Find and control the metadata source
Create a correction log for metadata discrepancies
For every listing error, save the bad page, the correct information, who controls the record, when you reported it, and whether the fix went live.
Why it matters
Without a log, corrections turn into a fog of half-remembered emails. With one, every report is specific, every follow-up is timed, and you can see patterns (one retailer always lags, one field is always wrong) that tell you where the real problem is. It also keeps the relationship with the publisher's metadata team calm, because every message is precise.
Your part
- What you do
- Do it. You normally do this yourself.
- Who normally owns it
- Author. Author maintains; publisher or platform fixes
- When
- Begin when the first listings appear, about three months before launch, and maintain it for the life of the book (Find and control the metadata source: twelve to six months before publication, then whenever a correction is needed)
Your part changes with your publishing route.
How to do it
The full walkthrough
Once metadata is out in the world, errors will appear: a subtitle missing on one retailer, an old price on a wholesaler record, a contributor misspelled in a library catalog. Each needs to be reported to the right place and followed up. A correction log is a simple table that tracks them from discovery to fix.
You are usually the one who notices, whoever does the fixing. The log is how you report clearly, with the ISBN, the field, what it says, what it should say, and where you saw it, and how you know when to follow up without nagging. It matters just as much when you make the fixes yourself, because platforms take days or weeks to propagate a change and you will forget which ones you already corrected.
Start the log before launch, when the first listings appear, and keep it for the life of the book. Store it with, or inside, the Book Identity Sheet.
Common mistakes
- Reporting an error by describing it vaguely ("the Amazon page is wrong") instead of by field and value.
- Reporting the same error twice because nobody wrote down the first report.
- Fixing a retail page directly and not logging it, so the next feed silently reverts it.
- Abandoning the log after launch, when most discrepancies actually appear.
A template for this
Metadata correction requestA precise correction request that names the field, the current value, the correct value, and where the error appears, sent to whoever controls the master record.
When to use it: Use this when a detail about the book is wrong in a retailer, library, or database record and the error comes from the publisher's or distributor's metadata feed. Send it to the party that controls the source record. Do not use this when you control the source record yourself. Fix it in the distributor or platform dashboard first, and write only about what the dashboard will not change.
What done looks like
- One row per discrepancy: date found, ISBN, platform or system, field, current value, correct value, reported to, date reported, date fixed, notes.
- The source-of-truth contact used for every report, not a retailer's help desk unless the source says so.
- A follow-up date set for anything unfixed after the feed's normal cycle.
- The log reviewed at each scheduled metadata check (before launch, at launch, quarterly).
Sources and last checked
- Official source
- No single official page for this step.
- Last checked
- Not checked against its source yet.
- How confident we are
- Verified