Send to Kindle won't send author name from metadata.

[mkgtu]

And, as the original poster (3 months ago!!!), I've added a short "edit" to the beginning of the post indicating that the issue has been reported by several members and myself as "fixed" - as of Christmas!

[binaryhermit]

Looking at https://www.amazon.com/hz/mycd/myx#/...pdocs/dateDsc/ it looks like this was fixed some time between the document I sent on December 15 and the first document I sent on December 18.

[mamobae]

Thanks!! I deduced correctly that I can go back to my old habit of emailing from calibre - I just did a test

[Georgie W]

This issue seems to be cropping up again.

I've just sent eight books via Calibre to my Kindle address. On Amazon (Digital Content - Docs), 5 are correctly showing with title & author fields correct; 3 show as "Title - Author Name" in the title field & author field shows "Unknown". I've converted to & from Mobi to Epub a couple of times, which made no difference to the display in Amazon.

Then I converted the 3 books to rtf files, which I saved outside Calibre & used Word to change the Author property from the correct author to my name. I deleted the books within Calibre.

Then I imported the bare rtf files to Calibre as completely new books, replaced my name (which came up automatically as the author) with the correct author names. I converted the 3 books to Mobi then from Mobi to Epub & sent them off to the Kindle address again. Only one showed up with the correct title & author, the other 2 persist in showing the combined title/correct author info in the title field, with Unknown for the Author.

I am baffled.

FYI, the title / author field are correcting populating on my Kindle; I sideload books directly on to the Kindle (don't download them from AZ); sending books to AZ is just a storage precaution, so the stakes on this point are low.

[jonathan2022]

Try sending them as mobi . Yes it will say these files are not supported. But it will still go through to send to kindle .

[Georgie W]

Originally Posted by jonathan2022

Try sending them as mobi . Yes it will say these files are not supported. But it will still go through to send to kindle .

I sent as mobi - unfortunately I'm getting the same issue: AZ picks up the author information, and includes its as part of title field, but doesn't manage to identify it as the author name for the author field.

It's the inconsistency that is surprising me, and makes me think there is something in the tagging that I can change at the Calibre end of things. (Though what?)

[GeniusJ]

Are you using the Send to Kindle *app*, or using email to do it?

Whichever one you're using, have you tried the other?

[Georgie W]

Originally Posted by GeniusJ

Are you using the Send to Kindle *app*, or using email to do it?

Whichever one you're using, have you tried the other?

I suspect I'm using email—it's the Connect/Share function from within Calibre, and I email the books to my kindle's email address. The first few books today (which is the first time I've noticed the issue) went through fine. The next struggled, but succeeded once I'd rtf'd the hell out of it. Subsequent books are not listed properly. So, since I used the same method for all the books, I should get the same result?

I will go and track down the STK app and see if that makes a difference, though.

ETA - The app (ver. 1.1.1.253) uses the "Title - Author" format in the title field (which is the error I've been noting) and considers My Name to be the Author Name. Don't think unfortunately that it's going to help.

[GeniusJ]

I don't know why you would need to convert to RTF. If anything, I'm wondering if you've got something weird going on with the way your Calibre settings are configured.

How about trying this: get the "Modify ePub" plugin. Select your epub, run "Modify ePub" with these settings:

Encode HTML in UTF-8
Add/Replace Metadata Jacket
Update Metadata
Remove non dc: metadata elements
Remove legacy metadata jackets

Then send the epub over to your Kindle. See if that makes a difference.

[jhowell]

The send to Kindle app defaults to the file name as the title and you as the author but gives you choice of putting in whatever you want before sending.

[Georgie W]

Originally Posted by GeniusJ

I don't know why you would need to convert to RTF. If anything, I'm wondering if you've got something weird going on with the way your Calibre settings are configured.

How about trying this: get the "Modify ePub" plugin. Select your epub, run "Modify ePub" with these settings:

Encode HTML in UTF-8
Add/Replace Metadata Jacket
Update Metadata
Remove non dc: metadata elements
Remove legacy metadata jackets

Then send the epub over to your Kindle. See if that makes a difference.

The rtf bit was to try to strip out any hidden tags and to start with a basic unformatted document. I hope I didn't sound as if I really knew what I was doing!

I downloaded & ran Modify Epub with your suggested settings. Sadly that made no difference.

There *may* be something odd with my Calibre settings - I just don't get how they can have altered between one book and the next. I've been using and loving it for years, and only update things when Amazon throws spanners in the works.

[Georgie W]

Originally Posted by jhowell

The send to Kindle app defaults to the file name as the title and you as the author but gives you choice of putting in whatever you want before sending.

Thanks, yes. If all else fails I will have to amend each book before I send it off, but that is definitely a retrograde step. Ideally, I'd like life to go back to the way it was before breakfast when the Calibre Connect/Share function did all this perfectly for me.

[GeniusJ]

Do you have a public domain or otherwise free to copy book you could post as an example? I'd like to load it into Calibre and see if anything looks odd.

[jhowell]

The situation is complicated. Calibre can alter the metadata in books being emailed and it is unclear exactly how Amazon processes them.

My best suggestion is to look at the sent folder in your email account and find examples of books that worked and didn’t. Then look at the emails themselves for things like subject or attachment file name that may be relevant. Lastly open each EPUB attachment in the sent emails and check for differences in the OPF metadata.

[Georgie W]

Originally Posted by GeniusJ

Do you have a public domain or otherwise free to copy book you could post as an example? I'd like to load it into Calibre and see if anything looks odd.

I've attached a Trollope (mobi & epub) that posted (mobi format) without any problems a couple of years ago. Today, I've just tested posting both epub (created today from the mobi) and the mobi; both are now displaying title as Title-AuthorSort & author as Unknown.