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So I'm using calibre to load ebooks onto my Kindle Paperwhite and everything seems to be working just fine except when I try to use any of the Goodreads options on that book ("View on Goodreads" or "Add to Goodreads shelf") I get the error "There was a problem connecting to Goodreads." My Goodreads profile is hooked up and works for some other books just fine. I'm assuming there's something up with the way calibre is adding the metadata for that book but even after messing around with the ISBN data I still can't figure out what's wrong.

Any chance that anyone has worked through this issue already?

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  • I have done all as RachyC1985 said, but posting quotes function doesn't work. Now I can post reading progress to goodreads and see book on goodreads, but I can't post quotes. Any ideas?
    – Magog
    Commented Mar 9, 2016 at 13:58

4 Answers 4

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I have found the best way to get it 100 percent working is this:

  • If your book is not already in AZW3 format then convert it. (Has to be AZW3 and not just AZW.)
  • Secondly, highlight the book and edit metadata.
  • Once you are at that screen delete any other format that you have shown in the top right side leaving only AZW3.
  • Delete the tags by hitting the recycle icon next to the tags box and hit download metadata.
  • Once you have done that make sure the only tags you have are ISBN, Google, goodreads and amazon. You may not have all 4 but make sure that you do not have any mobi-asin tags.
  • Save and download the quality check plug in for calibre.
  • Highlight the book and click on the quality check icon at the top, look for 'fix' on the drop down menu and click 'fix asin for kindle fire'. Don't worry it will also work for paperwhite etc.
  • Delete any copy you already have on the device and resend.
  • For completeness I also go to the top of calibre and click device and update the cached metadata on device.
  • Eject device and you should be good to go! Full integration with goodreads as if you had purchased through Kindle store.😊
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    if you can't automatically find the ASIN number, go to Amazon and search by title. Then you can add ASIN:XXXXX in the metadata.
    – JoaquinG
    Commented Oct 27, 2015 at 16:56
  • This works very well. In Calibre, it's important to right-click > Send to device > Send specific format to > Main memory and then select AZW3. As you suggested, I tried sending mobi and it doesn't work.
    – AvidArcher
    Commented Nov 9, 2015 at 20:42
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    I can confirm that this also works for the latest versions of Paperwhite which have the Share button - I converted a MOBI to AZW3, added the ASIN, fixed the ASIN and re-copied to device. I can now share directly to Goodreads!
    – Shevek
    Commented May 21, 2016 at 11:16
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    Do You mean delete tags or ids ?
    – Michal Przybylowicz
    Commented Aug 27, 2017 at 13:48
  • Is this method still working? I tried it for One Up On Wall Street and it did not work.
    – rrrocky
    Commented Nov 24, 2018 at 7:31
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Get the Quality Check plugin for Calibre and then use it's "Fix -> Fix ASIN for Kindle Fire" feature. It expects that you have the Amazon ID in the book's metadata somewhere, which should be there if you download the metadata using Calibre. This inserts the ASIN and allows goodreads integration to work. I tested it myself.

One annoying thing is that it seems that if the Kindle notices that there's a mobi-asin field (which the above introduces in order to fix Goodreads integration), then it seems to download and use the cover art that Amazon has for that book, instead of the one you set in Calibre. I'm not sure if there's a way to circumvent that.

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Here is a simplified solution for you.

• Add your book to Calibre

• Convert it to .azw3

• Download metadata for the right version

• Make sure in the "ids" box you have the id from amazon.com (as shown in the picture) The "ids" box in Calibre

• If you don't have the amazon id, just go to amazon.com, search the Kindle version of your book, and copy the ASIN number, paste it into the "ids" box like this:

amazon:[ASIN number]

• Copy the .azw3 to the "documents" folder in your Kindle

You're now good to go.

You can use Quality Check to check it one more time to be sure.

Quality Check => Fix => Fix ASIN for Kindle Fire (work for other versions of Kindle).

Click "View log", and it should be something like this: "Amazon.com identifier found: [ASIN number]

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2

I face the same issue. My guess is that Amazon must be relying on ASIN for matching Kindle books with Goodreads.

We know we can sideload books (most of them illegal downloads) but from Amazon's perspective most users should be using only Kindle eBooks. Amazon can provide good integration for (legal) content with their platforms.

I haven't tried adding ASIN manually to any eBooks myself, if you try that and it works please share. :)

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  • I did try adding the ASINs via calibre (using an unofficial plug-in called "Goodreads") but it didn't quite seem to fix it. I'll give it another go and report back.
    – nt22
    Commented Jan 2, 2015 at 11:29
  • Perhaps if we could inspect an amazon ebook to see how it stores the ASIN, then we could figure out how to add it into sideloaded books, and probably even modify the goodreads calibre plugin to do this.
    – Jorge Israel Peña
    Commented Jun 28, 2015 at 5:29

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