# eBook Server Workflow Created On: 08-01-2025 04:15 pm Up:: [[Personal Media (MOC)]] Tags:: #note/evergreen🌲 Topics:: Related:: --- This document describes the process for how I manage eBook content on my server. This workflow traverses various tools, with the outcome being books synced to my Kobo. 1. **Download a book torrent from [MyAnonamouse](https://www.myanonamouse.net/)** (MAM) 1. This is a private torrent tracker for ebooks and Audiobooks. 2. Basically, search the site and download a `.torrent` file. 2. **Upload torrent file to [qBittorrent](https://qbt.foxnas.net)** 1. Upload using the “+” icon 2. Select the torrent file 3. Ensure you set the category to `books` 1. This automatically places it in a specific directory for book content 4. It should download pretty fast; book files are typically pretty small 3. **Add the book to [calibre](https://calibre.foxnas.net/)** 1. Click “Add Book” 2. Select the `.epub` file and open it 1. Other formats are acceptable, but will require conversion to `.epub` 3. This will process and then the book will show in the library view 4. **Set and polish metadata in [calibre](https://calibre.foxnas.net/)** 1. Even though MAM is an incredible site of high quality torrents, metadata quality of the books themselves is often subpar. Therefore, we need to update them. 2. Select a book and click “Edit Metadata” in the top toolbar. This brings you to the edit view for that individual book. 3. Click “Download Metadata” 1. Sometimes, the ISBNs will be too specific and you’ll get an error / won’t receive any results. If this happens, back out to the metadata view, remove the ISBN value, and then click “Download Metadata” 2. Select the best option, which is typically a combination of: accurate title, same publisher (least important though), and good description. 3. Sometimes, books will automatically fetch better covers, but oftentimes not. We’ll tackle this in the next section. 4. After you’ve set the metadata, make sure the title, author, and series are still correct. Here are some examples of common issues to look out for: 1. Author name isn’t consistent across other books in my library. This messes up how books are grouped by author on both calibre-web and the kobo. 2. Series name isn’t consistent across books in a series 3. Title has superfluous information, like “A Novel” 4. Ensure the sort order vs display values are correct; you should see a green check if they are, red if not. 5. *If* you’re unsatisfied with the cover: 1. Go to Google and search for `[book name] cover` 2. Find one you like and use “save image as” to save it to your PC downloads folder 1. Sometimes, files will be `.webp`s and those *won’t* work. You can use a converter like [this](https://cloudconvert.com/webp-to-jpg) one. 2. Otherwise, `.png`s and `.jpg`s are preferred 3. I save these as snake case, `catcher-in-the-rye.png` 4. Go to my [Synology server interface](http://foxnas-v2.local) and drag and drop this file to the `_Book Covers` folder, which you’ll find a shortcut to on the Synology desktop. 5. Go back to the edit book view in Calibre and click “browse cover” and you should see the file name that you just added. Click it and you’re done. 6. If you need to trim it, like to remove a white border from the cover, you can use the “Automatically trim” cover feature in the edit book view. 6. Once you feel confident about the quality of the metadata, we’ll write it to the `.epub` directly with Calibre’s “Polish” functionality. 1. The default configuration should be set, so just hit “Ok” 2. This will run as a job and a pop up will appear when it’s finished. 3. This ensures that the metadata and cover are truly embedded in the file, making it portable and consistent. 5. **Effectively, this is a general stopping point**. However there are some corner cases to consider with Calibre-web. 1. To make books only show up for [[Chloe]], using the Calibre edit book view, add the `Chloe` tag to the list of tags on the book. 2. You can do the same for [[Lola]], just add the `Lola` tag.