Looking for workflow best practice insights

[Goli4th]

Hi there,
I'm pretty new to the world of e-readers, and I recently decided to take the plunge and buy a Kindle Paperwhite. I'm now looking to move my entire collection to it. However, I have several problems with that, which I can't seem to solve on my own.

- I have a number of books, all in epub format. Some are in better quality than others (they are all still very readable). Is it possible to "harmonize" all this, and polish my files quickly? I'd like to avoid manually deleting any unnecessary files (from previous Calibre conversions, unused fonts, etc.), replace the cover with my metadata, etc.

- I've configured Calibre to download the metadata from Amazon.fr (since my books are in French) directly, using their servers and not the cache. However, despite the fact that it is checked in the settings and the information is available on the site, Calibre never downloads/replaces the publisher and release date metadata. Is there any way to force this?

- I have tried using the Count plugin, but it gives me significantly different results (it varies by several hundred pages sometimes) from the page count advertised on Amazon. Which value should I choose?

- I plan to convert my books to KFX format, since I saw that it is the format with the most features. I also plan to use WordDumb to enable WordWise features on my document. Again, are there any recommended settings/tricks to improve the file quality? I'm looking to have as close an experience as possible to the books that can be found on the official Kindle library!

- Finally, while I plan to read primarily on my Kindle, I would like to sync my books to the cloud, so I can access them from the Kindle iOS app on my iPhone/iPad. I know this is possible using the mobi format, but is it possible using my KFX files? If not, is there any other way to sync my readings, even if it requires modifications like jailbreaking?

[Bookstooge]

I believe the amazon "page" count is based on a paper copy? and the count pages plugin uses a variety of methods. I think I've chosen the "X" characters per page option just to keep things consistent for my own records.

[DNSB]

As long as you use the same method of calculating page counts, the results should be fairly consistent. I tried the various methods and, for my purposes, reading epubs, found the Adobe synthetic page number algorithm was the most consistent. I was suggested to try the APNX page numbers but found they were good for some books and for others, they were wildly inconsistent.

OTOH, I am not a big fan of page numbers in ebooks. Reflowable format and page number are a bit of an oxymoron. Even some ebooks that have come with page lists based on the hardcover are not all that useful unless you happen to own the hardcover edition the page numbers are based on (one older book that a book club at work was reading turned out to have 3 different hardcover editions with the first edition having 28 more pages than the 2nd and 3rd editions) never mind the differences between the epub, KF8 and KFX variants of the ebook.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by Goli4th

- Finally, while I plan to read primarily on my Kindle, I would like to sync my books to the cloud, so I can access them from the Kindle iOS app on my iPhone/iPad. I know this is possible using the mobi format, but is it possible using my KFX files? If not, is there any other way to sync my readings, even if it requires modifications like jailbreaking?

Not possible, even with a jailbreak. KFX format must be sideloaded via USB and that is incompatible with syncing between devices.


Added: If syncing is important then emailing EPUBs to your Amazon account is worth considering. You will get KF8 format on Kindles and MOBI in the iOS app. You will lose the cover thumbnail on your Kindle device but may be able to get that back if the device is jailbroken.

[Goli4th]

Originally Posted by jhowell

Not possible, even with a jailbreak. KFX format must be sideloaded via USB and that is incompatible with syncing between devices.

Synchronization is not that important to me, it's a nice and convenient feature, but I can do without it.

My main issue is with my existing files, which I would like to transfer to my Kindle in a format that would look and behave like the original amazon books.