Accurate and enhanced metadata plays a crucial role in boosting sales and improving title discoverability. Plain and simple, without good metadata, your audience can’t find your content.
Leverage iQ Metadata reporting to identify areas that need refinement, ensuring your titles reach the right readers.
Below are the key metadata elements that iQ scores or tracks, helping publishers pinpoint titles that require additional fine tuning.
Ingram iQ Metadata Fitness Key Metrics
Images
An image is worth a thousand words, which is why images are key to titles discoverability. Images are often the first thing a customer sees, so it is important that cover images are provided. Some retailers will not put titles on sites if images are missing.
Recommendations: All images must be sent either formatted as a JPEG OR TIFF. RBG color space (no CMYK images will be accepted). Keep image clean, clear and sharply defined. 72-300 dpi and at least 1000 pixels on the longest edge required.
Contributor & Contributor Types
Consumers have favorite authors, illustrators, etc. and love to find new and upcoming titles from contributors they have interest in, make sure your titles have contributor information so readers can find the authors they love when searching for their next favorite book.
Recommendations: Be sure to use all the names from the cover or title page – and be consistent with spellings, middle initials, etc.
Contributor Bio
A well-crafted bio establishes the contributor’s expertise, relevance to the topic or genre, and can provide personal or professional branding. Contributor Bio can provide depth to a title’s content or reinforce why readers should engage in the content.
Recommendations: Keep each contributor's text between 50 and 250 words and avoid including external links like blogs or author websites. Exceeding character limits can risk your information getting cut off on certain platforms, so make sure you are aware of max character limits.
Series
Series information is great for marketing and promotion and can help signal to readers that your book is part of a larger story or thematic collection. Including a series number in cases where titles can stand alone may be useful for potential buyers and facilitate some discovery.
Recommendations: Provide both the series name and number, when applicable as it is optional.
Description
Your description helps potential buyers find and understand your book. It is your best chance to pitch your book and get people interested. And descriptions drive search engine results. Give readers enough information to understand what your book is, what it’s about, and if they’ll like it – key factors in deciding whether to buy your book.
Recommendations: Describe your book in simple, straightforward, and consumer-friendly terms. Utilize a conversational tone with a bolded opening line and paragraph breaks. Recommend 200 to 600 words.
Carton Quantity
Carton quantity is important to Ingram Buyers as it provides helpful information on how they buy your book.
Recommendations: Keep updated and information accurate to streamline the buying process.
BISAC
BISACs are a great way to categorize your title and help guide shelving and merchandising. BISACs allow you to target the correct audience and make it easy for retailers, libraries and online platforms to identify a books genre or topic. This helps with a book's discoverability as it makes it easier for consumers to find the genres and topics they are interested in.
Recommendations: Choose 2 to 3 specific categories (like BISAC subject code) and if you don’t find exactly what you need, supplement them with keywords.
Keywords
Give your title direction on how to connect with your audience. Keywords are specific words or phrases that encapsulate the core themes, genres, or subjects of a book. Keywords serve as the connective bridge between potential readers and books, enabling search engines and online platforms to match relevant search queries with suitable book recommendations.
Recommendations: Select 5 to 7 (or more!) compelling words or phrases that attract consumers and weave them into your metadata—such as the description, contributor biography, title, and series. Additionally, include these keywords, along with others, in the keyword field, where they will serve as hidden online search terms.
Product Media and Format
Consumers can be particular, especially on items they are passionate about. Book collectors may prioritize a hardcover over a mass market for series or titles they collect and love. Providing this information on a title makes it easy for readers shopping online to get the next book they will fall in love with.
Recommendations: Most specific description of your binding, such as mass-market paperback or hardcover etc.
Thema
BISAC subject codes are commonly used in the North American market. Using Thema codes for the rest of the world (ROW) markets ensures global visibility of your book. Many global markets will not list a book for sale if there are no Thema subjects selected for the book.
Recommendations: Consider providing this information alongside BISAC to help global visibility. Choose up to three Thema subjects codes to help describe what your book is about.
Audience
Audience is another great metadata field to target the correct readers as it is a designation of the appropriate, intended audience for your book. This can help retailers and libraries correctly shelve your titles and market to your targeted consumers.
Recommendations: Make sure your title is merchandised correctly by choosing the appropriate audience code: general/adult, juvenile (for ages 0-11) or YA (for ages 12-17). Audience codes work in tandem with BISAC codes.
Prop 65
This can be a Retailer requirement and enables consumers to make informed decisions when purchasing a product.
Grade Level & Age Range
The age range and grade level can tell parents, teachers, and librarians who the book is
appropriate for in terms of content, reading level, and themes. These fields can help readers find
books that match their comprehension and maturity levels.
Recommendation: For Young Adult and Juvenile titles make sure this is populated. Retailers and
distributors use age range and grade levels to place books in the right browsing categories or
streamline filtered search results on websites.
Pub Status
Pub Status is critical for the buying process. How a title is statused will impact how buyers and
Ingram Content Managers will purchase your title or content. A title status can also drive if and
how items are displayed on retailer websites.
Recommendations: Use iQ reporting to quickly verify title Pub Status and find any gaps or errors.
The AD HOC Metadata Details template provides an up-to-date view of current title Pub Status
in Ingram’s system
List Price
The list price, also referred to as the cover price or suggested retail price, is a crucial component
of a books metadata, influencing sales, distribution, and overall discoverability. It can determine
a title’s perceived value and helps establish its positioning within its genre or category.
Recommendations: Ensure that the List Price is correctly entered, as both retailers and
wholesalers rely on this information to determine discounts and formulate pricing. Accurate List
Price contributes directly to title discoverability. The List Price should be verified at the time of
title setup and reviewed periodically to maintain accuracy in response to changes in markets.
Language
Language is critically important for language accessibility because knowing the language
helps readers, educators, and institutions assess whether the material is appropriate for their
audience.
Recommendations: Include language information in all content and verify that it is current and
correct to ensure language accessibility for your intended readers or consumers.
Unit Dimensions & Weight
Dimensions and weight impact presentation, shelving, shipping, printing, and customer
expectations. Retailers and distributors use them to calculate shipping costs, box counts, and
storage needs. Printers depend on dimensions for trim size and cover design.
Recommendations: Make sure all products have dimensions populated to streamline operational
functions.
Page Count
Page count gives readers an idea of how long a book is, letting them decide if it suits their time
or interests. Online retailers display page numbers with price and genre, making it simple to
compare books.
Recommendations: Major retailers require page count as part of complete product data to
display accurate catalog information so make sure this is populated on book products. This may
not be applicable for all product types
Edition & Edition Number
Editions, much like series, serve as effective marketing tools and allow people to distinguish
between notably different versions of a particular work.
Recommendations: Where applicable, provide edition and edition number as this optional.
