Your book’s metadata is more than just the details you upload to IngramSpark or KDP, or the codes librarians and book sellers use to place or find your book. Metadata is also the key to your book being discovered by readers organically.
Why? Because readers are looking for books within the genres they like, or books with themes and other attributes that appeal to them. This is where descriptive metadata comes in. This aspect of metadata means the difference between readers finding your book when searching online and it getting lost in the fray.
Though it may seem that in a world of increasing competition, regular changes by Amazon, and evolving search algorithms, your book doesn’t stand a chance at being seen without paying for ads. But, fortunately, this is not true. If you have strong and precise metadata behind your book, and you know your audience, all is not lost.
Unfortunately, many new self-published authors aren’t aware of the importance of getting their book’s metadata right. When they upload their book to Ingram or KDP and get confronted with all those boxes they need to fill, they may be flailing. This is why it’s best to know what metadata you’ll need to provide beforehand so you can have it dialed in and ready to use.
We’ll cover all you need to know about book metadata below, so you can use it as your guide to getting it right.
Okay, So What is Metadata in Relation to Books and Book Publishing?
Metadata is the information that refers to and describes other data. That other data, in this case, is your book. A book’s metadata includes everything from the codes and information librarians and booksellers use to other book details such as the description, the title, and even the author name and bio.
There is technical metadata, core metadata and descriptive metadata and they are all equally important to get right. Think of technical and core metadata as the information you used to (and still can) find in a library index to locate a specific book. Book sellers and librarians still use this metadata to place and/or locate books. But the descriptive metadata is there to help readers find your book when they don’t already know it exists. It allows them to discover it organically.
Get this, a book’s metadata is so important that publishing houses have whole teams focused on getting it right. But self-published authors need to figure it out themselves, or hire helpful experts. So, let’s talk metadata types.
Your Book’s Core Metadata
The core metadata of your book doesn’t take research or special knowledge to get right. It is all the stuff that’s included on your book cover or your title page. Of course, it’s essential that there are no typos and it’s consistent across every format of your book, and wherever else it needs to be input. It should also be updated if anything changes during the publishing process.
Your book’s core metadata is all of the following:
- Full title, including subtitles if applicable
- Your author name and bio
- The International Standard Book Number (ISBN)
- Publisher or imprint name
- The publication date
Note, this is not all that should be included on your cover or title page, but this is what is considered the metadata. You can read more about your book’s interior pages here.
What’s Included in Your Book’s Technical Metadata
Your book’s technical metadata is part of the important information you need to add when uploading your correctly formatted manuscript to distributors such as KDP and Ingram. It is essential to get this right or you could run into big issues due to these technical errors.
We recommend you have a master copy of ALL your book’s metadata to ensure accuracy and consistency across platforms.
Technical metadata includes:
- The trim size of your book
- Pricing for specific format (this is the human readable price, not the price code)
- The page count (this is ALL pages, not just numbered and book content pages)
- Format: eBook, paperback, hardback
Here’s What Descriptive Metadata Entails
A book’s descriptive metadata is used for marketing, placement and discoverability. This is the stuff that really matters for reaching readers organically! Getting this right takes some research. You will need to firmly understand where your book fits, its themes, genre and subgenre, and you will need to know your audience. You’ll upload this metadata with your technical and core metadata but it’s also used on your cover, and other platforms, for marketing purposes.
- Your book’s cover image (high quality, high-resolution)
- Book Industry Standards and Communication (BISAC) codes and other category codes
- Quotes and snippets from reviews
- Keywords (terms users would search to find your book)
- Book descriptions (for both cover and marketing)
Because the descriptive portion of your book’s metadata is so integral to its discoverability we’d like to cover some tips on getting it right.
The Descriptive Portion of Your Book’s Metadata Markets Your Book and Helps Readers Find It!
The descriptive portion of your book’s metadata is crucial to get right. And that will take more than inputting correct and accurate core and technical metadata. It will take some research and creative effort.
Your Book Cover Image
Your book cover itself will need to be up to professional standards and the image you use will need to be high-quality, and high resolution. You may need some help with this. You can read about professional book cover standards here.
BISAC Codes
Your BISAC codes and other category codes (Amazon uses its own category system) need to be as specific as possible. And they need to be accurate. You can read all about BISAC codes here to get a clearer idea of what we mean.
Review Quotes
The best and most relevant snippets and quotes from reviews should be used in your book marketing descriptions across all your author platforms (your website, Amazon, one-sheets, etc.). They can also be added to your book cover and used in other active book marketing, such as paid ads, on socials, etc. It’s also best to edit these review quotes to focus on the best, usable parts. You can learn how to get reviews here.
Keywords
You will need to research the keywords for your metadata. These keywords are part of what you’ll input with your other metadata to help readers (and book sellers) find your book on KDP and IngramSpark. You can also use keywords in your book description and other marketing copy.
So, you will need to understand the terms your audience would use in a search.
These keywords can seem limiting though, because of available options and restrictions. Keywords can only be so long and so precise. An actual reader may be looking for a book that makes them feel nostalgic about their first love. How do you make a keyword for that feeling?
Luckily, tools like Publisher Rocket can be extremely helpful for finding accurate keywords for your book. You can also find out more about keyword research and how it works here.
Book Descriptions
You’ll use your book descriptions everywhere from the back cover of your book and your website to book distributions sites and your Amazon page. These are super important to do well and get right. Your back cover copy needs to be short and sweet and engaging. It needs to speak directly to your audience and properly convey the genre and themes within. Your longer book description needs to do the same, while providing more context, keywords and reviews.
Read about the difference between your back cover copy and Amazon marketing copy here.
What’s Changing and Not Changing About Getting Book Metadata Right
When it comes to your book’s metadata there are many aspects that remain the same because they are simply industry standard. For instance, your technical and core metadata requirements remain unchanged and are unlikely to change anytime soon. These are industry systems and standards that work. All metadata helps booksellers find and place books so they can make them accessible to readers.
But, it’s your descriptive metadata that makes your book discoverable organically. Creating it is part of your passive book marketing efforts, and using it is part of your active book marketing. Remember, keywords and book descriptions are how readers find your book when searching online.
Currently, getting your descriptive metadata right may require some shifts in how you approach it. This is due to evolutions in search functions across many avenues online.
Some Things are Evolving and You’ll Need to Adapt Your Descriptive Metadata
You probably know that AI-powered search engines are changing how search queries work and even how information is accessed and discovered. Though a majority (numbers varied widely in our search on the topic) are still using traditional search methods, AI search usage is growing. And usage of tools like ChatGPT is too. Some figures state that more than 70% of people had used it, and that 49% of those users were seeking information. Hint: Searching for a book to read counts as an informative search.
Even Amazon is changing how their search experience works, and integrating AI tools, all with the intention of offering better and more precise results for users. BISAC codes even update regularly to include new categories that are more niche and precise.
But What Does this Mean for Your Book’s Metadata?
It means that to reach readers searching online, your book description is going to become an even more important part of your book’s metadata. And you’ll need to adapt accordingly.
But to be fair, the tactics you’ll need to adopt have always been part of writing good book descriptions. Because good book descriptions speak to the reader’s emotions. They intrigue them without giving too much away. And the tone and language all make the genre clear. They let readers know what to expect and tell them why they need to read your book. BISAC codes may reveal the genre but they say nothing of the themes, or the emotions a reader wants to experience when reading a book.
You can read about writing good book descriptions here.
So, What Does this Mean for Discoverability?
Well, now search engines are trying to find exactly what a given user is looking for. They are picking up on clues and matching desires to results. They are calculating based on a user’s previous searches, and their habits and rhythms, to identify what the user wants. And they’re attempting to understand all this through how human language is naturally used. They are focusing on user intent and user experience. They are picking up on context over keywords or empty prose. They know the user more intimately and they also respond and adapt based on clicks.
This means that they can produce results that are very close to what the user wants. Chat GPT and other LLMs can even recommend books based on user prompts. And these prompts are much more detailed than Google search terms, for instance.
So, most of your book’s metadata will remain unaffected. But your book description? You need to write it with all this in mind.
Themes, clear subgenre hints, and informative and descriptive language will be what is showing up in search results.
You will need to move beyond tactics such as, “if you liked *insert book here*, you’ll love…”, and overwrought plot and character details. Keyword usage will matter less because carefully crafted copy will give context. And context matters to these evolving search engines.
But not to worry, you won’t be reinventing the wheel. Because, as we mentioned, good cover copy already fits these parameters. It’s just that keywords and comparisons will not have as much power in your marketing copy. Descriptive language with context clues will though.
Adapting Means:
- Focusing on context
- Using clear genre and subgenre clues
- Writing in descriptive and informative language
- Relying less on keywords and comparisons
- Knowing your audience and genre (and subgenre) well
Of course, it still matters that all of your book’s metadata is precise, accurate and appropriate. So, use this guide. Keep a master copy of all your metadata. Put in the needed work, and your book will be discoverable to the readers who want to find it!
If you need help with any of this, reach out and see what we can do for you.
If there’s a topic you’d like us to cover in a blog post, please feel free to drop it in the comments!
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