Repeat the post-publication audits
Audit metadata at 90 days
Three months after publication, check the listings and profiles once more, this time with an eye to library records, recognition, and reviews that have accumulated since launch.
Why it matters
Ninety days is when the launch is over and the long life of the book begins. Errors that survive this audit tend to survive for years, because nobody is looking anymore. Library records in particular are just starting to appear and are much easier to correct while a cataloger is still working with the title.
Your part
- What you do
- Verify. Someone else may do it. Inspect the result yourself.
- Who normally owns it
- Author and Publisher. Author audits; publisher corrects feed data
- When
- 90 days after publication (Repeat the post-publication audits: thirty days, ninety days, and then once a year)
How to do it
The full walkthrough
By 90 days the book has a history. Reviews have run, a few libraries have cataloged it, the paperback or audiobook may be scheduled, and any early award results may be in. The 90-day audit repeats the core checks (retailers, publisher page, Google Books, Goodreads, your site, search results) and adds the records that only exist now: WorldCat holdings, the Library of Congress catalog if the book was submitted there, editorial reviews on retailer pages, and any recognition that should be showing in the metadata.
Compare against the 30-day results. Note what changed, what was fixed, and what is new. Check the corrections list and close or chase what remains.
Traditionally published authors send a short report to the publisher only if there is something to fix; by 90 days the publisher's attention has moved to the next season, and a concise, specific request gets a better response than a general one. Hybrid authors do the same. Self-published authors handle it through their dashboards.
This is also a good point to look at the book page and the media kit and ask whether they still describe the book as it now is, with the reviews and coverage it has received.
Common mistakes
- Treating it as a repeat of the 30-day audit and skipping the library records.
- Sending the publisher a long general report when a two-line specific request would do.
- Forgetting to check whether reviews sent to the publisher actually appeared on retailer pages.
- Not looking at the search results, which shift as the book gains coverage.
Identifiers for Audit metadata at 90 days
Set a status on any record and it joins this step. All book identifiers.
| My status | Identifier | Why this matters | Yours |
|---|---|---|---|
| WorldCat The shared library catalog where member libraries report which books they hold, free for anyone to search. | Catalogers reuse records from here, so an error in one record tends to spread, and a missing record, a duplicate, or one record that mixes two formats makes your book harder for a library to order correctly. No author on any route can edit a record. Traditionally and hybrid published authors normally send the correction to the publisher's metadata team or distributor, and a self-published author normally goes to their platform, or to a library that holds the book and can report the problem. Record the OCLC number for each edition, note any error, and remember that public holdings counts are incomplete and delayed. | Add your OCLC number | |
| Google Books Google's index of book records and previews, often the first thing a reader or librarian sees when they search your title. | Because Google's web search draws on it, a wrong record here is visible to readers and librarians and gets cited in other databases, and an old edition or an advance file left previewable is the version people will read. Corrections go to whoever holds the partner account for the title rather than to the search result: traditionally and hybrid published authors normally ask the publisher or its distributor, once they have established which of the two holds it. If you publish the book yourself, you may hold the account, in which case the fix is yours to make. Search every edition by ISBN, check the core facts, and make sure any preview shows the current file. | Add your Google Books link |
What done looks like
- The core listing checks repeated 90 days after publication and compared against the 30-day results.
- WorldCat and library catalog records checked for the correct author heading, title, and edition.
- Editorial reviews and recognition confirmed as visible on retailer listings.
- A short, specific correction request sent only if needed.
- The book page and media kit reviewed for currency.
- Audit date and results recorded.
Ask your publisher
Copy this into an email. Replace the bracketed parts with your details.
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