Metadata describes your work.
In the digital age, the
metadata that is embedded in your ebook and is the equivalent of your bookshop shelfspace.
It is very important that you devote some thought and planning to
what you enter if you want your writing to be visible.
Look on metadata as the digital equivalent of the book
cover. The metadata makes it possible for users or digital bookshops to put your
book into the appropriate list. The way that online book stores make suggestions along
the lines ‘If you liked that, then you might like this’ is by matching the keys
in the embedded data.
Every ebook converter has the facility to add or edit
metadata. You are strongly advised to try and embed as much as possible into the
source file as editing the metadata directly in the files is not easy. As noted
earlier, most conversion software will also help you if the books has already
been published by searching the web for existing metadata.
As well as the digital metadata, there is still a need
for the various preliminary pages (see preparing
your files) that are a part of the book content: These
tend to be simpler than for the printed editions although the purpose is to
introduce the reader to the book and convey all the legal and advisory
information.
The key point to remember about metadata is that while your
text and publisher’s page is legible on the human reader, the metadata is read by all
of the digital systems that will access your book so it can be presented to
potential readers. So your book will be
categorised digitally by its metadata.
File names
A good example of this need to plan ahead comes when
you have to save your file. Obviously your book file must be unique file name.
But it makes sense to include metadata inside your filename.
Keywords
Keywords increase the visibility of your books. The
Kindle Store lets you add "Search Keywords" to your titles. They recommend up to
five keywords that relate to content of your book. Make the words specific - so
avoid general or vague keywords. While ‘Romance’ or ‘Military’ are suitable
category words, for keywords you need something with greater focus. The best
advice is try searching for book like yours and see the keywords they use. Some
siren voices might tell you always to makes sure that popular keywords such as
sex are always embedded in your metadata.
Where is the metadata stored and what is stored?
Should you decide to edit the metadata in the .opf
file this is what you will need to enter. (You must use these exact ID tags, plus
the colon. BUT you are advised to leave the compiling of the metadata files to
the software you are using. You might decide to unpack an ebook containers and
see how all the fields have been filled appropriately.)
Vital data
 | Title: Book Title Goes Here. MANDATORY FIELD. |
| Creator: Author’s name. (No options for multi names
here) |
| Identifier: MANDATORY FIELD The OPF mandates only that
the Identifier must be in the metadata and that it must be unique. |
| Filename: MANDATORY_FIELD |
| ID: MANDATORY_FIELD |
| Copyright: Your copyright statement |
| Publisher: Use your publisher name |
| Date: Date of publication of the ebook (other
publication dates can go on the publisher’s page |
| Language: Language code ISO639. MANDATORY FIELD |
| Filename: This is the actual filename used to save
files. MANDATORY FIELD |
