Writers and Editors

Aug 04, 2017 12:27 PM EDT

The Secret Language of Books: What Authors Need to Know About Metadata (Phuong Mai, Digital Book World, 7-26-17) The metadata coordinator at Chronicle Books in San Francisco emphasizes the importance of authors taking more control over the metadata that accompanies their books. Metadata is "not just the words contained in those pages, but the things that describe your book’s physicality (binding type, number of pages, trim size), production (the design of the book, where it was printed, total print run), descriptive text and subject matter (book descriptions, biographies, categories and themes, audience information), and other data elements (ISBN, price, literary reviews, territorial rights). Hundreds of data elements are hidden from view of the final customer, but they all comprise a finished book. While there are many things that should be left in the hands of publishers, authors should feel free to be involved with their works in a number of ways after they have gone to print."

- PM