# question about Smashwords books



## phantomsmom (Jul 22, 2009)

I hope this is in the right forum...

I have downloaded several books from Smashwords - usually freebies - and have discovered some very good reads!  I have a question about the book titles and how to get them to show up correctly on my Kindle.

When I download them onto my computer (Macintosh), the file name is usually something close to the title of the book (such as "don't-blink.mobi" for example, but when I drag it onto my Kindle I get a large file name in the Table of Contents such as "temp df7cfb19917633e2016b012...".  Hard to tell what book is what!!!

I have tried changing the file name on the computer before I transfer it to my Kindle, but I still get the same long numeric file number.  Can anyone help?  

Thanks all -

Jeri in PA


----------



## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I think you're going to need to use 3rd party software to edit metadata.  Calibre and Mobipocket Creator are two that are popular with folks here.  I've noticed the same thing once or twice and it's really annoying. . . . .thankfully, I haven't actually paid for a title that had that problem yet, as it's only happened on titles I had a coupon for and got free.  I also didn't want to go to the trouble of fixing it, as I think it shouldn't be broken in the first place, so I just deleted the file.  If I had actually paid for the book I'd for sure be posting feedback at Smashwords about it.


----------



## phantomsmom (Jul 22, 2009)

Ann - thanks for your reply - that's what I figured.  I'm not sure it's really worth my trouble - I think I'll rename the files on my computer so I know what's what and then download them one at a time when I want to read them!

I haven't paid for anything on Smashbooks - all freebies.  Some have been very good, some a little bit awful, but worth taking a chance on!

Thanks again -

Jeri


----------



## nomesque (Apr 12, 2010)

So, am I understanding correctly - the metadata on Smashwords mobi-formatted ebooks is generally dodgy? If so - EEK!


----------



## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

nomesque said:


> So, am I understanding correctly - the metadata on Smashwords mobi-formatted ebooks is generally dodgy? If so - EEK!


Not 'generally dodgy', no. . . .but now and again you'll download a file, and the file name will be perfectly clear on your computer. But when you load it onto the Kindle the title is just a string of numbers instead of the title of the book, or even the name of the file.


----------



## nomesque (Apr 12, 2010)

Ann in Arlington said:


> Not 'generally dodgy', no. . . .but now and again you'll download a file, and the file name will be perfectly clear on your computer. But when you load it onto the Kindle the title is just a string of numbers instead of the title of the book, or even the name of the file.


Ahh, OK.

I daresay most authors, and definitely Smashwords, would want to know if their ebook metadata is incorrect. I know I'd want to be informed.


----------



## Merlilu (Feb 23, 2010)

My experience is that most of the downloads I've gotten from Smashwords (all freebies) have the "tmp....." titles when loaded onto my Kindle.  I was wondering the same thing - how do I get an actual title.


----------



## lovesangelrn (Dec 28, 2009)

I've downloaded several free books from smashwords and used Calibre to tweak the metadata info to my liking, and then used Calibre to send the books to my kindle.  The titles show up fine using this method, and I found Calibre fairly simple to use (I did watch the video on the website to get me started).  I honestly don't know what the title would have looked like without Calibre, since this is the first and only method I've used.  But if you are having trouble with the book name on the kindle, I'd give this method a try and see how you like it.  (it is a free program after all)


----------



## Joe Chiappetta (May 20, 2010)

Yeah, this is really too bad. I have a number of books published at Smashwords and would hate to have someone have a problem with their eBooks. I hope they can fix this soon.


----------



## tomt47 (May 27, 2010)

I have had this problem also with books from Baen. I also use calibre to fix the metadata to get the title to display correctly on my kindle


----------



## Joe Chiappetta (May 20, 2010)

I bet in five years (maybe less) we will look back on how disjointed all the eBook file systems were and be like, "How did we ever manage?"


----------



## jesscscott (Aug 5, 2009)

I specified the title, author name etc via the properties option on MS Word.

_File-->Properties_

I think it helps, to some extent.


----------



## nomesque (Apr 12, 2010)

jesscscott said:


> I specified the title, author name etc via the properties option on MS Word.
> 
> _File-->Properties_
> 
> I think it helps, to some extent.


Huh. Now that is a beautifully simple step that NEVER occurred to me


----------



## A_J_Lath (Jun 6, 2010)

jesscscott said:


> I specified the title, author name etc via the properties option on MS Word.
> 
> _File-->Properties_
> 
> I think it helps, to some extent.


I presume you do this to the .doc file of your book before submitting it to Smashwords, yes?
(thinking I might have resubmit an edit because of this...)


----------

