As an author, if you’re not using metadata where and how you need to, you may be unknowingly stiffing your book sales. And here’s the thing—Metadata seems intimidating, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use it as one of your most powerful book selling tools. Below is your beginner’s guide to demystifying metadata, so you can use it with confidence and increase your book sales.
Using metadata as an author doesn’t have to be a mystery.
Before Using Metadata, Know What it Is
Metadata. The term itself seems intimidating and too techy. But using metadata really isn’t that complex when you understand what it means for you, as an author. Meta literally means data about data. So, when you think critically about your content and what it means, you are on the right track. Here’s a super simple example:
You may say, “My book will help you live a better life.” But it would be better to say, “My book, How to Live a Better Life, will help you live a better life. You’ve revealed the name of the book, instead of making your reader guess. That’s meta data.
Metadata, when it comes to your book, just means the information that relates to your book. This includes everything from keywords and phrases to your book title and ISBN. Remember library index cards? They gave all the information related to the book, so when you were looking for something specific, you could find it. Well, now all of that information is what’s known as metadata. And the internet is sort of the card catalogue.
How Metadata Works
When we search for something using keywords or phrases, or other information related to what we’re searching for, search engines will deliver the most relevant results. That’s why the more specific you are in your search, the better the results will be. For instance, if you were to go to Amazon or Google looking for Historical Fiction books, and you just use that search term, you’d get an overwhelming amount of results to sift through. But the more details you add in a search, the more it will narrow your search. You’ll see an example of what I mean below.
Using Metadata to Increase Book Sales
The more relevant information you have that relates to your book—the metadata— the better the chance that it will be found. It’s all about the details! So, when it comes to your book, you want to be using metadata to make your book discoverable.
After all, if your book doesn’t have that digital index card in the catalogue that is now internet search engines, how would people even find it? They’d have to do a lot of searching and happen upon it. Which isn’t a great strategy for increasing book sales, or very likely.
Important Things to Remember About Using Metadata as an Author
Metadata is used by online booksellers and libraries as a way to make your book discoverable to potential buyers. Like I mentioned above, the more relevant information that’s useable and available, the more likely your book will be found!
Where to Use Metadata
While your back cover copy needs to be pithy and have a huge impact with as few words as possible, the description you include on your website, on Amazon, and on Goodreads can be longer. This gives you more space to include keywords that someone might search for when looking for a book like yours. If you are not sure about how to develop a powerful list of keywords, check out my article on that topic.
Here’s a tip: consider including the popular comparable titles in your longer description, for example: Readers who enjoyed An American Marriage will love….
When it comes to sellers such as Amazon, your book title, your Author Central page, your publisher details, endorsements, reader reviews, and the BISAC subject categories of your book are part of your metadata too!
You’ll also want to use metadata in your:
- Book description and author bio
- Amazon Seller Page or KDP/IngramSpark account
- Amazon Author Central
- Online Profiles like BookBub and Goodreads
- And website, of course
A word on BISAC codes (Book Industry Standards and Communications): You are able assign three BISAC codes for your title. Be sure to choose codes that are as specific as possible. For example:
If your book is Historical Fiction. The BISAC code FICTION / Historical / General might seem perfect. But I encourage you to see if you can drill down even more. In other words, if your book is also a romance taking place during Word War II, then you might consider one of these two options:
- FICTION / Romance / Historical / 20th Century
- FICTION / Historical / World War II
The more specific you can get, the better. “General” is a poor choice when it comes to metadata.
The Importance of Consistency and Accuracy
Make sure your Metadata is consistent on all the above platforms. For example, you’ll use your same bio and book description everywhere—or they’ll at least contain the same metadata.
When using metadata, it should all be checked for accuracy and spelling too, because while some sites, like Amazon will automatically correct these errors, most don’t. And if any metadata is misspelled or used incorrectly it might not get indexed properly. Plus, readers expect accuracy—it’s part of the trust factor when it comes to your author branding.
One way you can guarantee consistency and accuracy is by creating a master copy of all of your keywords and other metadata. I’m a big fan of spreadsheets myself, but I know they’re not for everyone, so a document format is fine too. It’s just important that you have it.
If you have a publisher, but want to be in control of your own metadata, or you have someone managing it for you, this master document further ensures consistency and accuracy too.
Check Ins
As with your website and social media channels, you’ll want to do occasional check-ins to make sure your metadata is still working for you.
For instance, you may want to revise or update your keywords, because not all keywords are evergreen Or, maybe you’ve won a book award, or gotten more good reviews and press. All these things can have an affect on your metadata’s relevancy. So, it’s always best to be aware and keep everything up to date.
So, now that you know what it is, and why it’s important, does using metadata seem less intimidating? I hope so! Because using metadata to its fullest potential really can make a difference in your book sales, which in turn increases your visibility, trust, and the strength of your brand!
