MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Can I generate Additional Authors column which shares Authors data?

GeekyGal · 10-04-2011, 05:07 AM

Esteemed Calibre Genius Types:

I am hoping someone has a more elegant solution than the one I am using for my issue.

I want to list all of the contributors to an anthology or magazine, list known pseudonyms, list editors and translators or contributors of significant forwards, etc to locate all material by a given author.

If I list all of that in the Authors column, with ampersands, they all show up as Authors in the Tag Browser [Very good] and the count of authors is accurate [except for the few pseudonym duplications], *but* (1) the generated catalogs are a mess with that long an author field [very bad], (2) the alphabetic sort in the books list forces all of the books with only one author before the ones with a pseudonym or more contributors [mildly bad] and (3) where there is more than one author listed in that field, the display of author on the Kindle 3 Keyboard is odd. Randall Garrett & Laurence Janifer listed in one field displas as "Randall & Janifer, Laurence Garrett". Same with Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle who become "Larry & Pournelle, Jerry Niven". LN1 & FN2, FN2 LN1 / embedding Author 2 into author 1 is just odd.
With more than two authors, it gets worse.

If I list all of the additional authors, pseudonyms, translators, etc. as part of the Comments field, that solves the catalog entry issue, and is searchable, but those authors do not show up in the Authors list and/or the counts are incomplete. I didn't like that.

So far the best I have come up with is two more columns for Additional Author [Names Column which appears in tag browser] and Role [defined text values of Author, Pen Name, Editor, Translator, Intro, Other]. That solves the catalog entry issue and is searchable, but I have to add the Additional Author "stats" mentally to the Authors.

My ideal solution would be an additional authors field which integrates with the Authors in the Tag Browser, pulls names from that list, counts into that list, BUT can be excluded from the Author listing in a send to the device and in catalog generation.

I am using the current version of Calibre [8.21] and have my Authors listed as LN, FN in the Author Column and Author sort, since I find that easier to deal with when I look into the Calibre directory to check on files now and again.

Does anyone have a more elegant solution for dealing with additional authors?

Thank you all so much for your unfailing patience and assistance.

10-04-2011, 05:07 AM	#1
GeekyGal Enthusiast Posts: 40 Karma: 13888 Join Date: Sep 2010 Device: Kindle FireHD, Kindle3G, iPad, MacBook, iRex Illiad (ret)	Can I generate Additional Authors column which shares Authors data? Esteemed Calibre Genius Types: I am hoping someone has a more elegant solution than the one I am using for my issue. I want to list all of the contributors to an anthology or magazine, list known pseudonyms, list editors and translators or contributors of significant forwards, etc to locate all material by a given author. If I list all of that in the Authors column, with ampersands, they all show up as Authors in the Tag Browser [Very good] and the count of authors is accurate [except for the few pseudonym duplications], but (1) the generated catalogs are a mess with that long an author field [very bad], (2) the alphabetic sort in the books list forces all of the books with only one author before the ones with a pseudonym or more contributors [mildly bad] and (3) where there is more than one author listed in that field, the display of author on the Kindle 3 Keyboard is odd. Randall Garrett & Laurence Janifer listed in one field displas as "Randall & Janifer, Laurence Garrett". Same with Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle who become "Larry & Pournelle, Jerry Niven". LN1 & FN2, FN2 LN1 / embedding Author 2 into author 1 is just odd. With more than two authors, it gets worse. If I list all of the additional authors, pseudonyms, translators, etc. as part of the Comments field, that solves the catalog entry issue, and is searchable, but those authors do not show up in the Authors list and/or the counts are incomplete. I didn't like that. So far the best I have come up with is two more columns for Additional Author [Names Column which appears in tag browser] and Role [defined text values of Author, Pen Name, Editor, Translator, Intro, Other]. That solves the catalog entry issue and is searchable, but I have to add the Additional Author "stats" mentally to the Authors. My ideal solution would be an additional authors field which integrates with the Authors in the Tag Browser, pulls names from that list, counts into that list, BUT can be excluded from the Author listing in a send to the device and in catalog generation. I am using the current version of Calibre [8.21] and have my Authors listed as LN, FN in the Author Column and Author sort, since I find that easier to deal with when I look into the Calibre directory to check on files now and again. Does anyone have a more elegant solution for dealing with additional authors? Thank you all so much for your unfailing patience and assistance.