share Calibre tips and templates and such

[dailyalice]

I've found this community incredibly helpful. I've been using Calibre for a while and with the FanFictionDownload plug-in it's really become an incredible tool for downloading and organizing fanfic. Love it. I read fic on Kindle 2 (my favorite Kindle of them all), Nook SimpleTouch Glow, and iPad as well as sometimes in Firefox on my laptop. I

Comments

[littleisle]

I don't have such variety in fanfictions that I read, but I'll try sharing my own organization of fanfics in calibre, hoping that in a way it might help you.

Well, it's not that complicated, but I organize mine according to pairing. The three main pairings that I have are: from Harry Potter, Snape/Harry, Snape/Lupin, and Flint/Wood. From Grimm, I have Nick/Monroe.

After appropriately tagging these, I customized individual covers for the group of pairings (i.e. one for Snape-Potter, another for Snape-Lupin etc...) in something as simple as Paint. I do this by placing the pairing's name atop a picture of the pairing

(i.e. Snupin

[PICTURE])

and then add them as covers. That way, as I'm flipping through my library, I can pinpoint which pairings are which.

Also, I have a Kobo, and it has a bookshelf function that aids me in organizing my fanfictions.

Obviously my system's not perfect, so I'll check here from time to time to see if there's another preferred method.

Hope this helps and good luck!

[valiha]

When you say custom style sheets, do you mean the files that tell the the book how to look (i.e. what font, spacing, margins etc.) or do you mean something else? Because as soon as you mentioned style sheets and then custom columns, my brain did a Bzuh what? because I thought, how are those two even related? Are there style sheets (CSS) for custom columns? I am very confused.

[dailyalice]

Separate things, just listing a bunch of stuff in Calibre that I haven't messed with. Can't imagine style sheets for columns, thank goodness!

[valiha]

Oh good, because that one stumped me!

I have a weird relationship with calibre. It bothers me immensely that it duplicates things and puts them into so many subfolders, but OK, after talking it over with some more knowledgeable users, I see the reasoning behind it. it still doesn't mean I have to like it. As a result, I have uninstalled and reinstalled the program numerous times. I am now working on discovering the best file naming template for my use, and the best way to organize my fics. Since I've been collecting fics from various fandoms for 10 years, and my files range from simple txt through html to epub, my collection is a mess right now. I can only handle calibre in small doses so I don't become unbearable to myself and people online when I go searching for answers. :)

Your idea of sharing tips and templates is an excellent one, especially if I delete the whole thing in a fit of pique again.

[the_other_sandy]

I have a few plugins that I use, one counts words,

Where do I find that and how does it work? Do I need to add a custom column for word counts, or does the plugin do that, or does the word count display some other way?

[the_other_sandy]

Thanks!

[amothea]

I use a custom stylesheet. Here is the code:

output_css:
body { background-color: #%(background_color)s;
text-align: justify;
margin: 1%%; }
p {margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt; text-indent: 15pt; font-size: 1.29167em; text-align: justify;}
h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 { text-align: center; padding-bottom: 10pt;}

.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center {text-align: center;}
.cover {text-align: center;}
.full {width: 100%%; }
.quarter {width: 25%%; }
.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold {font-weight: bold;}

-----

I also use custom columns for pairings, word count, rating, warnings, and etc...it's very helpful. I also use Count Pages.

My favorite feature of fanfiction downloader plugin is that it has a custom column settings. Now when I download the characters, warnings, word count, and status of story fill in automatically.

[ultimate_cin]

How do you get the fanfiction plug-in? Thanks, I'm new to all this. :)