Book metadata is a critical component to your book’s discovery and marketing… but do you know what metadata is? Let us explain!
There is one thing that many indie authors forget that is critical to their marketing and sales success, and that is book metadata.
Book metadata… what the heck is that?
So, you might be thinking, What is metadata? Why does that matter? How does my book metadata relate to the marketing and sales of my book? Metadata is often described as “data about data,” which in this case, is all the crucial and important information about your book. This includes:
- your title and subtitle
- your author name
- the contributors to the book (e.g., illustrators)
- the short and long description of your book
- the ISBN
- the price point
Metadata helps readers find your book
Your book’s accurate metadata will help ensure that if someone searches online for “murder-mystery Elizabethan Period,” and you’ve written a detective novel set in England in 1580, your book will appear in the search results.
But it’s not always that straightforward, and crafting the right information and picking the proper genre and categories might not be as simple as you think.
Book genre and categories
Let’s say you’ve written a book that is heartfelt and dramatic, so you select “drama” as a category. Sounds good, except that retailers and bookstores use the word “drama” to categorize plays — such as Shakespeare and Arthur Miller — so that might not be the accurate category for your novel.
Or, let’s say you’ve written a children’s book, and you think “education” makes a great descriptor. But a parent searching for a Christmas gift for an eight-year-old might just look up “children’s books” — and while children’s books can be educational, it depends on who your audience is. “Education” might be better directed at a school teacher looking for educational tools.
These crucial distinctions have huge impacts on the visibility of your book. It is so tempting to rush because you just want to get your book out there, but don’t rush through this. Categorizing your book incorrectly with inaccurate metadata can hamper your success.
Book descriptions
Another key factor about metadata is your long and short book descriptions. It is super important, and it is your sale’s pitch to your reader. A compelling, concise, and well-written book description is what will draw your reader into your book and be the determining factor as to whether they buy. In fact, readers don’t solely judge a book by its cover, they judge it by its metadata.
Writing an excellent book description is also harder than you think. I mean, how on earth can you condense a 300-page novel to a short couple of paragraphs? But it’s so important. If a reader sees a huge wall of text detailing every single thing that happens in your book, they might get overwhelmed and choose not to purchase.
But if you tease your reader with too little, they might not know what’s going on in the story and whether they want to purchase the book.
Keywords are key
Crafting a book’s description is a delicate art that balances succinctness and intrigue that will best represent your work to your potential readers.
Having accurate keywords takes market research and an understanding of what kind of person and audience will be best interested in your book.
Getting strong metadata right the first time significantly increases your chances at successful book marketing, but it is the most forgotten step in the self-publishing process.
Learn more about BookBaby’s Metadata Optmization services at www.bookbaby.com/sell-your-book/metadata-optimization.
See all our Indie Author Minute videos on the BookBaby YouTube channel.
Related Posts
Why Amazon Keywords Matter For Your Book
Metadata Optimization For Your Book
Does Advertising Guarantee Book Sales?
Your Book’s Pre-sale Period Explained
Publishing Jargon: A Beginner’s Guide for Authors
I have learned so much and I’m still learning. Keep the vibe alive. Cheers! Ndidi Rosemary Uzegbu
What is the difference between Meta Data and Tags, like those that appear after your article?
I suppose, in some ways, “tags” can fall under a very broad “metadata” umbrella. Metadata, as it relates to your book, are all the various things we describe in the video and in other blog posts: book title, book description, author bio, ISBN — information that relates to your book that will help search engines connect your content to that of a searcher’s criteria. This can happen across the web, in the case of a Google search, or within the confines of a site, in the case of a search on Amazon, B&N, etc. Tags, in relation to this blog (and others), are words/phrases that relate to the content of the post. Clicking on one of the tags will result in you seeing all the other posts on our blog that have the same tag, therefore providing you with more content that is related to the topic at hand. Hopefully that helps clarify things.
A short description and a long description. I’m guessing five words and five thousand words?
More like 50-75 words and 150-250 words.
I am not a writer. I made a coloring book of my neighborhood. Am developing a how to build graphpaper designs using dots circles and line
A picture. Is it really worth a thousand words?
Well I’ll give a brief overview the book is based loosely on real people and real situations it’s suppose to tell the tale of a group of young dealers who have bit off more than they can chew. bent police, and mad head skinheads. It goes on to detail with various blows to the Y.B.C. Including the death of their lawyer. The crew get a hold on themselves and fight back.
I have read your article and I find it very interesting. I even agree with your premise that it would be good for an author to engage someone else to look over the manuscript.
However, getting someone to recommend a metadata description of the proposed book becomes very subjective in nature. In other words, if I put five people in a room to discuss a metadata response, I would expect eight suggestions from that group.
Furthermore, names are very important; I agree. In my career of sixty years as an engineer, I have had to use a pseudo name as my identification. So the challenge continues.