# Kindle book covers & Calibre



## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

I've been adding book covers to some of my non Amazon books/documents and changing them on some Amazon books using the edit metadata feature in Calibre. The new covers display OK in Calibre and when I send the book to my Kindle the .jpg file is being sent with it. But the original/default cover is the only one that shows up when I view the book on the Kindle. Is there any way to make the Kindle pick up the new pic as the cover?

On a slightly separate topic - is there a way to view photos on the Kindle other than ones that are part of a document?


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

My thought is that the cover in the book is part of the book file, just like the text, and cannot be changed.

I would also guess that the cover image is changed if you choose the title in the menu, then use the right-toggle.


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

pidgeon92 said:


> My thought is that the cover in the book is part of the book file, just like the text, and cannot be changed.
> 
> I would also guess that the cover image is changed if you choose the title in the menu, then use the right-toggle.


No, I tried that and it still displays the default cover - or in the case of docs that had no 'cover' before I gave them one, nothing.  I think you may be right about it being part of the book file, rather than an add-on. Oh well.


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

Oh, well... It was a good effort!


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## Selcien (Oct 31, 2008)

In order to get a custom cover to show up you have to convert the file as that process allows the cover you used to be integrated into the ebook (convert it to the same format). 

The problem that I've had is that while the cover does show up it only opens to the cover the first time I open the ebook, when it says "new", after that I had to page back in order to get to that cover. pidgeon92 said "My thought is that the cover in the book is part of the book file" which gave me an idea on how to fix that issue.

Now, before I get to that I'd like to point out that I use Sigil, a free ePub editor, I do not know of a free mobi editor, or how well it would work. So using this method would require you to convert the mobi file to epub, edit the file in Sigil, and then convert back to mobi.

The solution to that problem was quite simple, add a chapter break before the cover image. I've tested this with three ebooks, it results in there being two covers, with the second cover being the one it opens up to after the first time. Also, you can edit out the default cover in Sigil.


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## kcrady (Dec 17, 2009)

Sweet, it never occurred to me to convert a book to epub to edit then back to mobi!  Sometimes I run across annoying typos or formatting issues in an ebook and I've wished I could just fix them.  This will help, I've already downloaded Sigil.


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

Selcien said:


> In order to get a custom cover to show up you have to convert the file as that process allows the cover you used to be integrated into the ebook (convert it to the same format).
> 
> The problem that I've had is that while the cover does show up it only opens to the cover the first time I open the ebook, when it says "new", after that I had to page back in order to get to that cover. pidgeon92 said "My thought is that the cover in the book is part of the book file" which gave me an idea on how to fix that issue.
> 
> ...


That seems like a good work around, but possibly a little more effort than I have time for at present. Thanks for the idea though, I'll definitely bear it in mind.


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## charliehorse43 (Aug 29, 2010)

You can also go into structure detection and click on remove first image when you convert your book.


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