diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/opf2.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/opf2.py
index e429574e57..2f61b5b8fe 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/opf2.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/opf2.py
@@ -669,10 +669,19 @@ class OPF(object):
             remove = list(self.authors_path(self.metadata))
             for elem in remove:
                 elem.getparent().remove(elem)
+            elems = []
             for author in val:
                 attrib = {'{%s}role'%self.NAMESPACES['opf']: 'aut'}
                 elem = self.create_metadata_element('creator', attrib=attrib)
                 self.set_text(elem, author.strip())
+                # Ensure new author element is at the top of the list
+                # for broken implementations that always use the first
+                # <dc:creator> element with no attention to the role
+                elems.append(elem)
+            for elem in reversed(elems):
+                parent = elem.getparent()
+                parent.remove(elem)
+                parent.insert(0, elem)
 
         return property(fget=fget, fset=fset)