Improve the Book Metadata that Matters

As the value of book discoverability metadata in the publishing industry becomes more known, it’s helpful to know exactly where authors and publishers are making the most mistakes. Thousands of new titles pass through Ingram’s metadata channels each and every day and each of these titles have dozens of metadata fields. It should be no question that the owners of all these titles should want to put out the very best metadata they can.

But where do you start?

Every publisher should strive for book metadata perfection, but it can be overwhelming to jump into your titles’ data and look for problem spots to fix. Sourcing our in-house experts and decades of knowledge, we have gathered the two most important bits of discoverability metadata that are easily improved and cause the largest impact on title performance: subject categories and keywords.

BISAC categories have long been the standard for subject classification among publishers in the United States, utilized by the vast majority of online and offline retailers to categorize their stock into manageable chunks. For example, are you including just one BISAC for your product listing? It is highly recommended for the retail space to include three BISACs with each title, where the first BISAC serves as your “primary” category followed by two additional ones that accurately fit the content of your book.

After ensuring you have three BISACs, make certain that you are not utilizing “General” BISAC subject categories. Assigned BISAC subject codes such as TRV000000 — TRAVEL / GENERAL to a title will place them alongside thousands of other books in the marketplace, making discoverability unlikely. Try to use as specific of subjects as possible.

If distributing to Amazon shoppers, keep in mind that the BISACs you select will have a direct impact on the Amazon categories (and even keywords) the book will receive once delivered. Review Amazon’s guidelines on BISAC subject codes before assigning a subject that may lead your book to an unwanted Amazon category.

Outside of BISAC subject codes, another important identifier that is growing in the book categorization scene is the Thema code. Specifically designed for international use, Thema codes provide an extensive categorization taxonomy that may be useful for your books if releasing them in international markets.

Rules for clarity in BISAC selection may be applied to Thema selection as well, and a map of BISAC to Thema codes is available for those that would like to adapt their BISAC-complete catalog to the Thema structure without re-categorizing every title.

As more and more consumers move to purchase books online, the importance of a fresh set of keywords is growing in parallel. We see a lot of publishers not even include keywords on their titles — which is a big mistake!

Online retailers will make heavy use of keywords assigned to your books in their search engine algorithms; the higher the quality of your Amazon keywords, the higher the likelihood that your target audience on the platform will find your book. Check below for some keyword tips to help surface your books to the most relevant audience.

Originally published February 11, 2019

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