Confused with Author-Names and Author-Firstnames

[yp54]

Hello !

I use Calibre (great tool !) to export all my ebooks (epub) from my PC to my ereader.

On my Kobo, when selecting "My Books", then selecting "Authors", then specifying a sort by "name" , I get an (alphabetically) sorted list where all author-names are mixed with all author-firstnames (idem when specifying a sort by "firstname").
This is not satisfying, as I would expect to get a list of all authors sorted by their names.

I am using the last firmware on my ereader.
I have checked on Calibre (cf. the "Sort by Author" field in metadata) that all my ebooks have an author name structured as : "Name, Fistname".
I have checked the following on my ereader : selecting "My Books", then selecting "Books", then specifying a sort by "author", then I normally get a sorted (by author name) list of my ebooks (this is working as expected).

At this step, I don't know if I am facing a bug with the ereader firmware or if "something" should have to be done into Calibre before exporting, so that to avoid this issue on the ereader...

Thanks for helping !

[ZodWallop]

Identify one of the books on your Kobo that is not sorting as expected. Go to that same exact book in Calibre and click 'Edit Metadata' and see how the name appears in the 'Author Sort' field.

Then do the same process with a book that is sorting as expected on your Kobo.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by yp54

Hello !

I use Calibre (great tool !) to export all my ebooks (epub) from my PC to my ereader.

On my Kobo, when selecting "My Books", then selecting "Authors", then specifying a sort by "name" , I get an (alphabetically) sorted list where all author-names are mixed with all author-firstnames (idem when specifying a sort by "firstname").
This is not satisfying, as I would expect to get a list of all authors sorted by their names.

I am using the last firmware on my ereader.
I have checked on Calibre (cf. the "Sort by Author" field in metadata) that all my ebooks have an author name structured as : "Name, Fistname".
I have checked the following on my ereader : selecting "My Books", then selecting "Books", then specifying a sort by "author", then I normally get a sorted (by author name) list of my ebooks (this is working as expected).

At this step, I don't know if I am facing a bug with the ereader firmware or if "something" should have to be done into Calibre before exporting, so that to avoid this issue on the ereader...

Thanks for helping !

I'm wondering if you have an issue where your Kobo is seeing the lastname and firstname as two different authors using the comma as a separator. You might want to leave the Author field as firstname lastname and display the Author Sort instead in calibre.

I am also curious as to how you are doing a sort by first name on your Kobo, I don't think I've ever seen that as an option in the Sort options.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by yp54

Hello !

I use Calibre (great tool !) to export all my ebooks (epub) from my PC to my ereader.

On my Kobo, when selecting "My Books", then selecting "Authors", then specifying a sort by "name" , I get an (alphabetically) sorted list where all author-names are mixed with all author-firstnames (idem when specifying a sort by "firstname").
This is not satisfying, as I would expect to get a list of all authors sorted by their names.

I am using the last firmware on my ereader.
I have checked on Calibre (cf. the "Sort by Author" field in metadata) that all my ebooks have an author name structured as : "Name, Fistname".
I have checked the following on my ereader : selecting "My Books", then selecting "Books", then specifying a sort by "author", then I normally get a sorted (by author name) list of my ebooks (this is working as expected).

At this step, I don't know if I am facing a bug with the ereader firmware or if "something" should have to be done into Calibre before exporting, so that to avoid this issue on the ereader...

With all the people reporting bugs, it is always good to hear when people report that software is working as designed. As, that is what is happening.

You are sending the author to the device in the format "LN, FN". Kobo uses the comma as a separator between multiple authors. Hence, Kobo is seeing two authors, "LN" and "FN". And everything works from that. Kobo does not use what is in calibre's author sort field. It only uses the value from the first dc:creator tag in the OPF.

If you are sending this from calibre, either you are setting the author field in the format "LN, FN", or you have a metadata plugboard that set the author to the author sort when the book is sent to the device. If it is the latter, then I recommend that you remove the plugboard and replace it with one that sets the author to:

program: raw_list('authors', ', ')

That lets the device handle the authors properly.

If you have changed the author to "LN, FN", then you will need to undo that or somehow get the author to the the device as "FN LN" or "FN1 LN1, FN2 LN2" for multiple authors.

[yp54]

Thanks davidfor ! Now, I have understood the reason why I got this results on my Kobo.

I guess that Kobo is using the "blank" shown between "LN" and "FN" as a separator to build its own LN and FN fields (since both sorting capabilities, by FN and by LN, are shown on Kobo).

I confirm that I am sending this from calibre and that I have both "author" and "sort author" fields set to "LN, FN" in calibre.
I use the KoboTouch (2.5.1) plugin in Calibre.

As a remediation plan, I understand that I should have to do both 2 actions into calibre :
1) Change the "author" field into "LN FN" (or "LN1 FN1, LN2 FN2,..." for multiple authors), as I wish to get authors sorted on their LN on my Kobo ; while keeping the "sort author" field as it is (as I wish to have authors sorted as so, for my own usage of calibre)
2) Add some code "somewhere" in calibre : unfortunately, as I am not an expert with calibre, I don't know if that Kobo plugin (or "something else" in calibre) is using such a plugboard. Therefore I don't know how to add the code you have kindly provided into calibre.

Could you please further help with that last issue ?

[yp54]

Hi DNSB,
If you have the same ereader (last firmware) as me, follow exactly the way I have described :
selecting "My Books", then selecting "Authors", then specifying a sort by "firstname"
and you will get it !

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by yp54

Hi DNSB,
If you have the same ereader (last firmware) as me, follow exactly the way I have described :
selecting "My Books", then selecting "Authors", then specifying a sort by "firstname" and you will get it !

Sorry I misunderstood you. I thought you were seeing that under the Books tab not the Authors tab.