books with Calibre now, and having fun editing metadata.

I know this is a very small thing, but I can't decide how to store author. Some of my books use Lastname, Firstname, and others are Firstname Lastname.

The sorting is not a problem because I let it automatically set Author_sort.

So I'm curious which method do people prefer, is there one method that is more correct?

I have ordered a Sony PRS-T3 reader, if that has any impact on which method sorts better once they are transferred to the Sony?

Cheers

ps I read an equal amount of Fiction and Non-Fiction, as well as my personal PDF library of technical documents.

[Adoby]

I use Author as First Last, and Author_sort as Last, First. The default for calibre.

When I send to device or save to disk, I use Author_sort in the filename.

[goldilocks]

I don't believe there is a "correct" way. It's a matter of personal preference. I like both Author and Author_sort as LastName, FirstName.

[itimpi]

One argument with going with firstname lastname for the author field is that is the format returned by most metadata sources, so going with that means less manual intervention is likely to be needed after downloading metadata. I go with the default of lastname, firstname for the author_sort field as I am used to books being sorted by the authors last name.

Which field you use when exporting books or sending them to a device depends on both user preferences and also the way that the device in question handles authors. Calibre allows you to set it up to whatever behaviour you want.

[eschwartz]

Author as "F L", Author sort as "L, F". That is kind of a convention... Besides, if you need it to display differently on your device, you can set up a plugboard. If you need to show it differently in calibre, you can unhide Author Sort for Book Details, or create a custom column for the spreadsheet. If you need to change the way they are stored in the filesystem, then you need to stop looking up calibre's skirts -- immediately!

Anything else breaks metadata download, besides being untrue.

[susan_cassidy]

For mobipocket format, the correct way was last name, first name, and last name, first name; other_last_name, other_first_name for multiple authors.

ETA: the Kindle expects last name, first name for its author sort to work right.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by susan_cassidy

For mobipocket format, the correct way was last name, first name, and last name, first name; other_last_name, other_first_name for multiple authors.

ETA: the Kindle expects last name, first name for its author sort to work right.

I have always thought that really the mobipocket format (including KF8) doesn't really have an author field, it really has an author_sort field from which it extrapolates author.

That is essentially what the MOBI output tweak does, which should really be the default.

[danwatto]

Thanks guys, helps alot to know I'm doing the right thing!

Some of my books have Lastname, Firstname, I just have to update those to match the rest somehow..

Seems it's easy to copy Author sort to Author, and to generate Author sort. But to switch Lastname, Firstname in Author to Firstname Lastname I might have to figure out a regular expression or something to use in search/replace..

[BetterRed]

@danwatto

Right click any Author Name in the Book Details panel (that's the one on the right - bottom if you have configured for narrow) and select Manage <author name>. You'll get a list of all your Authors, at bottom left corner there's a button - Recalculate all Author sort values

If there's an author that doesn't get the right sort value - eg Richard Bonham Carter gets Carter, Richard Bonham rather than Bonham Carter, Richard then this is the place to change it.

BR

[danwatto]

Hi BarterRed, sorry I think you misunderstand the problem.

Author sort values there is no problem whatsoever, because I've already used that button.

My problem is to recalculate the AUTHOR itself. Since many of my books are Lastname, Firstname.

I want to make the Author into Firstname Lastname..

[theducks]

Originally Posted by danwatto

Hi BarterRed, sorry I think you misunderstand the problem.

Author sort values there is no problem whatsoever, because I've already used that button.

My problem is to recalculate the AUTHOR itself. Since many of my books are Lastname, Firstname.

I want to make the Author into Firstname Lastname..

Quality check PI: FIX Author

[kacir]

Originally Posted by danwatto

Hi All,Some of my books use Lastname, Firstname, and others are Firstname Lastname.

The sorting is not a problem because I let it automatically set Author_sort.

As previous posters have pointed out there is no "the right way" of doing this.

I personally prefer Firstname Lastname. Looks more natural, and you get to use the best of both worlds.

There is reason why some people prefer Lastname, Firstname
When you sort on the "Authors column" and you have it stored in F L format, it will sort using Author_sort and that might be confusing. I solve this problem by adding a custom column, "Column built with other columns" and as a template I select {authors}. I display this custom column next to the default Authors column, as a very narrow one, solely for the purpose of sorting the Authors in plain alphabetical order.

You can rebuild the Authors column from mixed L, F and F L notation to the "proper" F L notation using "edit metadata in bulk", "Search and replace"
search field: Authors
Search mode: Regular exporessions
Search for: ([^,]*), (.*)
Replace with: \2 \1

Explanation of the Regular Expression
( begin the first group
[^,] any character but a colon
* repeating as many times as possible
, followed by colon and space
( begin second group
. any character
* repeating as many times as possible
) end of second group

Explanation of the Replacement expression:
\2 second group
space
\1 first group

After doing this replace you might want to set the Author_sort to the proper value of L, F.
To do so uncover the tag browser at the left, right click on "Authors" heading, select "Manage authors" and click on "recalculate all Author sort values".

Please note:
DANGER! DANGER! DANGER!
Before playing with renaming of large number of books using the Regular expressions MAKE BACKUP of your library.
You have been warned (TM)!

[eschwartz]

@kacir or just:

Originally Posted by theducks

Quality check PI: FIX Author

[AnotherCat]

Originally Posted by danwatto

...So I'm curious which method do people prefer...

You asked, so here is mine...

My own personal preference is to store, display and sort on surname.

Most everything else involving names is done that way (some weird record stores in odd corners of the world that stack shelves in first name order are exceptions; which I find disorienting) and I don't see for my own purposes why books should be any different.

If I considered myself on first name terms with many authors (even the dead ones ) I might for myself consider giving priority to first name as I do in my own private address list of friends, but for me Dickens the author, for example, is much more Dickens to me than Charles is.

Of course Dicken's friends may have referred to "Charles's books" among themselves, which perhaps leads to any preference by the rest of us to lead with first name as being a subconscious attempt to infer a more intimate relationship with the authors than we are entitled too .

But all that is just personal choice and opinion.

[danwatto]

Originally Posted by theducks

Quality check PI: FIX Author

Thanks! Qualitycheck PI is a dream come true