Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
If you’re writing in a highly competitive eBook market, you already know what a challenge it is for your book to stand out, let alone gain traction. What you may not know is that metadata can be the secret to making sure your book gets the attention it deserves. The right metadata can make all the difference when it comes to helping readers find your book.
In this article, we’ll take a closer look at what eBook metadata optimization is and explore how you can stand out when it seems like every other author is better prepared or more marketing savvy than you.
If you don’t yet have your book converted to an eBook format, we can also help with that! For most authors, it’s not just a matter of opening your document, clicking “Save as PDF,” and calling it a day. In fact, eBook conversion is much more involved and often nuanced, in order to make sure your book is readable across different devices including Apple iPad, Amazon Kindle, and Barnes & Noble Nook.
Table of Contents:
• What is metadata?
• What metadata should you optimize?
• Standing out in a competitive niche
• What does BookBaby’s metadata optimization service include?
What is metadata?
Metadata is the information that makes up the details about your book. By optimizing this metadata, you can enhance the keywords that readers use to find books in your genre (and by extension, your book). Metadata is used on search engines and storefronts alike, including Google, Bing, and Amazon.
The metadata that different search engines and storefronts use varies from platform to platform, but can include:
- Title
- Author name
- ISBN
- Publisher
- Genre
- Price
- Other elements like description, target audience, and reviews
What metadata should you optimize?
No matter which platform uses what metadata, there are certain key parts you’ll want to emphasize and pay careful attention to. These include:
Title and subtitle
The most visible metadata fields are your eBook’s title and subtitle. This means that by doing the right eBook optimization, you can help your book appear at or near the top of the search results and retailer listings. This means incorporating long-tail keywords naturally into the title and subtitle to align your book with specific types of searches where possible.
Book description
Writing a compelling eBook description is a must — not just to grab the attention of your readers, but also to match the different metadata requirements of online retailers. Your book’s description should provide a quick overview while also delving into the narrative a bit.
Keywords and categories
Choosing the right keywords and BISAC category codes makes sure that your eBook appears alongside other relevant titles in search results. BookBaby’s metadata optimization services can help you uncover these lucrative categories and keywords while making sure that your book appears precisely in front of its ideal audience.
ISBN and other identifiers
The ISBN (International Standard Book Number) is a unique identifier that makes it possible to catalog your book as well as track sales. Making sure that the ISBN and publisher metadata are correct also makes it easy for retailers and library databases to list your book.
Standing out in a competitive niche
For eBooks, optimized metadata needs to be embedded directly into the file’s structural header (whether it’s in EPUB or MOBI format). This makes sure that retailers get the correct information without having to manually correct it. BookBaby’s eBook conversion services automatically incorporate this information into each digital format, sidestepping formatting errors and mismatches in the metadata.
In order to stand out and gain traction in a competitive niche, keep in mind these best practices:
Do detailed keyword research
Use a combination of broad and long-tail keywords and phrases that your target readers are likely to use. Test different versions in terms of how often they’re searched and how relevant they are for your book and genre.
Avoid keyword stuffing
Use keywords naturally in your title, subtitle, and description to avoid being penalized by retailers and search algorithms. Too many keywords in a way that doesn’t flow naturally is a sure sign of keyword stuffing and can cause your ranking or listing to suffer.
Use reader-focused metadata
Include details like series information, edition numbers, reviews, and endorsements in your metadata fields to help boost your credibility as an author and increase click-through rates.
Optimize for multiple retailers
Create short and long descriptions, different category selections and keyword choices to match the metadata requirements of each retailer, including Amazon KDP, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, and others.
What does BookBaby’s metadata optimization service include?
As part of the publishing process, we offer an optional metadata optimization service. With this service, our dedicated specialists review and refine each metadata field, including the title, subtitle, BISAC codes, descriptions, keywords, bios, and publisher details, to help your book show up for relevant searches. Once your book is reviewed, we send you a metadata proof so that you can accept or revise our proposed changes. This makes sure that we’re all in alignment in terms of quality and strategy before your book is distributed.
Don’t forget that metadata is not a “set and forget” thing that you do once and you’re done. Once it’s set up, whether you’re using a done-for-you service like BookBaby or doing it on your own, metadata is something you should monitor and revise regularly. Retailers and online platforms will give you details in your author dashboard that will show you the performance data of your eBook. It will also show you reader feedback so you can refine keywords and descriptions even after you launch.
Interested in learning more? Contact the experts at BookBaby today to learn more about our metadata optimization services for eBooks.
