Checklist category
Descriptions, Subjects & Discoverability
The words and codes that decide who finds the book and where it is shelved. Your short and long descriptions, the audiences you are writing for, the BISAC and Thema subject codes, and the search terms platforms accept. This is also where you find out who actually controls the feed your descriptions travel on, so you know where to send a correction.
The tasks in Descriptions, Subjects & Discoverability
2 tasks, 10 steps
Describe and classify the book
7 stepsYou have a short and a long description you are happy to see on every store page, the subject codes that put the book in the right place, and the search terms the platforms that accept them will use. These travel together and are hard to change later.
CoreTwelve to six months before publication, and before any preorder opensAuthor and PublisherSomeone else may do it. Inspect the result yourself.Metadata or distribution
Find and control the metadata source
3 stepsYou know which system every retailer and library is actually copying from, and who can change it. Without that, a correction goes to whoever answered the phone and nothing moves.
RecommendedTwelve to six months before publication, then whenever a correction is neededPublisher and Author and DistributorSomeone else normally owns it. Get an answer, then record it.Metadata or distribution
Common questions
What is a BISAC code?
Book Industry Standards and Communications subject headings are the standard North American subject codes. They decide the shelf, the store category, and often which buyers ever see the book. Thema is the international equivalent.
From Describe and classify the book.
Who writes the description?
On a traditional route the publisher usually drafts it and you get an approval window, which is short. Self-published, it is yours. Either way, the version that ends up in the feed is the one readers see, so check it rather than assume.
From Describe and classify the book.
Why does the reading level question only sometimes apply?
Age range, grade range, and reading level are required fields for children's and educational titles and meaningless for most adult ones. If your book is not for young readers, this subtask stays out of your way.
From Describe and classify the book.
What is an ONIX feed?
It is the standard file publishers and distributors send to retailers, wholesalers, and libraries with a book's data in it. Almost every store page you will ever want to correct is downstream of one.
From Find and control the metadata source.
A store shows the wrong description. Where do I send the fix?
To whoever owns the feed, not usually to the store. A store that pulls from a feed will overwrite a manual fix the next time the feed updates.
From Find and control the metadata source.
Why keep a correction log?
Because corrections take weeks and travel through several hands. A log of what you reported, to whom, and when is the difference between following up and starting again.
From Find and control the metadata source.