Can books sell themselves? Unfortunately, no, but good metadata certainly can make them more discoverable at major online retailers and on search engines. In today’s crowded online book marketplace, quality metadata can give a book a significant edge.
Metadata is so much more than a book’s title or ISBN. It’s actually a book’s unique online signature. Many authors don’t realize that there are many ways to optimize your book’s metadata to improve exposure and sales. Here’s a few:
- Consider a subtitle for your books that includes popular keywords, especially if you’ve written a number of books that can be grouped together. Examples: “an authentic regency romance” or “southern fiction for women.”
- Use popular search phrases in the keywords section of your metadata. Amazon’s search engine can help you find those popular phrases because it will auto-populate the search field once you start typing. Use the top suggestions in your genre as keywords.
- Improve the metadata inside your book. The front and back matter of your book are part of its metadata, and can have a huge impact on your marketing and sales, if done well. Embed information and hyperlinks in these sections of your book to connect all your content, creating a “metadata map” for readers to follow.
For many more metadata tips and tricks, join Bublish Founder Kathy Meis for a free “Lunch & Learn” webinar “Market with Metadata” on Wednesday, May 20 at Noon ET. We’ll dive deep into metadata and teach you best practices to optimize your metadata for better discoverability and more book sales.
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