Describe and classify the book
Check platform search terms
Where a retailer or metadata feed accepts keywords, make sure the book has a considered set that reflects how readers actually search.
Authors often hire help with this: metadata or distribution.
Why it matters
Keywords are one of the few discovery levers an author can reach directly on self-publishing platforms, and on any platform they fill the gap between what the subject codes say and what a reader types. A thoughtful set costs half an hour. A careless one does nothing, and one that breaks a platform's rules can get a listing flagged.
Your part
- What you do
- Verify. Someone else may do it. Inspect the result yourself.
- Who normally owns it
- Publisher. Publisher or self-publisher enters; author reviews and suggests
- When
- Before launch, once the description and subject codes are settled, typically one to three months before publication (Describe and classify the book: twelve to six months before publication, and before any preorder opens)Checked September 14, 2026 (opens in a new tab)
Your part changes with your publishing route.
How to do it
The full walkthrough
Some retail platforms and metadata feeds accept keywords: short phrases that describe the book in the words a reader might type into a search box. They supplement subject codes rather than replace them. The ONIX metadata standard has a field for them, self-publishing platforms usually offer a handful of slots, and some retailers use them in search ranking. Others ignore them entirely.
Ask whether keywords are sent in the feed at all and what they are. Many publishers send them, some do not, and on a smaller feed they are often an afterthought. If they are being sent, check that they describe the book rather than repeat the title, and offer phrases from your own knowledge of the audience. If you enter them yourself, use phrases readers search for (a subgenre, a setting, a theme, a comparable style) rather than single generic words, skip anything already in the title or the subject codes, and do not use other authors' names or trademarked terms. Enter the same set on each platform, adjusted to its rules.
Record the keywords in the Book Identity Sheet and revisit them a few months after launch if search traffic suggests readers use different words.
Common mistakes
- Using single generic words ("novel", "book") that match everything and rank nothing.
- Repeating the title and subtitle, which are already indexed.
- Using a famous author's name as a keyword, which most platforms prohibit.
- Assuming keywords exist on a platform that does not accept them, or that they do the work of subject codes.
- Never revisiting them after launch.
Identifiers for Check platform search terms
Set a status on any record and it joins this step. All book identifiers.
| My status | Identifier | Why this matters | Yours |
|---|---|---|---|
| ONIX for Books ONline Information eXchange: the standard file that carries your book's details from your publisher or platform out to retailers and libraries. | If your subtitle is wrong at one retailer, that is one mistake; if it is wrong at a retailer, in a library catalog, and on Google Books, that is usually not three mistakes but one, in the feed, copied three times. It also explains why correcting it in one store often does not stick, because the next feed writes the old value back over your correction. Nobody acts on the feed directly: traditionally and hybrid published authors normally find out who owns it, which is the publisher's metadata or operations team and sometimes a separate distributor, and send corrections there, while a self-published book's feed is generated by the platform from the fields you filled in on its dashboard. Find the person or team that owns the book's feed so a correction goes to the source that can keep it fixed. | Nothing to record |
What done looks like
- A set of keyword phrases that describe subgenre, setting, theme, and reader, in reader language.
- No repetition of the title, author name, or subject code text.
- No other authors' names, trademarks, or claims.
- The same set entered on every platform that accepts keywords, within each platform's limits.
- Keywords recorded in the Book Identity Sheet with the date entered.
Ask your publisher
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Sources and last checked
- Official source
- Official source (opens in a new tab)
- Last checked
- September 14, 2026
- How confident we are
- Verified
Rules and deadlines change. We last checked this information on September 14, 2026. If you see something that needs updating, please tell us.