Covers in Kindle Uploads?

[varaonaid]

Hello,

I've uploaded a couple of my books into my Kindle library (personal docs or whatever it's called these days) and even though it appeared to have the cover when I had it in Calibre, it didn't show up as expected in Kindle. It shows a generic "K" Kindle cover, most of the time. Occasionally, it will show the cover as expected but generally not. I'm wondering if I somehow didn't actually embed the cover or if Kindle just can't show the correct cover. I thought I read on my searches that it is possible for Kindle to view nice covers but I'm not sure what to do to ensure this happens.

Could anyone please let me know if it's possible for Kindle to show covers in uploaded books and, if so, what I need to do to make that happen. I would be extremely grateful for any help with this. Thanks so much!

[eschwartz]

If you upload old MOBI, then you can download an old MOBI with a cover thumbnail.

If you uploaded a dual-MOBI, then on supported devices you will download an AZW3, but due to an Amazon bug it won't have a cover thumbail.

[varaonaid]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

If you upload old MOBI, then you can download an old MOBI with a cover thumbnail.

If you uploaded a dual-MOBI, then on supported devices you will download an AZW3, but due to an Amazon bug it won't have a cover thumbail.

Thank you so much. This is a really clear and detailed answer. Just what I needed.

However, I'm afraid I don't understand what a dual mobi file is. Could you please help me understand the difference between dual mobi and the old mobi? Even if it's just a link? It sounds like that would be important information for me to know. Thanks again for your help! I really appreciate it!

[eschwartz]

A dual-MOBI is the default output for Amazon's "KindleGen" converter (used when publishing ebooks on Amazon).
It is also an option in calibre's MOBI Output conversion settings. (You can create an old|new|both MOBI.)


What it means is that the *.mobi file contains both the legacy MOBI content and the newer AZW3 content in one file.
Amazon's PDOC service (and publisher intake channels) only accepts dual-MOBI or old MOBI -- they don't accept pure AZW3 because that means the K1/2/DX and non-updated K3s won't be able to read the book since they only read MOBI.

...

Assuming the uploaded ebook had a cover inside it, and calibre will automatically insert the calibre cover image when converting even if the original file didn't set a cover then uploading a plain old MOBI *should* show a cover thumbnail.



I just noticed your profile says you have an Android smartphone and are "considering" getting an E-Ink device.
But I am pretty sure that Kindle for Android works the same way.

Although it absolutely does matter whether you upload to Amazon's PDOC cloud or sideload with calibre -- see this calibre FAQ entry: http://manual.calibre-ebook.com/faq....droid-ipad-etc

[varaonaid]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

A dual-MOBI is the default output for Amazon's "KindleGen" converter (used when publishing ebooks on Amazon).
It is also an option in calibre's MOBI Output conversion settings. (You can create an old|new|both MOBI.)


What it means is that the *.mobi file contains both the legacy MOBI content and the newer AZW3 content in one file.
Amazon's PDOC service (and publisher intake channels) only accepts dual-MOBI or old MOBI -- they don't accept pure AZW3 because that means the K1/2/DX and non-updated K3s won't be able to read the book since they only read MOBI.

...

Assuming the uploaded ebook had a cover inside it, and calibre will automatically insert the calibre cover image when converting even if the original file didn't set a cover then uploading a plain old MOBI *should* show a cover thumbnail.



I just noticed your profile says you have an Android smartphone and are "considering" getting an E-Ink device.
But I am pretty sure that Kindle for Android works the same way.

Although it absolutely does matter whether you upload to Amazon's PDOC cloud or sideload with calibre -- see this calibre FAQ entry: http://manual.calibre-ebook.com/faq....droid-ipad-etc

Thank you so much for the excellent explanation of the dual mobi and why it's needed. That makes sense as that they want it to be legacy compatible. It makes me wonder why the newer version (azw3) was actually worth switching to. I'm guessing it had more capabilities within the file itself.

I'm also really grateful you shared that weird Amazon bug with the covers. That's crummy that they set it up that way. I may end up rethinking how much I want to send to Kindle if I have to choose between having my collection either split into two sections (books and personal docs) or losing the beautiful formatting that I've worked hard on. Perhaps having more direct control is going to be more desirable after all and I'll just use the Kindle upload somewhat sparingly.

Again, I cannot thank you enough for your excellent information and helping me actually learn and understand this stuff. I'm so grateful. I really appreciate you sharing your time and expertise.

[eschwartz]

On the plus side, the old MOBI format does support most of the formatting used by virtually any plin old textual-oriented fiction ebook -- although fancy stuff like embedded fonts, SVG graphics, and some complex formatting were introduced in AZW3, you probably don't need them.
Also, old MOBI is much messier inside, but that literally doesn't matter at all unless you happen to edit your ebooks (which some do, to fix "problems" ).

On the minus side, you really are limited to either having cover thumbnails or having the book in the 'Books" section, but not both.
Unless you sideload to an E-Ink device.

...

Happy to help, by the way. Why do you think I lurk here so much anyway -- racking up ~17.5K posts.