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Old 11-26-2016, 12:13 PM   #31
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Showing book covers on a Kindle for non-Amazon purchased books is problematic. It varies by format (MOBI, AZW3, "Both", KFX), Kindle firmware version, how the books as loaded (Amazon cloud, calibre, copy over USB) and whether external software was used to help with cover extraction (calibre, ExtractCoverThumbs).

Personally, I learned to live with the covers being missing for some of my books.)
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Old 11-26-2016, 01:18 PM   #32
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Calibre's resize covers plug in may help - kindle will be happier with standardized 800 x 600 or 900 x 600 covers, I think. And other plugins should deal with missing covers not being where Kindle expects to find them.

books sideloaded by calibre via USB should show as books, not docs. That always worked for me. Those sent via email will show as docs.

And it may be possible to sideload fonts if you can find a copy e.g. in your PC fonts folder. Embedding them into books when you convert is another possibility to explore. That's stuff I've done for epub books and apps but not explored for kindle e-ink devices
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Old 11-26-2016, 02:07 PM   #33
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That's weird then that most of my USB side loaded books show as docs, it's irritating. I've tried converting to show as books, but it wouldn't work. I didn't really understand how to use extract cover thumbs. I'll try the other one you mentioned.
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Old 11-26-2016, 02:18 PM   #34
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I think it has to do with where in kindle folder structure you put the book file, but calibre knows so I don't have to. I always just converted to azw with calibre , from a good epub, then plugged in the kindle and told calibre to Do the transfers . If epub lacked a good cover then it was download metadata then use modify epub plugin with add cover ticked, as a preparatory step. When you first import your bought epub into calibre it should auto extract the cover, but you can add, change that at anytime via the download covers option, it will go find one or more, the you just pick one. Dont overthink it, and ask in calibre forum if anything s unclear
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Old 11-27-2016, 01:15 PM   #35
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Calibre's resize covers plug in may help - kindle will be happier with standardized 800 x 600 or 900 x 600 covers, I think. And other plugins should deal with missing covers not being where Kindle expects to find them.

books sideloaded by calibre via USB should show as books, not docs. That always worked for me. Those sent via email will show as docs.

And it may be possible to sideload fonts if you can find a copy e.g. in your PC fonts folder. Embedding them into books when you convert is another possibility to explore. That's stuff I've done for epub books and apps but not explored for kindle e-ink devices
Covers at 800x600 on a PW will not look right. They will look fuzzy because of being low resolution and being stretched to fit the screen. Very bad idea. Use high resolution covers whenever possible.

As for side loading fonts, not without jail breaking first.

I've never read of missing covers or books being incorrectly sent to a Kindlecwhen using Calibre to manage the books. So use Calibre and it will work just fine.
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Old 11-27-2016, 01:17 PM   #36
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ok - i dont have PW - with fire Tablets & carousel , 600 x 800/900 is what worked. hi res images would not show on carousel.
i also find that standardising my cover sizes makes them display up neatly in epub apps which have " shelves" or "rows" - like Bookari. the lack of uniformity in size bugs me far more than the resolution , or lack off. I dont spend much time looking at covers!
Last edited by stumped; 11-27-2016 at 01:29 PM.
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Old 11-27-2016, 07:50 PM   #37
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Yeah, I correctly converted in Calibre and the book cover is still an issue like 60% of the time at least. I love the kindle, though.

I really wanted the voyage but its $300 in Canada vs $120 for the PW..
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Old 11-28-2016, 02:44 AM   #38
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but are you now seeing books sent by calibre via USB showing as books, not documents - can we tick that issue as solved ?
and are we talking covers shown in a grid view on home screen i.e. little thumbnails not full screen images ( in which case i think my point about resizing may still be applicable )

I had a kindle voyage until recently, & I was always able to get book covers to appear in grid view, by resizing before sending if needed, and my books were always "books" not documents
someone more technical that I may detail the mechanism of how a cover gets FROM calibre TO that grid view on Kindle
Last edited by stumped; 11-28-2016 at 02:53 AM.
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Old 11-28-2016, 06:08 AM   #39
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jhowell View Post
Showing book covers on a Kindle for non-Amazon purchased books is problematic. It varies by format (MOBI, AZW3, "Both", KFX), Kindle firmware version, how the books as loaded (Amazon cloud, calibre, copy over USB) and whether external software was used to help with cover extraction (calibre, ExtractCoverThumbs).

Personally, I learned to live with the covers being missing for some of my books.)
I still find it annoying. Especially for times when the e-book costs more than the paperback. I'm so thankful for Calibre where I can import and choose my own covers and edit my own metadata.

If I am paying 13.99 for the e-book when the mass market paperback is $8.99, darn right I'm gonna make it fancy.
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Old 11-28-2016, 06:15 AM   #40
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annoying but surely fixable. In all the time I used my various kindles I never had any book for which I could not fix a missing cover issue.
AFAIK - books bought directly from amazon will never have a missing cover, others - usually epubs - just need a cover added to calibre which conforms to certain rules, then use calibre to put converted epub onto kindle. I don't recall if there's a specific sequence to adhere to, like resize cover, then reconvert book... as I am unsure of the exact under the bonnet mechanics. I am fairly sure that kindle looks for a cover inside of the sideloaded mobi/azw and if it finds one that conforms to its unpublished criteria, then it displays it...
I think I maybe had to fiddle with some covers of .mobi books from humble bundle , but I got them all to work eventually via calibre
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Old 11-28-2016, 06:30 AM   #41
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annoying but surely fixable. In all the time I used my various kindles I never had any book for which I could not fix a missing cover issue.
AFAIK - books bought directly from amazon will never have a missing cover, others - usually epubs - just need a cover added to calibre which conforms to certain rules, then use calibre to put converted epub onto kindle. I don't recall if there's a specific sequence to adhere to, like resize cover, then reconvert book... as I am unsure of the exact under the bonnet mechanics. I am fairly sure that kindle looks for a cover inside of the sideloaded mobi/azw and if it finds one that conforms to its unpublished criteria, then it displays it...
I think I maybe had to fiddle with some covers of .mobi books from humble bundle , but I got them all to work eventually via calibre
Yep, I am glad it's fixable. I like being able to customize my own books to make them "really mine". Most of the time I don't mind because I don't often buy books that are $13.99, but sometimes a really good recommendation comes my way and I have the gift card money, so why not. (so really it's how much I pay vs how much I get that determines just "how" annoying it has the potential to be haha)

But I figure, especially when I pay that much, I should get the entire product, not have to take matters into my own hands to finish building it. Most of the time I get books when the $1.99 deals come up (on occasion they do).so the annoyance factor is minor. I enjoy the process sometimes. It's like when I was a kid, choosing my own bookplates for really special books.
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Old 11-28-2016, 07:11 AM   #42
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yes I have noticed cases where the printed book has a lovely cover, but the kindle version is plain and ugly
e.g. Gwynneth Jones Bold as Love series.
in her case there is even an obscure epub version of volume 1 that looks far nicer than the Kindle offering.
I bet the official answer is some waffle about publisher's rights ( all rights reserved, including but not limited to the right to deprive you of the printed book cover image )
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Old 11-28-2016, 07:37 AM   #43
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yes I have noticed cases where the printed book has a lovely cover, but the kindle version is plain and ugly
e.g. Gwynneth Jones Bold as Love series.
in her case there is even an obscure epub version of volume 1 that looks far nicer than the Kindle offering.
I bet the official answer is some waffle about publisher's rights ( all rights reserved, including but not limited to the right to deprive you of the printed book cover image )
In the case of Bold as Love and its sequels, it's because the original covers have dark rock magic in them which makes you want to spend more money on Gwyneth Jones's books, but this magic only works in physical form. (Or perhaps it's simply because her writing is that good, but never rule out the first possibility!)
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Old 11-28-2016, 08:09 AM   #44
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annoying but surely fixable. In all the time I used my various kindles I never had any book for which I could not fix a missing cover issue.
I'm glad that your method works for you. I have had to make trade-offs to get the features most important to me and so I do not always have cover thumbnails.

I switch between multiple reading devices so for me having books sync using Amazon's cloud is important. But as a result my non-Amazon purchased books are marked as personal documents (PDOC).

I find that good book formatting leads to a better reading experience so I send books in the dual (MOBI+KF8) format to my Amazon account. This results in KF8 (AZW3) being delivered to most of my devices, which provides formatting very close to that of the original EPUB.

And I like to keep up with kindle bug fixes and features so I run the latest firmware (5.8.5.0.2) on my kindle. This combination of PDOC + AZW3 + 5.8.5.0.2 prevents cover thumbnails from showing for these books.
Last edited by jhowell; 11-28-2016 at 09:52 AM.
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Old 11-28-2016, 04:00 PM   #45
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They still show as docs most of the time and I don't know why. Some do, some don't, and I'm using the Kindle format via USB in calibre.
Last edited by challe232; 11-28-2016 at 04:09 PM.
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