Best way to manage collections

[jbcohen]

Personally I think the issue of collections is a matter of reading strategy. I do not use collections, have had no need for the technology, however I can see why people would want them and make use of them. As a consequence I have not really had any need to learn about the technology and don't know much. Personally I do not put a book onto my paperwhite until ready to read it, if I am not ready for it, its till in the KU library and I know where it is and can go get it when the time is right for it. I can understand that some individuals might want to have the whole series available to them at one time so that they can move on when the time comes no matter where they are, no matter what they are doing at the time, the one flaw in my plans.

I typically recommend that people create create collections around book series or authors. Create a collection with the name of the author and put his/her books into that collection. However I understand that there are a million ways to, as they say in computer programing "to skin a cat." There is no right way and no wrong way, just what works best for you. My method does have the problem that once I finish book one of a series I need to wait until I get home before starting book two, I get that, so if you have the whole series in a collection there is no waiting.

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Because my books are sorted by author I can jump directly to any author from the home screen by typing in the initial letter(s) of the author's name.

I was wondering how you managed that. I didn't want results from the cloud showing, only what was on device. Searching as you suggested was bringing up all kinds of things I didn't want to see.

So I enabled parental controls and disabled the cloud. Now it only shows search results for items on the device! Much more satisfactory.

Is that how you have your Voyage set up, Harry?

[Mickey330]

I usually have three collections on my Kindle: "Move to Calibre," "Currently Reading" and "To Read."

I manage all my books via Calibre, so the only books I have on my Kindle at any given time are the ones I've not read. So, they are in the "To Read" folder. I select from that folder in alphabetical order as they are ones I get as freebies. Right now, this folder has 105 items in it.

My "Currently Reading" folder are those I've purchased (and so must read right away...haha) or the next batch from the "To Read" folder. That one has 14 items in it right now, though I usually try to keep it at 6 or below. Not that I read these books at the same time - they are just the ones I want to read a bit more than the random freebies. This folder always contains the books I've deliberately purchased, so it gets empty pretty fast.

The "Move to Calibre" folder contains all the books I've read on the device (books that come from the other two folders). Every month or so, or when I get a large (>25) in there, I sit down at my PC to update Calibre with these books (I download from the store and put the books into Calibre, cataloging as I go). As I catalog the books in Calibre, I empty the folder.

Occasionally, I'll get the urge to re-read books or a series. If it's a single book, it'll go into "currently Reading." If it's a series, I'll download the whole thing so I can get the next book right away. For example, I'm re-reading the Dresden Files series, so there's a collection for that. When in this situation, the books get removed from the Kindle when I'm done with them (as they're already catalogued in Calibre).

I know, w-a-y more info from someone obscure. But, that's how I do it.

Marilyn

[Atunah]

I love how we all have such different ways in sorting, or not sorting our books.

I don't keep all my books on my Voyage either, but I still have them all in collections. I change to cloud view to see them. I keep about 50 or so on my device that are books I am planning on reading in the near future.
But I must have every single book I own sorted in collections. Once in a while I browse through my collections and when I see something I might move to my reading next pile, I can easily do so.
I also browse through the calibre library or my goodreads shelf to do the same thing. I need more time to read all the books I keep organizing.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by odamizu

The big deal, my dear eschwartz, is apparently I am too dense to have thought of this on my own! Thanks!

You're welcome.

Some people are paranoid Amazon is spying on them, and don't want to connect to Amazon's servers. Other people see no need for an Amazon account when they don't buy books there. Personally I don't understand either opinion but there are always workarounds.

By editing, do you mean you can't add, rename or delete collections -- or you can't do anything at all to them, including adding and deleting books?

All I really want is to create one "currently reading" collection and be able to add and delete to/from that.

Correct -- you wouldn't even be able to add and delete books from existing collections.

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Some people are paranoid Amazon is spying on them, and don't want to connect to Amazon's servers.

Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean Amazon isn't spying on me

Going back to the OP's question, I used to put all my books in various collections (mostly by author and series), but then I got tired of managing collections and found I could find my books just as easily via author sort or search, so I stopped.

But lately I've been wanting to have a collection of "currently reading" so if I open or download a bunch of new books, I can go back to what I was reading without having to search and dig.

Everyone is different, though, and there's no one best way to do collections.

[R o d]

Originally Posted by odamizu

Going back to the OP's question, I used to put all my books in various collections (mostly by author and series), but then I got tired of managing collections and found I could find my books just as easily via author sort or search, so I stopped.

But to do that you need to know what's in your library, either by author name or title, right? I'm worried I might forget about a book I have if I don't create a collection to keep track of it.

I also like Mickey330's idea of using Calibre (which I'm also very new to) to keep track. And I use Goodreads as well, so maybe I'm better off than I thought.

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by R o d

But to do that you need to know what's in your library, either by author name or title, right? I'm worried I might forget about a book I have if I don't create a collection to keep track of it.

I also like Mickey330's idea ...

Ah yes, I see your point. You do need to know the author or title to search the way I do. I also like Micky330's approach and do something similar by editing metadata (not something I would recommend to anyone; it's just the way my quirky brain works).

In general, I divide my books into the following categories: 1) top of my reading list, priority to read, 2) other unread books to read at some point, 3) favorite books that I've already read and might read again, and 4) books I've read and will not likely read again. The latter are deleted from my ereaders and archived on my computer.

[1Bookworm]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

OTOH, you can easily create a dummy account so what's the big deal?
Also, collections are kept after you deregister (though you cannot edit them), and deleted+refreshed when you re-register.

Hi eschwartz

I brought a cheap kindle at a car boot sale on the weekend that I want to give to my 10 yr niece. I have registered it under my name to check that it wasn't a stolen/loss kindle but since I don't want her to access my account I will de-register it before giving it to her. I can buy books for her and transfer it via calibre if necessary.

I like your suggestion of setting up a dummy account - will I need a credit card for that? Or can anyone else think of a way I can do collections, change fonts without registering the kindle and without jailbreak?

My computer skills are basic so I didn't understand how to use calibre to set up collections (however if this is the only option I'm sure her father can work it out)


Thank you.

[eschwartz]

You will not need a credit card to create an account.

You don't ever need one, you can use any method of payment, e.g. gift cards... but even that is only necessary if you wish to make purchases. (Even free books require a valid payment method to buy.)

[1Bookworm]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

You will not need a credit card to create an account.

You don't ever need one, you can use any method of payment, e.g. gift cards... but even that is only necessary if you wish to make purchases. (Even free books require a valid payment method to buy.)

thank you eschwartz - that's great news.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by booklover6

I was wondering how you managed that. I didn't want results from the cloud showing, only what was on device. Searching as you suggested was bringing up all kinds of things I didn't want to see.

So I enabled parental controls and disabled the cloud. Now it only shows search results for items on the device! Much more satisfactory.

Is that how you have your Voyage set up, Harry?

No, I think you misunderstand me. I'm not talking about doing a search, but about jumping directly to a point in the list of authors, by tapping the page indicator at the lower right of the home screen and then entering a string into the text box. Eg "CHR" to jump to my Agatha Christie books.

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by HarryT

No, I think you misunderstand me. I'm not talking about doing a search, but about jumping directly to a point in the list of authors, by tapping the page indicator at the lower right of the home screen and then entering a string into the text box. Eg "CHR" to jump to my Agatha Christie books.

Oh, thank you for the clarification. I hadn't even realized that could be done!

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by booklover6

Oh, thank you for the clarification. I hadn't even realized that could be done!

It's been there since the far-off days of the Kindle Touch!

If you have the home screen sorted by author, you can jump to a point in the list of authors (eg "B" will take you to the first author starting with "B"); if you have the home screen sorted by title, you can jump to a point in the list of titles (eg "D" will take you to the first title starting with "D").

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by AngelDan

So I found several points that I dislike and waiting for the developer's fixing. (Can't manage collections for Kindle voyage, I feel disappointed so much).

The developer can't "fix" this. External collection management is impossible on any non-jail-broken Kindle running firmware 5.6.x (as the Voyage and new PW2 does). Has the developer claimed that this can be changed? If so, he's talking nonsense.