HDX Sideloading Books Question

[anonmicky]

I'm trying to sideload non-Amazon books onto my HDX. Is there any way for the books to be on both the cloud tab and to have the covers displayed as well?

I tried emailing the books (shows up in Docs tab but, in list view, all have the generic covers) and transferring via USB (shows up in the Books tab but not in the cloud).

I want to have all my books in one place but am worried that having all the books on the device and not in the cloud will use up way too much space.

Thanks! (I'm to the kindle app where it seemed so much easier )

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by anonmicky

I'm trying to sideload non-Amazon books onto my HDX. Is there any way for the books to be on both the cloud tab and to have the covers displayed as well?

I tried emailing the books (shows up in Docs tab but, in list view, all have the generic covers) and transferring via USB (shows up in the Books tab but not in the cloud).

I want to have all my books in one place but am worried that having all the books on the device and not in the cloud will use up way too much space.

Thanks! (I'm to the kindle app where it seemed so much easier )

Your Personal Documents that are books which are email to the Cloud or Uploaded through Send to Kindle will not display a cover in the Documents tab. However you can get it to display a cover on the Carousel. You will need to use Calibre to and resize the covers to be huge! I am using 1066x1600 You will also need to email or Send To Kindle the book directly to the Fire or it wont generate a cover.

For sideloaded books you put those in the books folder they will also need a huge cover like 1066x1600 to show on the carousel. Sideloaded books wont show up on the cloud only Personal Documents do and they will only show in the Documents tab.

[Barbara1955]

You could put them on a Flash Drive, or a External HD. Cloud for free only holds 5 gig then your paying for storage.

[jayjayj625]

Blossom, I have resized my cover to be what you suggested and it still doesn't show up on my carousel (the book cover). Any idea why? I just have a cover with the title of the book

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by jayjayj625

Blossom, I have resized my cover to be what you suggested and it still doesn't show up on my carousel (the book cover). Any idea why? I just have a cover with the title of the book

If the book is public domain PM it to me and I will look at it and we will see if we can't figure out why it's not showing.

[jayjayj625]

Originally Posted by Blossom

If the book is public domain PM it to me and I will look at it and we will see if we can't figure out why it's not showing.

I don't believe it's public domain. There are books that I bought outside of the Amazon store. It's so weird that the cover doesn't show up on the carrousel but does under the book tab. I spoke to amazon about it and was basically told it's because it's not from amazon.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by jayjayj625

I don't believe it's public domain. There are books that I bought outside of the Amazon store. It's so weird that the cover doesn't show up on the carrousel but does under the book tab. I spoke to amazon about it and was basically told it's because it's not from amazon.

All my books are non Amazon books and the cover shows up fine however if the book is already on the Kindle Fire and you change the cover the new cover wont show up. You need to do a whole new conversion with the new cover then transfer it over for the new cover to show.

[jayjayj625]

Originally Posted by Blossom

All my books are non Amazon books and the cover shows up fine however if the book is already on the Kindle Fire and you change the cover the new cover wont show up. You need to do a whole new conversion with the new cover then transfer it over for the new cover to show.

I just got my HDX so I don't really have anything on it. I just keep testing with a book or two, trying different things, i.e your suggestion of deleting the conversion update the cover size then converting again and the same. I'll have to keep playing around I guess..!

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by jayjayj625

I just got my HDX so I don't really have anything on it. I just keep testing with a book or two, trying different things, i.e your suggestion of deleting the conversion update the cover size then converting again and the same. I'll have to keep playing around I guess..!

Make sure Calibre is actually adding the new cover. If you are converting to AZW3 you can explode it and make sure the right cover and size is in the book.

[jayjayj625]

Originally Posted by Blossom

Make sure Calibre is actually adding the new cover. If you are converting to AZW3 you can explode it and make sure the right cover and size is in the book.

I have a lot of books..so I'm far from done, BUT I got two to work last night. I actually just click the box to use the cover that comes with the file then resize it, delete [PDOC] from the mobi output then convert to mobi...then convert from mobi to mobi and I got it to work. Here's to hoping. Thank you for your suggestions and help!

[Scott Gara]

Been working on this for the last two days and i think i finally have it down to a science, although i can't say its not a pain...but worth it since i cannot stand seeing those generic covers on my sideloaded books.

If the book cover is 300X500 pixels or in that range, or if its too high (900x1200 or so), it just will not display on the carousel. it will display in the books list, or on the quick link tab when swiping up, but not on the carousel.

My resolution? google search book cover image, save a bigger file (900X1200 will work), open it in MS Paint and resize to 575X875 (or whatever paint automatically selects when you first type in 575 for width in pixels), and save file.

Go to Calibre, and edit the Metadata to use this new cover, and convert the file to AZW3. Make sure you are converting from MOBI, i attempted from PRC and this did not work. Then upload to the kindle. I use dropbox on both devices, so i resolve on desktop then move it to dropbox, export onto kindle with dropbox app on the kindle.

This will also help resolve the issue of your sideloaded books loading into the Docs tab instead of the Books tab. Hope this helps, drove myself batty until I resolved it and figured i would share.

[SeaBookGuy]

I found that in addition to providing a very large cover photo, it was essential to convert to mobi new output, deleting "pdoc"! Resulting books look spiffy on my Fire (carousel and all).

[cybmole]

new to this issue of gettign covers to show on the HDx 8.9 carousel.

i see from reading here & there that covers need to be in a certain size range, which explains why some of my tests work & some don't. but if calibre can't easily find a large cove, then having to manually resize images is a pain.
so.
1. has there been any discussion/ any request for an auto upscale coverfeature within calibre, so that the conversion or the output porcess forces the available cover to be within the expected dimensions range ?
2. is there a preference to tell amazon KF not to show the covers on the carousel at all, as that's neater than having missing ones!. I'd be happy to see books only within the books tab & not on the front screen, but it's a pain to have to manually remove each one

[GoSharks]

Originally Posted by cybmole

new to this issue of gettign covers to show on the HDx 8.9 carousel.

i see from reading here & there that covers need to be in a certain size range, which explains why some of my tests work & some don't. but if calibre can't easily find a large cove, then having to manually resize images is a pain.
so.
1. has there been any discussion/ any request for an auto upscale coverfeature within calibre, so that the conversion or the output porcess forces the available cover to be within the expected dimensions range ?....

Take a look at the Resize Cover plug-in for Calibre...here.

[cybmole]

Originally Posted by GoSharks

Take a look at the Resize Cover plug-in for Calibre...here.

thanks for that. I tried a default of resize to 600 x 900 & that seems to do the trick

any idea what dimensions amazon uses for its own books when it sends covers to 9.8 HDX ?