Book metadata is the boring name for everything a computer knows about your book: title, author, ISBN, price, format, subject codes, contributor roles, territorial rights, edition relationships, and a hundred other fields most readers never see.
The short answer: check the details below against the live listings, not against the publisher's spreadsheet, and start with the exact title and subtitle, the ISBN for each format, the contributor names and roles, the publication date, the price, the subject codes, and the description. This guide is for any author, on any publishing path, whose book already has records out in the world.
Here's what made it real for me. My book is No Loose Ends: The Smart & Slightly Morbid Guide to Estate Planning & End-of-Life Tasks. I love that title. I've also watched it get written with the ampersands spelled out, with "end of life" losing its hyphens, with the subtitle in sentence case, and with the subtitle dropped entirely. None of that was malicious. It was people and systems doing their best with a long string. In conversation I just call it No Loose Ends now.
If you're still choosing a title, that's worth a thought. Hyphens, ampersands, and long subtitles get mangled in the wild. If you've already chosen (I had), you need one canonical version and the patience to check it everywhere.
Publishers and distributors send metadata to retailers, wholesalers, libraries, search engines, and databases. Those systems update on different schedules and apply their own display rules. So one wrong field in the upstream source can show up in a dozen places at once. You may not control the feed. You should still check the result.
What metadata affects
More than you'd think. Whether the book shows up in a search. Which edition a customer buys. Where a retailer shelves it. How a bookseller or librarian sizes it up. Whether all your formats connect to the same author page. Whether the book looks available or "forthcoming" for months after launch. Which description, cover, and price are shown. Whether a correction spreads or quietly disappears.
Google Books tells its partners to fill in as many metadata fields as possible because richer information helps readers find books. BISAC Subject Headings are used across the North American supply chain for categorization, search, and shelving. These systems are built to run on good data. Give them good data.
First, create a source of truth
Before you check a single retailer, make a Book Identity Sheet. Everyone correcting the book should work from the same record.
The sheet should also say who controls each field: publisher, distributor, you, the retailer, a library or cataloging institution, a review outlet, or an award administrator. Without that column, you'll report the right correction to the wrong organization. I've done it.
The 25-point checklist
1. Title
Confirm spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and series treatment. Don't assume retailer styling matches the approved title. See the ampersand story above.
2. Subtitle
Check the full subtitle and its punctuation. Missing or outdated subtitles are common when a working title made it into an early feed and nobody went back.
3. Author name
Use your approved public name everywhere. Check initials, middle names, suffixes, accents, spacing, and pseudonyms. There is more than one Adam Zuckerman on the internet, and I'd like my book attached to me.
4. Contributor names
Verify coauthors, illustrators, editors, translators, foreword writers, photographers, and anyone else credited.
5. Contributor roles
A correct name with the wrong role is still wrong. "Edited by," "illustrated by," and "foreword by" shouldn't collapse into authorship.
6. Publisher
Confirm the legal or displayed publisher for the exact edition.
7. Imprint
The imprint may be more visible to booksellers and readers than the parent company. Record both when they differ.
8. Publication date
Check each format separately. Hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook dates can differ.
9. On-sale date
The on-sale date and the formal publication date can be treated differently within the supply chain. Ask the publisher which date is authoritative for which purpose.
10. ISBN
Verify the ISBN for the exact edition and format. Don't put one ISBN on every version of the book.
11. Format
Confirm hardcover, trade paperback, mass-market paperback, ebook, audiobook, large print, or whatever else applies.
12. Edition
Record first edition, revised edition, anniversary edition, or other edition language. A new edition generally gets a new ISBN.
13. Language
Verify the language of the text and the language attached to any translated edition.
14. Page count or duration
Check the final page count for print and the duration for audio. Early records often carry estimates that never get updated.
15. Trim size and physical dimensions
Retailers, librarians, reviewers, event organizers, and bulk buyers all look at these.
16. Binding
Confirm hardcover details, paperback type, library binding, spiral, workbook construction, or whatever the physical treatment is.
17. Price and currency
Check list price by format and territory. A stale preorder price or the wrong currency confuses customers fast.
18. Cover image
Confirm the final approved cover, the right aspect ratio, adequate resolution, and the right edition. Old cover files survive in downstream systems long after a redesign.
19. Short description
It has to describe the book accurately without unsupported claims. Keep one canonical approved version.
20. Long description
Check paragraph breaks, special characters, quotation marks, and retailer-specific formatting. Make sure an early draft hasn't survived in the feed.
21. Author biography
Verify professional facts, name, current role, location if you include it, previous books, and links. Decide which biography length is canonical for metadata.
22. BISAC Subject Headings
BISAC is the U.S. and Canadian book-industry subject system. Choose the most accurate headings available. BISG warns against treating the codes as a promotional trick. Their purpose is to describe the book consistently.
Official source: BISAC Subject Codes (opens in a new tab)
23. Audience and age information
For children's and young adult books, confirm age range, grade range, and reading information. For professional books, make the intended market clear.
24. Territorial rights and availability
Confirm where the edition can be sold and which organization distributes it in each territory.
25. Related editions and formats
Check that hardcover, paperback, ebook, audiobook, translations, and revised editions connect correctly without being wrongly merged.
More fields, for some books
Depending on the book, you may also track series name and number, keywords, Thema subjects, regional subjects, comparable titles, table of contents, reading level, accessibility features, narrator, awards, professional reviews, marketing copy, preview percentage, retail territories, return status, trade discount, and library ebook license availability. Add the ones that apply. Ignore the rest.
What ONIX does
ONIX for Books is the international standard for sending product information through the book supply chain. The simplest way to think about it: one master spreadsheet that the publisher or distributor sends to everyone who sells or catalogs the book. Retailers then decide how to display what they received.
You don't build or send the ONIX file for a traditionally published book. The publisher or distributor does. Ask:
- Who owns the authoritative ONIX record?
- How often is the feed sent?
- Which partners receive it?
- How are corrections submitted?
- Can awards, reviews, and biography updates be added later?
Wiley owns mine. When No Loose Ends won an award, I emailed them and they updated the feed. That's the normal loop.
Official source: ONIX for Books (opens in a new tab)
Where to check
Audit the places that matter for your book: the publisher page, the distributor or wholesaler record, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, Google Books, Apple Books, Kobo, audiobook retailers, WorldCat, library catalogs, Goodreads, BookBub, your own website, and plain search-engine results.
Search the exact ISBN, not just the title. The title search finds what looks like your book. The ISBN search finds what the systems think is your book.
How to correct an error
1. Capture the problem
Save the URL, a screenshot, the date, the incorrect text, the correct text, the edition, and the ISBN.
2. Find the source
Where did this page get its data? Publisher, distributor, ONIX feed, retailer entry, author profile, library record, or a third-party data supplier.
3. Correct upstream where possible
If five stores show the same old description, the cause is not five independent typing mistakes. Fix the spreadsheet, not each recipient's copy of it.
4. Request downstream correction where needed
Some platforms keep their own fields, merge several sources, or require a separate support request.
5. Record the request
Save the date, the contact, the ticket number, the promised action, and a follow-up date.
6. Verify the live result
Don't mark the task verified when the request goes out. Verify after the public record actually changes.
A metadata correction message
Hello, I am requesting a correction to the listing for [Title], [format], ISBN [ISBN]. The page currently shows [incorrect information]. The correct information is [correct information]. The publisher's authoritative page or supporting record is [URL]. The affected listing is [URL]. Thank you for confirming when the correction has been made.
Keep it factual. Don't bury a one-line correction inside the entire history of the book.
Common metadata mistakes
- One ISBN on several formats
- A working subtitle that outlived the title change
- The book attached to a different author with the same name
- A foreword writer listed as a coauthor
- The ebook cover on the audiobook record
- Old and revised editions merged
- An estimated page count that survived final production
- Categories that don't describe the book
- Awards and meaningful reviews missing from updated feeds
- One retailer corrected while the source stays wrong
- Assuming a visible correction has spread everywhere
How often to audit
When the first preorder page appears. Thirty to sixty days before publication. Publication day. Thirty days after. Ninety days after. After every new edition or format. After any title, cover, price, award, or contributor change. And once a year, because things drift.
Frequently asked questions
Can an author edit a traditionally published book's metadata?
Usually not at the source. The publisher or distributor commonly controls the feed. Document the error and request the correction from whoever controls the record.
Does every format need a separate ISBN?
Formats sold as distinct products generally get separate ISBNs under ISBN rules. Confirm the treatment of a specific digital or product format with the relevant ISBN agency.
What are BISAC codes?
BISAC Subject Headings are standardized subject categories used in the North American book supply chain for classification, search, and shelving.
Why is Amazon different from the publisher page?
Retailers receive data on different schedules, combine several sources, and apply their own display rules. Find the authoritative source, then work out whether the retailer also needs a direct correction.
Should awards be added to metadata?
Meaningful awards can go into descriptions, review fields, or marketing elements where the publisher and the receiving system allow them. Use the exact award name and result.
Keep one clean record
Use the free Descriptions, Subjects and Discoverability checklist, or create a free Author Profile and add your book, one payment, to keep the work in one place.
Sources
Last fact-checked September 13, 2026. Submission rules, fees, and deadlines change. The official source controls.