Newbie grappling with how Calibre sorts by author name

[OonaMistwalker]

I was just given a Kindle 2. I downloaded my Amazon library of 200 books to it. I then downloaded 200 Project Gutenberg books to my laptop and used Calibre to sideload them to the Kindle 2.

Sorting books on the Kindle by author is now a mess. Example: it has books by G. K. Chesterton; some from Amazon and some through Calibre. Those from Calibre sort by first name, those from Amazon by last name, as below (bolded text is authors of Amazon titles. Normal text is from Calibre)

Charlotte Brontë
G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton
Lydia Maria Frances Child

(Insert authors with names beginning with C - F here)

Fyodor Dostoyevsky
G K Chesterton
John Galsworthy

However, in Calibre's library window, the author's names are all sorted by last name, and displayed showing first name first. I don't want to change that.

I've trying looking around in the forums to find out how to fix this but I don't know enough yet to know what search terms to use. Why won't my Kindle 2 just display the author's name in the format shown in Calibre's metadata window? I'm sorry if this doesn't make much sense but I am so frazzled by trying to figure this out. Thanks you for reading this far.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by OonaMistwalker

Why won't my Kindle 2 just display the author's name in the format shown in Calibre's metadata window?

As I wrote in your other thread Kindle's have their own special handling of the author field.

In my opinion the best results are obtained by using calibre's Author Sort field as the author for Kindle books. In the conversion dialog in the MOBI Output tab there is a setting called "Use author sort for author". I recommend selecting that option.

[OonaMistwalker]

Originally Posted by jhowell

As I wrote in your other threadIn my opinion the best results are obtained by using calibre's Author Sort field as the author for Kindle books.

I really appreciate your time in responding to me twice on the same issue, jhowell. Thank you. In the thread you linked you said

Originally Posted by JHOWELL

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".

Does the Kindle sort by first name if there is no comma in the author name field?

I respect your opinion, jhowell, but I don't understand it well enough to know if I agree. Would you mind helping me understand why calibre's Author Sort field is best?

I don't care if author names display with forename or surname first. What I really want is for them to sort by surname, not forename.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by OonaMistwalker

Does the Kindle sort by first name if there is no comma in the author name field?

Yes. It always sorts by whatever is in the Author field of the Kindle book file.

Originally Posted by OonaMistwalker

Would you mind helping me understand why calibre's Author Sort field is best?

Because calibre's Author Sort field puts the surname first as is needed for proper sorting on the Kindle.

Originally Posted by OonaMistwalker

I don't care if author names display with forename or surname first. What I really want is for them to sort by surname, not forename.

If the calibre Author name is "John Smith" then the Author Sort will be "Smith, John". If that is put into the Kindle book file is will sort it by "Smith" and display as "John Smith". That should give you what you want.

[OonaMistwalker]

Originally Posted by jhowell

If the calibre Author name is "John Smith" then the Author Sort will be "Smith, John". If that is put into the Kindle book file is will sort it by "Smith" and display as "John Smith". That should give you what you want.

I understand your point now, jhowell, and I agree with you to a large degree. However surname sorting would only be on the Kindle and not in the Calibre library itself. That, I assume, would then sort by author forename. This is going to get crazy-making when my library assumes the large size I expect it to. It'll be like trying to navigate according to one set of traffic laws in one jurisdiction and another set the next jurisdiction over.

What do you use to organize your ebooks from various sources? And as before, I am grateful for your time and advice.

[OonaMistwalker]

I can't seem to edit my former post but

However surname sorting would only be on the Kindle and not in the Calibre library itself. That, I assume, would then sort by author forename.

seems to be incorrect. calibre has two separate author sort fields. It uses the first within itself and has a separate field for the ereader to use. (I think.) The first already displays the way I want, and hopefully I can change the second one to display the way I want in the Kindle.

I'm still curious about how jhowell organizes ebooks...

[theducks]

Calibre has ONE Author_Sort field and ONE, Authors field.

There is a tweak; That sets the rule HOW, Author_sort is calculated from Authors.
The Kindle advice was based upon Authors being Fn Mi Ln and the sort being (Normal) Ln, Fn Mi Where Mi is optional

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by OonaMistwalker

I'm still curious about how jhowell organizes ebooks...

Calibre "Author(s)" field: First Last - Displays within calibre in natural form

Calibre "Author sort" field (Default handling): Last, First - Sorts within calibre by surname

Kindle e-book "Author" field (copied from Calibre "Author sort" field): Last, First - Displays on Kindle in natural form, Sorts on Kindle by surname

[OonaMistwalker]

Something broke my concentration when I typed and hit enter on this:

I'm still curious about how jhowell organizes ebooks...

What I meant was that I'm still curious about what jhowell uses to manage kindle books, since it was mentioned not to be calibre. I hope that's not an intrusive question...

[theducks]

Originally Posted by OonaMistwalker

Something broke my concentration when I typed and hit enter on this:

What I meant was that I'm still curious about what jhowell uses to manage kindle books, since it was mentioned not to be calibre. I hope that's not an intrusive question...

I believe he USES Calibre.
What he said was to CONFIGURE the plugin (done with the device connected) and TICK the box to use (Calibre's) Author_sort for the Kindles Author

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by OonaMistwalker

Something broke my concentration when I typed and hit enter on this:

What I meant was that I'm still curious about what jhowell uses to manage kindle books, since it was mentioned not to be calibre. I hope that's not an intrusive question...

I wrote in another thread that I don’t use calibre to manage my Kindle books.

What I meant by that is because I buy and borrow my Kindle books directly from Amazon there is never any reason for me to send books from calibre to my Kindles.

I will add that in the past when I had to occasionally get books obtained elsewhere to my Kindles I converted them to Master MOBI using Amazon’s kindlegen and then sent via email. I find that syncing between devices works more reliability that way and that is a crucial feature for me.

[OonaMistwalker]

Jhowell, when you found books that didn't sort by author the way you wished because of the inclusion or omission of a comma, what did you use to correct this?

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by OonaMistwalker

Jhowell, when you found books that didn't sort by author the way you wished because of the inclusion or omission of a comma, what did you use to correct this?

Nothing. It doesn't bother me especially since keep very few books on my Kindle at a time.