Troubleshooting Kindle 2: Authors not sorted alphabetically

OonaMistwalker · 07-12-2021, 07:13 PM

Hi there! I have 2 nearly identical issues. All my books come from either the Kindle store or Project Gutenberg, so there shouldn't be any DRM problems.

ISSUE ONE: Some of the books I get from Amazon sort the author alphabetically by first name and some by last name (I just assume that Amazon doesn't check that it's employees know how to alphabetize correctly). Is there any way I can fix this without jailbreaking the Kindle? If I do jailbreak, what Amazon functionality will I lose? I assume Amazon has created some sort of penalty for that...

ISSUE TWO: To prevent this happening with the books from Gutenberg, I put them into my Calibre library and check the metadata for each one before I sideload them to my Kindle 2. Some still don't sort properly. A. A. Milne sorts at the top, even though Calibre places him the correct place in its list. What gives, here? I would be grateful for advice.

OonaMistwalker · 07-12-2021, 07:51 PM

Pardon me, but it seems that my Kindle 2 alphabetizes all or most of the books from my Calibre library by author's first name instead of last, even though I set the author sort field of the metadata not to do that. Amazon seems to alphabetize some by first name, some by last.

So, ISSUE ONE is still the same: Do I have to jailbreak to fix the alphabetizing issue?

ISSUE TWO: How do you deal with the way the Kindle sorts Calibre books?

Thanks so much for reading this far.

jhowell · 07-12-2021, 08:14 PM

Kindle books have an author field and sort by the contents of that, but don't always display it the way that it is stored. If the author field has a comma it sorts normally but displays reversed. So "Smith, Adam" sorts by "S" and displays as "Adam Smith". The best results are usually obtained by setting a Kindle book's author field from calibre's author sort field.

OonaMistwalker · 07-12-2021, 08:21 PM

How do I see my Kindle books in Calibre? I'm pretty new to this and I sure appreciate your advice, jhowell.

jhowell · 07-12-2021, 10:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OonaMistwalker

How do I see my Kindle books in Calibre?

I don't use calibre to manage my Kindle books. Perhaps someone who does can provide more information.

BookCat · 07-15-2021, 05:03 PM

I download my books via usb. To see them in Calibre, open Calibre, make it smaller, locate your book, then slide it into Calibre. There's also a way of doing this within Calibre itself. "Add books" then browse to your book on your pc/mac, and import it to Calibre. I find the first way more fun.
Changing the metadata etc can only be done if the book is drm free. Google Apprentice Alf.

07-12-2021, 07:13 PM	#1
OonaMistwalker Member Posts: 18 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2021 Device: Kindle 2	Kindle 2: Authors not sorted alphabetically Hi there! I have 2 nearly identical issues. All my books come from either the Kindle store or Project Gutenberg, so there shouldn't be any DRM problems. ISSUE ONE: Some of the books I get from Amazon sort the author alphabetically by first name and some by last name (I just assume that Amazon doesn't check that it's employees know how to alphabetize correctly). Is there any way I can fix this without jailbreaking the Kindle? If I do jailbreak, what Amazon functionality will I lose? I assume Amazon has created some sort of penalty for that... ISSUE TWO: To prevent this happening with the books from Gutenberg, I put them into my Calibre library and check the metadata for each one before I sideload them to my Kindle 2. Some still don't sort properly. A. A. Milne sorts at the top, even though Calibre places him the correct place in its list. What gives, here? I would be grateful for advice.

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07-12-2021, 07:51 PM	#2
OonaMistwalker Member Posts: 18 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2021 Device: Kindle 2	Pardon me, but it seems that my Kindle 2 alphabetizes all or most of the books from my Calibre library by author's first name instead of last, even though I set the author sort field of the metadata not to do that. Amazon seems to alphabetize some by first name, some by last. So, ISSUE ONE is still the same: Do I have to jailbreak to fix the alphabetizing issue? ISSUE TWO: How do you deal with the way the Kindle sorts Calibre books? Thanks so much for reading this far.

07-12-2021, 08:14 PM	#3
jhowell Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,071 Karma: 91577715 Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Charlottesville, VA Device: Kindles	Kindle books have an author field and sort by the contents of that, but don't always display it the way that it is stored. If the author field has a comma it sorts normally but displays reversed. So "Smith, Adam" sorts by "S" and displays as "Adam Smith". The best results are usually obtained by setting a Kindle book's author field from calibre's author sort field.

07-12-2021, 08:21 PM	#4
OonaMistwalker Member Posts: 18 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2021 Device: Kindle 2	How do I see my Kindle books in Calibre? I'm pretty new to this and I sure appreciate your advice, jhowell.

07-15-2021, 05:03 PM	#6
BookCat C L J Posts: 2,911 Karma: 21115458 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Birmingham UK Device: Sony e-reader 505, Kindle PW2, Kindle PW3, Kobo Libra2	I download my books via usb. To see them in Calibre, open Calibre, make it smaller, locate your book, then slide it into Calibre. There's also a way of doing this within Calibre itself. "Add books" then browse to your book on your pc/mac, and import it to Calibre. I find the first way more fun. Changing the metadata etc can only be done if the book is drm free. Google Apprentice Alf.

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