Author Sort by Surname/Firstname Inconsistent on Kindle 4

[Shackleton]

Hi - I was wondering if someone could help me out. I've searched for an answer to this and nothing people have suggested in past threads seems to be working! (I assume this is the right subforum as it seems like the answer will be on the Calibre side of things, but if this would be better in the Kindle forum then feel free to move it.)

I'm having an issue with the way my library is sorted on the Kindle - I've edited the entire library's metadata through Calibre, and moved it onto my Kindle 4 device through Calibre as well. But on the Kindle, sometimes the authors are sorted by first name and sometimes by surname.

The 'author sort' metadata on Calibre is ALL in a 'ln, fn' format and the library displays perfectly on my PC through Calibre. But on the Kindle, about 30% of books seem to sort it by the author's first name still.

I've looked at common factors between affected books and it's really inconsistent - some books are Mobi and some are AZW3, but both file types have some authors sorted by first name and some sorted by last name.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=64545
I found this (quite old) thread that seems to be the exact same problem, but the solutions here don't work - nothing's changed when I've reconverted (including ticking the 'choose author sort as author' box) between Mobi and AZW3 a few times with a test book that's sorting by author firstname despite everything being setup for it to sort by surname.

So any advice would be hugely appreciated! I'm completely stumped. Do let me know if you need any more information.

[theducks]

1)run the Quality check plugin against:
Check metadata: Authors with commas (or without) to see if YOUR calibre Library is consistent as you think it is
2)Then run the Author sort check in the same section

The last question: How are you placing books onto your kindle (list steps)?

[Shackleton]

Thanks for getting back to me. I installed the Quality Check plugin and ran it against a sample selection of books (including ones that are and ones that aren't having this issue) and it said the following:

Check authors with commas - 'All searched book authors have no commas'
Author Sort - 'All searched books have a valid author sort.'

But I don't know what this means, ha ha. Does this indicate something in the metadata that might be related to the issue?

(And to copy books onto the device, I select the books in the Calibre library, then right-click and do 'Send to Device'. I usually send and delete from library.)

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Shackleton

Thanks for getting back to me. I installed the Quality Check plugin and ran it against a sample selection of books (including ones that are and ones that aren't having this issue) and it said the following:

Check authors with commas - 'All searched book authors have no commas'
Author Sort - 'All searched books have a valid author sort.'

But I don't know what this means, ha ha. Does this indicate something in the metadata that might be related to the issue?

(And to copy books onto the device, I select the books in the Calibre library, then right-click and do 'Send to Device'. I usually send and delete from library.)

Bah! You did everything correctly for the books reaching the device to have the proper order. Something else is in play.
Plugboard, using some alternate field for Authors (QC only does standard fields)
Language different from the others.

[Shackleton]

I'm sorry, I'm not sure I follow! I'm rapidly approaching the limits of my familiarity with Calibre now. Are you saying I should use the part of the Metadata Plugboard where you can enter code? Would you be able to point me in the direction of the correct code to try?

(I think you're saying to make it so that 'author sort' also incorporates whichever language is in the metadata? Or am I wrong about that? I don't fully understand what you're advising)

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Shackleton

I'm sorry, I'm not sure I follow! I'm rapidly approaching the limits of my familiarity with Calibre now. Are you saying I should use the part of the Metadata Plugboard where you can enter code? Would you be able to point me in the direction of the correct code to try?

(I think you're saying to make it so that 'author sort' also incorporates whichever language is in the metadata? Or am I wrong about that? I don't fully understand what you're advising)

I am not advising anything other than LOOKING at the thing I mentioned.
Something is changing the K4 metadata between Calibre and the K4

(I only insert Series_index into the title using the plugboard. Kindle Collections PI does the series grouping)

It is possible, the WiFi or Whispersync connection is pulling metadata from the big A.
Try keeping it in Airplane mode: Adding a NEW titles: Checking things out before taking it out of airplane mode
(Mine is always in AP mode)