How to bulk add a second author to multiple books?

[BookJunkieLI]

So I'm working on organizing my dad's ebook library, which thankfully isn't very big but he's got pretty much every book Tom Clancy ever slapped his name on. Because most of them aren't actually written by Tom Clancy, not even as a co-writer, to get the metadata I've had to change the author to unknown on all of them which then gives me the correct author name along with every thing else. All well and good except dad has decided he wants the actual author plus Tom Clancy listed as the authors. This way he can find all of his 'Tom Clancy' books at once.

I know how to bulk add an author but that overwrites any other author that might be listed.

I can't figure out how to add a second author to multiple books at once without deleting the author already listed. Any idea?

[BetterRed]

@BookJunkieLI - try this:

Select the books in question (maybe use the Mark Tool and/or tag with say 'TomC'), and then use Edit metadata->Search and Replace in Regex Mode to replace what's there -- (.*) -- with what's there and Tom Clancy -- \1 & Tom Clancy -- viz:



BR

[theducks]

Originally Posted by BookJunkieLI

So I'm working on organizing my dad's ebook library, which thankfully isn't very big but he's got pretty much every book Tom Clancy ever slapped his name on. Because most of them aren't actually written by Tom Clancy, not even as a co-writer, to get the metadata I've had to change the author to unknown on all of them which then gives me the correct author name along with every thing else. All well and good except dad has decided he wants the actual author plus Tom Clancy listed as the authors. This way he can find all of his 'Tom Clancy' books at once.

I know how to bulk add an author but that overwrites any other author that might be listed.

I can't figure out how to add a second author to multiple books at once without deleting the author already listed. Any idea?

Add from List PI can be used to (force) update by series

But metadata update should find the book even with a single author inserted (as long as it is correct).

The problem is Metadata source data is flaky. It may not have a co-author.

Many times I display the cover (Info pane) and type in the additional author as I see it

[BookJunkieLI]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

@BookJunkieLI - try this:

Select the books in question (maybe use the Mark Tool and/or tag with say 'TomC'), and then use Edit metadata->Search and Replace in Regex Mode to replace what's there -- (.*) -- with what's there and Tom Clancy -- \1 & Tom Clancy -- viz:

Attachment 146510

BR

Thank you!

[BookJunkieLI]

Originally Posted by theducks

Add from List PI can be used to (force) update by series

But metadata update should find the book even with a single author inserted (as long as it is correct).

The problem is Metadata source data is flaky. It may not have a co-author.

Many times I display the cover (Info pane) and type in the additional author as I see it

The problem is, at least using Goodreads my preferred Metadata source, the actual author doesn't match to Tom Clancy or the one listed on the book cover. I'm talking about the Net Force, Ops Center, and such series where Tom Clancy is the "creator" but not the actual author even though his name is splashed all over the cover. The written by author that is usually listed on the cover is a David Michaels who, as far as I've found, is a pseudonym for 3 or 4 different ghost writers. Yeah, the whole thing is screwy.