Kindle Voyage, sideloaded books, and Goodreads

Shakes · 02-23-2015, 04:31 PM

Hopefully I explain this so it makes sense. I recently received my Kindle Voyage. I sideloaded a bunch of books that I converted from .epub to AZW3. Seems when I am in one of those books, and I try and open Goodreads to update my reading progress that it always errors out. I have tried a few books purchased directly from Amazon and of course the Goodreads stuff works correctly. I assume that the reason my sideloaded books and Goodreads don't play nicely is because they are sideloaded. What I'm wondering though is if there is a way to fix this problem. A plug-in for Calibre that could help, or maybe a piece of metadata that I overlooked that needs to be added.

I'm looking for any help that people can provide and I think you in advance.

susan_cassidy · 02-23-2015, 05:16 PM

Have you tried side loading them by emailing them to your Kindle's email address. I don't really know anything about the Goodreads feature, but other syncing works via this mechanism.

Shakes · 02-23-2015, 05:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by susan_cassidy

Have you tried side loading them by emailing them to your Kindle's email address. I don't really know anything about the Goodreads feature, but other syncing works via this mechanism.

I haven't tried doing that yet, but it's an interesting thought. I'll give it a try however my guess is that there is something that Amazon embeds in files bought directly from them that is tied to the Goodreads stuff.

Shakes · 02-23-2015, 05:47 PM

So I just tried emailing it in .mobi format to my Kindle. This time it doesn't error out trying to open Goodreads, it will actually open it but I don't have the option to update anything about the book I'm currently reading. I imagine what is happening is with the AZW3 files that I converted and transferred via USB are causing the error because they are missing some tag or piece of data that identifies them them to Goodreads. Either it doesn't think it's a "real" Kindle book or it can't identify what book it is. When I uploaded to my Kindle's email address I don't think it errors out at all when trying the Goodreads stuff because it has a personal tag on it and Goodreads just thinks it's a personal doc of some sort.

tono1020 · 02-23-2015, 06:15 PM

You have to set correct ASIN code in book metadata. You cannot do it with Calibre, because Calibre put some GUID in ASIN field when converting books.

You can do it with Mobi2Mobi (GUI): set "exth type" to "113 - ASIN" and type correct ASIN code to "exth data" field (you can find it in Product Details section for kindle books on Amazon.com), mark the checkbox and click convert button. Then set "exth type" to "501 - CDEContentType" and type "EBOK" in "exth data", mark checkbox and click Convert button.

The only problem is that Mobi2Mobi doesn't support AZW3, only MOBI and PRC.
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21763

eschwartz · 02-23-2015, 06:16 PM

When calibre sidelods a book, I assume the Personal banner is missing? That means an ASIN was embedded. But the wrong one -- it will have been randomly generated. The Kindle is likely looking up the ASIN as an intermediate step to finding the book on Goodreads.
If it is actually a PDOC, I don't know if Amazon officially supports that anyway. If it comes to that, probaly not...

If you make sure the calibre metadata includes a correct amazon identifier, the Quality Check plugin will embed that as the ASIN, and hopefully the Kindle will stop being confused.

At least, if my guess is correct.

I don't have a KPW to test my theory.

Edit: Beaten.

Great minds think alike.

7hir7een · 02-23-2015, 07:15 PM

Elaborating a little on what eschwartz said:

You can use the Quality Check plugin in Calibre. There's a function under the "Fix" menu called "Fix ASIN for Kindle Fire".

This requires the ASIN to be the identifier for amazon in the Ids field on the metadata screen. (i.e., amazon:B00xxxxxxx).

I've been doing this since I got my Voyage, and it works quite nicely.

Shakes · 02-23-2015, 07:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tono1020

You have to set correct ASIN code in book metadata. You cannot do it with Calibre, because Calibre put some GUID in ASIN field when converting books.

You can do it with Mobi2Mobi (GUI): set "exth type" to "113 - ASIN" and type correct ASIN code to "exth data" field (you can find it in Product Details section for kindle books on Amazon.com), mark the checkbox and click convert button. Then set "exth type" to "501 - CDEContentType" and type "EBOK" in "exth data", mark checkbox and click Convert button.

The only problem is that Mobi2Mobi doesn't support AZW3, only MOBI and PRC.
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21763

Thanks. Ok, so what I should do is convert everything to MOBI and then use Mobi2Mobi to set the proper ASIN and that other data you listed and I should be good?

Quote:

Originally Posted by eschwartz

When calibre sidelods a book, I assume the Personal banner is missing? That means an ASIN was embedded. But the wrong one -- it will have been randomly generated. The Kindle is likely looking up the ASIN as an intermediate step to finding the book on Goodreads.
If it is actually a PDOC, I don't know if Amazon officially supports that anyway. If it comes to that, probaly not...

If you make sure the calibre metadata includes a correct amazon identifier, the Quality Check plugin will embed that as the ASIN, and hopefully the Kindle will stop being confused.

At least, if my guess is correct.

I don't have a KPW to test my theory.

Edit: Beaten.

Great minds think alike.

My AZW3 obviously don't have the personal banner. Will the QUality Check plug in work with AZW3 or do I need to convert to MOBI?

Thanks both of you for the replies, you are pointing me in the right direction.

eschwartz · 02-23-2015, 07:30 PM

Quality Check is an alternative to mobi2mobi and works with both MOBI and AZW3.

Shakes · 02-23-2015, 07:43 PM

Thank you to everyone who helped. You all are rockstars and everything is working the way that I was hoping that it would. Thanks once again!

Edit: Seriously, this was the only thing bugging me about the Voyage, and now it's fixed.

eschwartz · 02-23-2015, 08:19 PM

Happy to help.

tono1020 · 02-24-2015, 02:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Quality Check is an alternative to mobi2mobi and works with both MOBI and AZW3.

Thanks eschwartz and 7hir7een!

I didn't know about Quality Check plugin. I tried it and it worked just fine, even for AZW3 format, so I will use it in future for syncing sideloaded AZW3 books.

faithbw · 02-24-2015, 06:58 AM

I was wondering about this with my Paperwhite. I'm glad I read this thread and now know there is a way to get GR to recognize sideloaded books.

ryuji35 · 03-01-2015, 03:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 7hir7een

Elaborating a little on what eschwartz said:

You can use the Quality Check plugin in Calibre. There's a function under the "Fix" menu called "Fix ASIN for Kindle Fire".

This requires the ASIN to be the identifier for amazon in the Ids field on the metadata screen. (i.e., amazon:B00xxxxxxx).

I've been doing this since I got my Voyage, and it works quite nicely.

Will this simple method fix the problem? Or should I use mobi2mobi still?

EDIT: Also, can this fix the issue of not being able to post quotes in Social Media? I learned before that only books bought in Amazon can have this feature.

eschwartz · 03-01-2015, 05:25 PM

mobi2mobi might work, although it is old and no longer supported (and seems to not handle unicode properly, maybe just filename issues though).

On the other hand, I know Quality Check works.
Re: Social media quotes, I wouldn't know, I've never tried.

But I would think so, since the Kindle thinks the book came from Amazon.

02-23-2015, 04:31 PM	#1
Shakes Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: Michigan Device: Kindle Voyage (WiFi w/ Special Offers)	Kindle Voyage, sideloaded books, and Goodreads Hopefully I explain this so it makes sense. I recently received my Kindle Voyage. I sideloaded a bunch of books that I converted from .epub to AZW3. Seems when I am in one of those books, and I try and open Goodreads to update my reading progress that it always errors out. I have tried a few books purchased directly from Amazon and of course the Goodreads stuff works correctly. I assume that the reason my sideloaded books and Goodreads don't play nicely is because they are sideloaded. What I'm wondering though is if there is a way to fix this problem. A plug-in for Calibre that could help, or maybe a piece of metadata that I overlooked that needs to be added. I'm looking for any help that people can provide and I think you in advance.

02-23-2015, 06:15 PM	#5
tono1020 Connoisseur Posts: 58 Karma: 100000 Join Date: May 2009 Location: EU Device: Cybook (Gen3, Opus), K3, K4NT, PW, PW2, KV	You have to set correct ASIN code in book metadata. You cannot do it with Calibre, because Calibre put some GUID in ASIN field when converting books. You can do it with Mobi2Mobi (GUI): set "exth type" to "113 - ASIN" and type correct ASIN code to "exth data" field (you can find it in Product Details section for kindle books on Amazon.com), mark the checkbox and click convert button. Then set "exth type" to "501 - CDEContentType" and type "EBOK" in "exth data", mark checkbox and click Convert button. The only problem is that Mobi2Mobi doesn't support AZW3, only MOBI and PRC. https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21763 Last edited by tono1020; 02-23-2015 at 06:17 PM.

02-23-2015, 06:16 PM	#6
eschwartz Ex-Helpdesk Junkie Posts: 19,421 Karma: 85400180 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)	When calibre sidelods a book, I assume the Personal banner is missing? That means an ASIN was embedded. But the wrong one -- it will have been randomly generated. The Kindle is likely looking up the ASIN as an intermediate step to finding the book on Goodreads. If it is actually a PDOC, I don't know if Amazon officially supports that anyway. If it comes to that, probaly not... If you make sure the calibre metadata includes a correct amazon identifier, the Quality Check plugin will embed that as the ASIN, and hopefully the Kindle will stop being confused. At least, if my guess is correct. I don't have a KPW to test my theory. Edit: Beaten. Great minds think alike. Last edited by eschwartz; 02-23-2015 at 06:18 PM.

02-23-2015, 07:43 PM	#10
Shakes Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: Michigan Device: Kindle Voyage (WiFi w/ Special Offers)	Thank you to everyone who helped. You all are rockstars and everything is working the way that I was hoping that it would. Thanks once again! Edit: Seriously, this was the only thing bugging me about the Voyage, and now it's fixed. Last edited by Shakes; 02-23-2015 at 07:46 PM.

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02-23-2015, 05:16 PM	#2
susan_cassidy Wizard Posts: 2,251 Karma: 3720310 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: USA Device: Kindle, iPad (not used much for reading)	Have you tried side loading them by emailing them to your Kindle's email address. I don't really know anything about the Goodreads feature, but other syncing works via this mechanism.

02-23-2015, 05:47 PM	#4
Shakes Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: Michigan Device: Kindle Voyage (WiFi w/ Special Offers)	So I just tried emailing it in .mobi format to my Kindle. This time it doesn't error out trying to open Goodreads, it will actually open it but I don't have the option to update anything about the book I'm currently reading. I imagine what is happening is with the AZW3 files that I converted and transferred via USB are causing the error because they are missing some tag or piece of data that identifies them them to Goodreads. Either it doesn't think it's a "real" Kindle book or it can't identify what book it is. When I uploaded to my Kindle's email address I don't think it errors out at all when trying the Goodreads stuff because it has a personal tag on it and Goodreads just thinks it's a personal doc of some sort.

02-23-2015, 07:15 PM	#7
7hir7een Reader of Books Posts: 249 Karma: 178096 Join Date: Oct 2012 Device: Kobo Libra Colour, Clara Colour, Libra 2, Elipsa	Elaborating a little on what eschwartz said: You can use the Quality Check plugin in Calibre. There's a function under the "Fix" menu called "Fix ASIN for Kindle Fire". This requires the ASIN to be the identifier for amazon in the Ids field on the metadata screen. (i.e., amazon:B00xxxxxxx). I've been doing this since I got my Voyage, and it works quite nicely.

02-23-2015, 07:30 PM	#9
eschwartz Ex-Helpdesk Junkie Posts: 19,421 Karma: 85400180 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)	Quality Check is an alternative to mobi2mobi and works with both MOBI and AZW3.

02-23-2015, 08:19 PM	#11
eschwartz Ex-Helpdesk Junkie Posts: 19,421 Karma: 85400180 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)	Happy to help.

02-24-2015, 06:58 AM	#13
faithbw Guru Posts: 618 Karma: 1526148 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: A place where the sun always shines Device: Kindle Oasis, iPad Mini 2	I was wondering about this with my Paperwhite. I'm glad I read this thread and now know there is a way to get GR to recognize sideloaded books.

03-01-2015, 05:25 PM	#15
eschwartz Ex-Helpdesk Junkie Posts: 19,421 Karma: 85400180 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)	mobi2mobi might work, although it is old and no longer supported (and seems to not handle unicode properly, maybe just filename issues though). On the other hand, I know Quality Check works. Re: Social media quotes, I wouldn't know, I've never tried. But I would think so, since the Kindle thinks the book came from Amazon.

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