Reliable place to get publisher info

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Wiggo

I hope I haven't misunderstood anything, but why not use the rules for the metadata source - also works with Regex?
Attachment 207741

For thousands of publishers? I'd spend months creating the rules. Besides, I don't download metadata at all, as I'd have to edit most of it manually anyway. So I fill in my metadata manually from the beginning, less work for me. I'm very fussy about my metadata and no metadata source gives it to me like I want it to be.

[Wiggo]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

For thousands of publishers? I'd spend months creating the rules. Besides, I don't download metadata at all, as I'd have to edit most of it manually anyway. So I fill in my metadata manually from the beginning, less work for me. I'm very fussy about my metadata and no metadata source gives it to me like I want it to be.

Sorry Sirtel, you are exaggerating. Of course, you only create a rule if there are inconsistencies - in my case not two dozen.

And downloading metadata or not - suum cuique

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Wiggo

Sorry Sirtel, but that's nonsense. Of course, you only create a rule if there are inconsistencies - in my case not two dozen.

And downloading metadata or not - suum cuique

There are a thousand or more inconsistencies in my case. Basically every commercial publisher has several different variations of their name. Even some small publishers have them, and even self-published authors have different versions of their own name often enough.

And as I said, I don't actually download metadata, so I have nothing to create rules for.

[Wiggo]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

There are a thousand or more inconsistencies in my case. Basically every commercial publisher has several different variations of their name. Even some small publishers have them, and even self-published authors have different versions of their own name often enough.

One smart rule covers it all

And as I said, I don't actually download metadata, so I have nothing to create rules for.

But the OP maybe....

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Wiggo

One smart rule covers it all

No, it doesn't. Often enough the company has changed their name more than once (Tom Doherty Associations vs Tor, for example). The publisher info may list an imprint name instead of the actual company name; imprints get sold, renamed, dissolved and so on. It's a total mess.

Maybe the German publisher names have more order to them. The UK and US ones are chaos.

[Wiggo]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

No, it doesn't. Often enough the company has changed their name more than once (Tom Doherty Associations vs Tor, for example). The publisher info may list an imprint name instead of the actual company name; imprints get sold, renamed, dissolved and so on. It's a total mess.

Maybe the German publisher names have more order to them. The UK and US ones are chaos.

Changing names doesn't matter.

To stick with your example, Tom Doherty remains Tom Doherty and Tor remains Tor. These are the publishers under which it was published, the same for Imprints. A book that was published under publisher XY doesn't change just because the publisher was bought by AB decades later.

What's on the cover counts (more or less ) - at least for me

[Vanguard3000]

Originally Posted by Wiggo

I hope I haven't misunderstood anything, but why not use the rules for the metadata source - also works with Regex?
Attachment 207741

Thanks for the suggestion, but for all the inconsistencies I'm finding it seems like it would be easier and more reliable to just vet and fix them ad hoc.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I have about 7000 publishers for close to 40,000 books. Many of those are actually the same publisher with different versions of their name.

Have you tried the Find Duplicates' metadata variations? That might help a bit.

[Wiggo]

Originally Posted by Vanguard3000

Thanks for the suggestion, but for all the inconsistencies I'm finding it seems like it would be easier and more reliable to just vet and fix them ad hoc.

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink.

As I said, smart rules rule! Ask the Regex pros for help - your Simon & Schuster example can be done with one rule - but to each his own

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

There are a thousand or more inconsistencies in my case. Basically every commercial publisher has several different variations of their name. Even some small publishers have them, and even self-published authors have different versions of their own name often enough.

And as I said, I don't actually download metadata, so I have nothing to create rules for.

+1 and +1
Baen does this all the time (although I don't think I have seen them use S&S there).

Authors (at least for all publishers in my Library):
Middle initial With or without a period Or even the initial
Robert Heinlein, Robert A Heinlein,Robert A. Heinlein (I don't remember seeing his full middle name on a cover)

Christopher Nuttall has the variations of middle initial frequently.
I chose:
Christopher G. Nuttall as MY standard as it was most frequent at the time.

:bulb2; Quality check Plugin has tools in the FIX section to help standardize

OTOH
There are deliberate Author name variations for some who choose to write in different genres. ( Initials in one, Middle name (only) Last, In another. Those I do not Mix.

Then there is the real PITA , 2 Authors with the same name... (I am waiting for one of them to get with another to write, just to really tick me off )
Variations are why I don't Automate fully.

I would love to have a way to mark 'those problem kids' (in Manage...?): Human help needed NOW, and have Calibre stop the Add / non-interactive metadata update) and have it wait for user to resolve, rather than proceeding where they need to be discovered later.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by theducks

Then there is the real PITA , 2 Authors with the same name... (I am waiting for one of them to get with another to write, just to really tick me off )
Variations are why I don't Automate fully.

Series with the same name, too.

[Wiggo]

Originally Posted by theducks

+1 and +1
Baen does this all the time (although I don't think I have seen them use S&S there).

Authors (at least for all publishers in my Library):
Middle initial With or without a period Or even the initial
Robert Heinlein, Robert A Heinlein,Robert A. Heinlein (I don't remember seeing his full middle name on a cover)

Christopher Nuttall has the variations of middle initial frequently.
I chose:
Christopher G. Nuttall as MY standard as it was most frequent at the time.

:bulb2; Quality check Plugin has tools in the FIX section to help standardize

OTOH
There are deliberate Author name variations for some who choose to write in different genres. ( Initials in one, Middle name (only) Last, In another. Those I do not Mix.

Then there is the real PITA , 2 Authors with the same name... (I am waiting for one of them to get with another to write, just to really tick me off )
Variations are why I don't Automate fully.

I would love to have a way to mark 'those problem kids' (in Manage...?): Human help needed NOW, and have Calibre stop the Add / non-interactive metadata update) and have it wait for user to resolve, rather than proceeding where they need to be discovered later.

I don’t understand your issues here, that’s what aliases are for.

Maybe we should vote for an unique ID, to track down every single author.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Have you tried the Find Duplicates' metadata variations? That might help a bit.

Eh no. I just gave up on the publishers. I leave them as they are. It's not that important an issue for me. Now authors, those I always fix - an author name must be consistent. But I leave aliases alone, because I don't always know they are aliases anyway.

Series names I also fix to be consistent. Series with the same name are a pain, yes, but I usually don't change them for this reason only.

I do use the Find Duplicates plugin for some things - just not for publishers.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Have you tried the Find Duplicates' metadata variations? That might help a bit.

That is a good idea.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Wiggo

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink.

As I said, smart rules rule! Ask the Regex pros for help - your Simon & Schuster example can be done with one rule - but to each his own

Personally I do use rules, but for other things - column icons and coloring, mostly.