add author to multiple entries with different authors

[etitameh]

I hope this isn't a repeat; I did search, but I may not be trying the right terms. I read fanfic, and I like to add a specific author ("AO3") to each one to help organize them in a different way from my published book downloads. so, after downloading a fic from AuthorX and one by AuthorY, I go into each one and change the author field to "AO3 & AuthorX" and "AO3 & AuthorY."

what I'm wondering is: is there a way to add "AO3" as an author (preferably first author, but adding at all would be a start) to both entries at the same time, without overwriting the current X and Y distinctions? that is, I want to add the AO3 author to each, but don't want to remove or alter the original author listing.

any help would be appreciated, and I'll try to clarify if anything's unclear. thanks!

[BetterRed]

@etitameh - why not add a Tag for "!AO3" to the books, and create a Virtual Library for tags:"=!AO3" and another one for not tags:"=!AO3"

Why '!A03'? Sorting, the '!' will be put at the head of the list; if you decide you wanted something similar for the Very Good Books site you might use a '!VGB' tag; it would sort after A03 but before Adventure.

You can add a Tag to multiple books in Bulk Metadata Edit->Basic metadata.

But, if you still want to add the "AO3" as an Author, you can probably do it with Bulk Metadata Edit->Search and replace feature. If you aren't familiar with this, test on a few books, or better yet create an empty Test library, copy a handful of books (with calibre's Copy to library tool) into it, and experiment in there.

BR

[etitameh]

first, thanks for the suggestions!

the main place I want to see the new author entry is on my kindle, so tags/collections/etc in calibre won't do what I'm looking for. from what I can tell of the bulk metadata feature (which I do use for multiple fics by the same author), it can only replace the entire author field, not add something to it... the search & replace specifically wouldn't help with the issue of wanting to add it to fics from multiple authors, as far as I can see; searching "AuthorX" to replace with "AO3 & AuthorX" doesn't seem to be any simpler or less cumbersome than manually adding "AO3" as another author on each fic as I download them (again, with the possible exception of multiple fics by one author downloaded together). maybe it would be helpful to add that I'm downloading fics piecemeal, in that I download new ones or newly-recommended ones on a daily basis, not in periodic large groups.

again, I do appreciate the suggestions, and if I'm missing something about them, please don't hesitate to point it out.

[BetterRed]

Did you try setting the Search and Replace->Mode selector to Prepend to field See attachment

BR

[davidfor]

If this is mainly for the device, you can use a metadata plugboard to fiddle with the author when it is being sent to the device. I assume that AO3 is just an example and that you want to add the source of the fanfiction as the first author. If the source site was in a separate column, then you could at it to the start of the authors when sending the book.

I'm not exectly sure what a Kindle does with this, but setting the author using the following is a starting point:

{#fandom_source} & {author}

You would need to create the column #fandom_source and populate it. If you are using FFF to download them, it shouldn't be to hard.

[etitameh]

@BetterRed -- no, I hadn't seen the prepend option, that might be just what I was looking for!

and thanks, @davidfor, that's an interesting option -- I'll play around with that a bit and see what I can make of it

[etitameh]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Did you try setting the Search and Replace->Mode selector to Prepend to field See attachment

went in and messed around with this on some test books, and it was exactly what I was looking for! thanks for the screenshot, it was very helpful, and for the suggestion & clarification

[Logarithmic]

Not intending to bump but this is the first search result on google. Saving others hassle.

In 2020 (5.8.1) the suggestion by BetterRed was no longer doing what the OP asked, but it's VERY close. If you add an extra period to (.*) so it shows (..*) it works. Also you don't need the (). Thanks a ton!

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Edit: So 4 months later. I need this same thing and realize I was not very clear.
To add another author to a bunch of books. Working as of 5.17

Bulk Edit Metadata -> Search and Replace
Search Field -> Authors
Search for -> ..*
Mode -> Prepend to field