What is metadata and why is it so important for publishers? Industry experts provide their insights into why proper implementation of metadata throughout the publishing process is central to creating efficiencies and selling more books.

1. metadata
I N S I G H T S F R O M I N D U S T R Y
E X P E R T S G R A H A M B E L L A N D
R E N E E R E G I S T E R
"FOR
publishers "

2. what is metadata?
M e t a d a t a c o m p r i s e s a l l t h e
i m p o r t a n t i n f o r m a t i o n a b o u t a
b o o k , f r o m b a s i c b i b l i o g r a p h i c
d e t a i l s t o i n - d e p t h d e s c r i p t i o n s ,
t a b l e s o f c o n t e n t s a n d p r i c i n g .
P u b l i s h e r s w i t h c o m p r e h e n s i v e
m e t a d a t a f o r t h e i r b o o k s e n s u r e
t h a t t h e y w i l l b e f o u n d b y
r e a d e r s , a s i t i m p r o v e s
d i s c o v e r a b i l i t y o n l i n e f o r t i t l e s .
I f y o u r t a r g e t r e a d e r c a n ' t f i n d
y o u r b o o k , o r d o n ' t k n o w i t
e x i s t s , t h e n h o w c a n t h e y b u y i t ?

3. 473%
A c c o r d i n g t o t h e s t u d y b y
N i e l s e n * , i n c o r p o r a t i n g p r o p e r
m e t a d a t a f o r a t i t l e r e s u l t s i n a
s i g n i f i c a n t i n c r e a s e i n l i k e l y
s a l e s b y :
* h t t p : / / w w w . i s b n . n i e l s e n b o o k . c o . u k / u p l o a d s / 3 9 7 1 _ N i e l s e n
_ M e t a d a t a _ w h i t e _ p a p e r _ A 4 ( 3 ) . p d f

4. let's talk ONIX
O N I X 2 . 1 - T h e o r i g i n a l s t a n d a r d
d e v e l o p e d i n 2 0 0 1 - 3 . D e v e l o p e d
f o r t h e t r a d i t i o n a l p r i n t m a r k e t ,
b u t h a s s e e n m a r k e d
i m p r o v e m e n t s .
O N I X 3 . 0 - T h e c u r r e n t s t a n d a r d
o f m e t a d a t a a s c r e a t e d f o r t h e
p r e s e n t d i g i t a l b o o k m a r k e t . C a n
c a r r y a w i d e r r a n g e o f d a t a .
E n h a n c e d m e t a d a t a - T h e
i n c o r p o r a t i o n o f m e t a d a t a
b e y o n d t h e b a s i c e l e m e n t s .
E x a m p l e s c o u l d b e a t a b l e o f
c o n t e n t s , a p r e s s r e l e a s e , o r
s e l e c t e d k e y w o r d s .

5. experts
I N S I G H T S I N T O H O W M E T A D A T A
C A N I M P R O V E T H E P U B L I S H I N G
P R O C E S S
WHAT THE
say

6. Renee Register is co-author of The Metadata
Handbook:A Book Publisher’s Guide to
Creating and Distributing Metadata for Print
and Ebooks4.
She also developed and instructs a series of
classes on metadata for Digital Book World
University and conducts webinars and
workshops on book metadata.Her
company,DataCurate,specializes in helping
publishing professionals meet the
information demands of the 21st century
marketplace.
R E N E E R E G I S T E R

7. Graham Bell is Executive Director of EDItEUR,
the trade standards organisation for the
global book,e-book and journals supply
chains.EDI tEUR is a not-for-profit
membership-supported body that develops
and supports a range of metadata and e-
commerce standards including ONIX,EDItX
and Thema.EDItEUR standards are made
available for use free of charge to the
publishing industry,and they are
implemented widely in North America,
throughout Europe and increasingly in the
Asia-Pacific region.EDItEUR also provides
management services to the International
ISBN,ISTC and ISNI Agencies.
G R A H A M B E L L

8. "ONIX is the international standard for
communication information about
books and was developed with the
book industry needs in mind.
Although other bibliographic
standards exist, there really isn’t
another standard for the industry
that compares to ONIX in its ability to
meet descriptive and
business metadata needs for
publishing.
R E N E E R E G I S T E R ,
A U T H O R O F T H E M E T A D A T A H A N D B O O K
"

9. "When your products are digital (and
equally,when your physical books are
sold online),metadata is sometimes
the only marketing tool you
have.Readers don’t discover your
book –they discover information
about your book.The richer the
information you can provide to a
prospective purchaser,the more likely
they are to find the exact book they
need.
G R A H A M B E L L ,
E X E C U T I V E D I R E C T O R O F E D I T E U R
"

10. "
R E N E E R E G I S T E R ,
A U T H O R O F T H E M E T A D A T A H A N D B O O K
"
The nature of 21st century business
and the supporting metadata (for
books and most every other product)
is dynamic. Metadata grows
and changes throughout the life of
the book – from acquisition through
publication and beyond,
continuing to draw readers for as
long as the book is sold.

11. "Your metadata management
processes have a life cycle: typically
you want to begin sending out
your product metadata four to six
months prior to publication of your
book. But that process
does not end when the book is
published. However timely, accurate
and comprehensive your data is
when you send it out to your business
partners, it’s not ‘finished’. The
metadata is dynamic.
G R A H A M B E L L ,
E X E C U T I V E D I R E C T O R O F E D I T E U R
"

12. read
D O W N L O A D T H E F U L L F R E E
W H I T E P A P E R N O W
WANT TO
more?
D O W N L O A D

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