"Fixed" sideloaded books and whispersync?

[Scoobydoofus]

Hi all, long time reader but not posted much (if at all!). I did search for an answer to this but there is just so much about sideloading books!

Is it possible to use Calibre to fix a sideloaded book so it works with Goodreads AND sync your progress so I can read on my iPhone too?

I have been using a Kindle for a while, both with content purchased from Amazon and by emailing books purchased elsewhere to my Kindle email address. All works great, and I can read on my iPhone if I'm stuck somewhere without my Kindle.

I love being able to update my Goodreads account from my Kindle too, and of course this doesn't work with books that have been emailed because they appear as personal docs.

I've "fixed" sideloaded books before so they work with Goodreads, but then I have to manually plug my Kindle in and copy the file (or use the content server), which is fine, but then my reading location doesn't sync with my iPhone.

Is there any way to get both things working at the same time?

[Barbara1955]

.....

[shamanNS]

@Katie1: Keep in mind that it's not my intention to insult you or hurt you feelings with what I'm about to write next. But, with that said I have to write that your "Non-Techy" status is well deserved and was demonstrated here on Kindle subforums on multiple occasions and that IMHO in future you should either refrain from offering your limited knowledge as solutions for more exotic problems regarding Kindle, or spend some time to gain more in-depth understanding of Kindle, Kindle formats, syncing, Cloud etc. Otherwise bulk of your posts are at best distraction and at worst you disseminate plain wrong information and cause extra confusion.

"Sideloading" via Amazon's "Cloud" aka "Personal documents service" makes book treated as personal documents (PDOC tag is inserted) which precludes them from having some of the functionality that books bought on Amazon have. Goodreads integration (as in adding to shelf or updating reading status) is one of those things that PDOCs don't get. So the OP has to choose which is more important to him/her:
1) having sync of last page read between different devices (sending the book to cloud enables this) OR
2) Having the Goodreads stuff and sharing quotes etc on FB and Goodread by faking that the Calibre converted book is actually from Kindle Store (by editing the ASIN field to match Kindle Store edition of that same book)

@Scoobydoofus: I'm guessing that editing the "cdetype" (after downloading the PDOC from Cloud on your Kindle, and editing that file) from PDOC to EBOK Goodreads stuff wouldn't work correctly... you would probably? get the Share and "Mark as currently reading" buttons/links enabled because now the book is seen as ebook rather than PDOC, maybe even last-page-read sync would work because book contains Amazon generated ASIN that is associated with your account, but I'm 99% sure that you need real ASINs to be able to match the book to Goodreads, and your book has some random long-ass ASIN which is not linked to a book on Goodreads database.
But this is all only speculation on my side, I didn't do any testing

[eschwartz]

AFAIK it is impossible -- as shamanNS said, Amazon implemented the Goodreads functionality using the ASIN.
In fact, a number of features are enabled by using calibre-created ebooks with a special embedded ASIN... cover thumbnails, appearing as an EBOK (instead of PDOC), etc...

But all that precludes using Amazon's whispersync, available only through the Personal Documents service... which automatically undoes any and all other modifications you have done, and creates an unidentified PDOC.


It's all Amazon's fault -- it's like they want to subtly encourage you to buy the book from them.

[shamanNS]

I would really like to here Amazon's arguments for not using ISBN (or Goodreads IDs) for matching books on Goodreads...
Ok, for PDOC to = no X-ray, no sharing , no this, no that, BUT... you should at least be able to add a book with metadata containing correct ISBN to a Goodreads shelf and update % read. Not that I've ever kept my Kindles online in this 6 years of owning them I would still use Goodreads for Android app rather then built in solution on Kindle...

But yeah, real subtle encouraging :P

[eschwartz]

Agreed. ISBN would have been a much more sensible way to do it.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Agreed. ISBN would have been a much more sensible way to do it.

The problem is not all ebooks have ISBN. I think the big reason is one has to buy ISBNs.

[shamanNS]

@Cinisajoy: Well I would say that (new) book release not having ISBN is good indicator of its quality Otherwise missing metadata can be fixed easily. And ASIN could have been chosen as fallback for books missing ISBN value in metadata, not as only option for getting books linked/recognized on Goodreads.