Glossary
Metadata
Also called book metadata
Book metadata is the information that describes a book, such as its title, author, series, description, categories, keywords, ISBN and price.
What it means
Metadata is everything a store knows about your book apart from the book itself. KDP’s metadata guidelines list the title, subtitle, series, description, author, contributors, publisher, keywords, audience, categories, cover image and ISBN. KDP lets you choose up to three categories during setup.
Fiction and nonfiction use metadata differently. A romance author’s metadata might stress the series, the tropes and the heat level. A nonfiction author’s might stress the subject, the subtitle and the author’s expertise. A children’s author’s might stress the age range.
Inside an ebook file there is metadata too, such as the title, author and language, which reading apps show in the library.
Why it matters when you sell direct
On retailers, metadata decides where your book shows up in search and categories. On your own store, it decides whether a reader who lands on your book page can tell, in a few seconds, if it is for them. Tropes, content warnings and the reading order answer the questions readers ask.
Keep your metadata the same across retailers and your store, so readers know it is the same book.
How Lanternbee handles it
Each title in Lanternbee has a name, a blurb, a cover, a release date, genres, tropes, a heat level, content warnings and a place in a series. Each edition has its own format, price and ISBN. The Shopify importer brings your existing details across.