•The Series and S# subsections
•The Super Series and SS# Subsections
A file naming convention is a way to distinguish your e-books and monitor what e-books you have by making it easier to sort them in lists of files. It is rational to adopt a standard even if only leeching.
E-books come from many sources and everybody has their own preferences, so there will never be a single naming convention. However, we can agree on some good practice. We will use our own standard, to help demonstrate good practice. Now lets look at some general practices:
Many collectors like to compress their e-books. This makes a e-book file smaller and easier to manage. Use whatever file compression/archive format you like. Recommended one is rar.
Please fully name the file inside the archive too (no need to put the format
though). This'll help retain the naming even if the file is extracted from the archive.
e.g.
Don't use folders for naming your files all info needs to be in the filename of your e-book, as:
G:\ebooks\[Books]\[Fantasy]\G\Guy Gavriel Kay\Tigana (v2.0) [htm].rar
In the example above, if the file ever will be moved to a different folder of upload to someone, you would lose all the author info. Therefore, the author info needs to be a part of the file name
G:\ebooks\[Books]\[Fantasy]\G\Guy Gavriel Kay\Guy Gavriel Kay - Tigana (v2.0) [htm].rar
While we are discussing directory structure lets take a look at it. A directory structure renders finding of your files much easier; some common ones are:
Books\Genre\Filename
Books\Genre\A\Filename
Books\Genre\Author\Filename
Books\Genre\A\Author\Filename
Some even add a Series Name folder. The important is how easy it is to find the book you are looking for. A directory structure that is too big can be just as bad as one that is too small; I have encountered directory structures that contain only one file in the last directory and this is very inefficient.
No matter what naming convention you decide to use author name and title should always be in the file name somewhere
We'll examine some examples, using this standard:
Using delimiters such as ""[ ]" around the sections or "-" between sections, makes it simpler for automated tools like automatic renaming programs, databases and so on to parse the filename.
There are 5 sections in this standard naming convention:
Now lets take a closer look at each of these sections for this standard of file naming.
AuthorName consists of several subsections one for each word of the phrase: " Prefix Name Suffix (ed) & " Each subsection is separated by a "space" or a "_".
Name can either be surname first or last. Examples:
Initials should be separated by a space or a period, Examples:
It is recommended to use a full first name and last if known. Generally, the same as publishers use.
This will greatly aid automatic renaming programs, databases and so on.
If the AuthorName, has a last name prefix's like: Mc, Mac, O, De etc.. as in: McCaffrey, MacDonald, O'Hara, DeHavland them capitalize the first letter of the last name prefix and the first letter of the everything after the last name prefix Examples:
If the AuthorName has a suffix, like: Sr, Jr, II, etc. this is to place after the AutherName, Examples:
Use of a prefix (Mr MS Ms Dr etc.) is not recommended but if you must use one, follow the example below:
Note: you could also add degree's here too i.e. BS, MS, DDS, DOC, etc...
If the "Author" is in fact the "Editor" of a collection, add the (ed) Examples:
Many ignore the above and I agree with that; it is in fact extra info not really needed in the file name.
The & is used if there are more then one author for the book.
Simply, insert the author name as per rules in the AuthorName subsection then add a "space & space" to end and repeat the AuthorName rules for second name; example:
Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman - [Darksword 03] - Triumph Of The Darksword [rtf].rar
Note that the second author name is still part of the AuthorName subsection and still falls between the start of file name and the 1st delineator "-"
You can use ether " and " or " & " to denote extra authors.
You can keep adding author name for ever in this way but a good practice is no more than three authors names should be in the filename.
Anthologies should only include the editor name or editor name and main author don't list all the authors in the file name. You can include a list of authors inside the archive if you wish.
The series section consists of several subsections one for each word of the phrase: "SuperSeries SS# series S#" Each subsection is separated by a "space" or a "_".
Avoid using Roman numerals (e.g. VII) to identify the position in the series as they don't sort well in most systems.
Using delimiters such as - delimiters for series makes it simpler for automated tools to parse the filename.
Series is the name of the series name and S# is the position in the series by number
Allways use at least 2 digits for the S# otherwise if you have more then 10 books in the series they won't sort right. if the series consists of 100 or more books use 3 digits. Example:
McKinney, Jack - [Robotech 01] - Genesis (v1.0) [rtf].rar
Jack McKinney - [Robotech 05] - Force Of Arms (v1.0) [rtf].rar
Jack McKinney - [Robotech 10]- Invid Invasion (v1.0) [rtf].rar
Not:
McKinney, Jack - Robotech 1 - Genesis (v1.0) [rtf].rar
McKinney, Jack - Robotech 10 - Invid Invasion (v1.0) [rtf].rar
McKinney, Jack - Robotech 5 - Force Of Arms (v1.0) [rtf].rar
As you see in the example, if you don't add the 2 digit position number in, the files don't sort right. "Force Of Arms" in this example is the 5th book in the series not the last.
If present, the Series should include what position in the series the book is.example:
Anne McCaffrey - [Harper Hall 01] - Dragon Singer [rtf].rar
Anne McCaffrey - [Harper Hall 02] - Dragon Song [rtf].rar
Anne McCaffrey - [Harper Hall 03] - Dragon Drums [rtf].rar
Not:
McCaffrey, Anne - Harper Hall - Dragon Drums [rtf].rar
Anne McCaffrey - Harper Hall - Dragon Song [rtf].rar
Anne McCaffrey - Harper Hall - Dragon Singer [rtf].rar
As you can see in the example if you don't put the position number in, the files don't sort right. "Dragon drums" in this example is the last book in the series not the first.
The SuperSeries and SS# SubSections use the same rules as the The Series and S# SubSections the difference is that some times you want to sort a bunch of different series by the same author that tie in to each other here are a few Examples:
Collectors use this for sorting there list by published or authors suggested reading order. Use of SuperSeries and SS# is an option
Super series and series are delineated by "-" that's "space - space". if you have a super series without a series then just use the supper series
Anne McCaffrey - [Pern 01 - Dragon Riders 01] - Dragon Flight [rtf].rar
Anne McCaffrey - [Pern 03 - Dragon Riders 03] - White Dragon [rtf].rar
Anne McCaffrey - [Pern 04 - Harper Hall 01] - Dragon Singer [rtf].rar
Anne McCaffrey - [Pern 06 - Harper Hall 03] - Dragon Drums [rtf].rar
Anne McCaffrey - [Pern 08] - Nerilka's Story [rtf].rar
Anne McCaffrey - [Pern 15] - The Master Harper Of Pern [rtf].rar
You may think this is self explanatory but there are several rules for this section, as well
There should only be one title here not two or more if the book is a anthology don't list every title here ether pick ont title (usually the first short story name) or better yet, use the name that appears on the cover of the book i.e. five by norton.
Also if the title begins with the some people put the ", the" on the end of the title name this is just user preference I suggest we all use "the" at the start just to keep us all on the same standard; example:
Robert A. Heinlein - The Man Who Sold The Moon [rtf].rar
The version level attempts to express the level of proofing, that has been done to an e-book. Some communities (for example, the regular posters to bookz & ebooks on Undernet) are trying to assign meaning to each level that is intended to indicate the quality or content of the file, e.g. v4 means very well proofed, but this idea has not been widely adopted.
The version level should always be in (v?.?) format
The version system most often seen is:
Otherwise, the version level will be a number that demonstrates the level of proofing or the number of updates.
After proofing a book, you must increase the version level to indicate that it has been changed. If you've only made a few small changes, increase it by 0.1. For major changes, increase it by 1.0. For example:
v1 means that this is the first corrected release of the book i.e. it has been proofed beyond merely an UnCorrected raw scan. For example: Jimmy Hubert - The Exciting Story (v1) [rtf].rar
v2 means that this is the second version of the book, with some corrections to the first (v1) version. For example: Jimmy Hubert - The Exciting Story (v2) [rtf].rar
Do not label a book v.1 but rather use v1 (i.e. without the "." in between the "v" and the number). This will avoid confusion with other version levels, for example, between v0.1 and v1.
If all you've done is change from one format to another (say TXT to HTML) do not increase the version level.
Format types used when the file is an archive (such as .rar). It's important,
because you don't have to open and look inside the archive, in order to determine
what file types are contained within; some dislike .lit files for example, and wouldn't
want to download them. Example:
Jane Austen - Emma (v1.1) [htm,rtf].rar
This signifies that this archives contains an HTML and a RTF format of the book.
Note, that some use html and some use htm in their labels. It is unimportant.
Sometimes people will use labels like jpg or gif to indicate that there are images within the archive. Also, there is a special type of image called covers witch is a shorthand way to signal that images of the front, back and/or spine contained inside the archive. If you have this type of images don't use [covers]. Example: Jennifer Fallon - [Second Sons 01] - The Lion of Senet (V2.0) [html, covers].rar
The Format Types, it is preferred to be between [ ]
Anything in the Format Types brackets should be separated by ,
Labelling the file in this way will let others know what is in the archive without having to download it first.
Occasionally you'll see a server without any format indications whatsoever these servers usually only serve one type of file, e.g. LIT.
You may see other labels added to filenames.
(1987) - year published
(PG) - book from Project Gutenberg
(BAEN) - book from the publisher Baen