When I first decided to independently publish, I heard the term “book metadata” quite often and immediately became confused. As I continued to research the definition of this word it became abundantly clear that it was the most vital piece of information available to my readers, librarians, books stores, book retailers, schools and even universities.
So what is a books metadata? The basic concept of a books metadata is to make your book more discoverable and includes elements such as the title, series, categories, contributors, reading age, book description, author name, author biography, publication date and any keyword search. This metadata allows online stores to direct potential readers to a specific genre that they are searching for. It even assists search engines to find your published literary works and will return it as a search result based off of these metrics.
For me personally, the most challenging aspect of my books metadata was the selection of my keyword search. The selection of keyword search must be searchable, must standout and should not limit your book to a specific category. I would recommend taking your time and research other books in your genre to see what keywords would best fit your literary works before publishing.
If you would like to read additional information pertaining to a books metadata then I would recommend Ingramspark. Their website contains a detailed blog post on what metadata is and why it’s important.
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