Reblogging: 7 #Tips for #Self-Pub #Authors on Using #Metadata

7 Tips for #Metadata Magic for Self-Publishers

By Betty Kelly Sargent, guest blogging on TheBookDesigner.com

posted by JOEL FRIEDLANDER on 9/29/14

image from http://www.thebookdesigner.com

“…if you are publishing electronically with #ebooks and/or #POD [Print On Demand, like CreateSpace or LuLu], almost the only way potential readers can discover your book is through the carefully selected keywords in your metadata.”

This article lays out how #self-pub #authors can “create specific, tailored-to-fit-your-book #metadata that can help your customer/reader slice through all the noise out there and find what you have written.”

“If you need a little help coming up with just the right #keywords for your book, check out: http://www.googlekeywordtool.com.”

image from http://www.digireado.com.au which also has a great article about metadata

I list the 7 Tips here, but you should go to the article (links below) and find out more about how and why to use these Tips.

Title
Genre
Emotions
Story Elements
Target Market
Marketing Suggestions
BISAC [Book Industry Standards and Communication] Subject Codes

“If you still need some help try going to http://www.Amazon.com/books and take look at how other authors of books in your category describe their work.”

“You can even narrow your search by going to http://www.amazon.com/kindle-eBooks and type in a descriptive word or two and see what other words pop up in the drop-down menu.”

The screenshot, below, shows the category rankings system in Amazon and how to “game” it for your book’s best sales and search optimization:

image from http://okdork.com

“The good news about metadata is that you can update it any time so you might want to go back and freshen yours up a little.”

“Betty Kelly Sargent

is the founder of BookWorks, and The Educated Author which will launch in January. She was Editor-in-Chief of William Morrow, Executive Editor at Harper Collins, Fiction and a Books editor at Cosmopolitan and is the author of seven traditionally published books and one self-published book.”
Reach Betty on Twitter: @BookWorksNYC and visit her site: http://www.bookworks.com/ Subscribe to her blog! It’s great!