diff --git a/src/calibre/library/cli.py b/src/calibre/library/cli.py
index da1b1e27c6..d5def1a364 100644
--- a/src/calibre/library/cli.py
+++ b/src/calibre/library/cli.py
@@ -233,7 +233,7 @@ def do_add(db, paths, one_book_per_directory, recurse, add_duplicates, otitle,
             if not mi.authors:
                 mi.authors = [_('Unknown')]
             for x in ('title', 'authors', 'isbn', 'tags', 'series'):
-                val = locals()[x]
+                val = locals()['o'+x]
                 if val: setattr(mi, x[1:], val)
             if oseries:
                 mi.series_index = oseries_index
@@ -356,7 +356,7 @@ def command_add(args, dbpath):
         print >>sys.stderr, _('You must specify at least one file to add')
         return 1
     do_add(get_db(dbpath, opts), args[1:], opts.one_book_per_directory,
-            opts.recurse, opts.duplicates, opts.title, opts.author, opts.isbn,
+            opts.recurse, opts.duplicates, opts.title, opts.authors, opts.isbn,
             tags, opts.series, opts.series_index)
     return 0