Books, Marketing & Metadata

The promotion and distribution of books in the new environment of a connected world

Richard StarkDirector of Product Data, Barnes & Noble

Chair of the BISG Metadata Committee

La Feria Internacional del Libro de Bogotá 19 de abril de 2012

Positioning Strategies and Increasing Sales

Books: It all begins with the book, but what exactly is a book now?

Marketing: Mobile marketing, marketing online, reaching your customers wherever they are.

Metadata: What, exactly, is metadata, and what does it have to do with books and the marketing of books?

Agenda

It begins with a book…

But what, exactly, is a book

nowadays?

Books come in physical formats

But now books come on these devices as well

Regardless of its format, each book we have loved…

…began with an author...

…and ended with a reader.

Our business is to connect authors to readers.

Technology doesn’t change that.

How we connect readers to books (and their authors) has changed

People still want these…

But they also want these

We want readers to find our books however they wish to read them

In the month of January 2011, e-books comprised 31 percent of all adult trade book sales in the U.S.

Yet print book sales continue to rise and many owners of e-book readers continue to buy print books

No ha muerto

Readers can purchase physical books in many places…

At traditional independent bookshops

At national and international

bookstore chains

At “big box”

stores

From a table on

the street

Readers can purchase and read e-books in many places…

You probably already know how to sell books in these places…

At traditional independent bookshops

At national and international

bookstore chains

At “big box”

stores

Library & school

markets

But how well do you know how to sell books on these?

Is Your Book Discoverable On:

Facebook: Give your customers the opportunity to “like” a book and share their opinion. Pay attention to what they say in their comments.

Twitter: Does your author “tweet”? Should your author “tweet”? Consider the book’s audience.

Google: You should “tell” Google how to discover your book. Don’t let them drive the discovery process.

How do you get your book discovered?

• People are so inundated with advertising that your products can easily be overlooked.

• Making your advertising bigger and louder doesn’t necessarily mean people will notice your ad.

Remember, in digital marketing:

Help Your Customers Find Your Products

• Your customers will find you more often than your ad will find them.

• Your products must be discoverable, regardless of the site, the service, or the app they are using.

• If they don’t find your products, they will find your competitors’ products

Today’s Readers Are Smart Consumers

They will find the same book at your competitor…

…while they are standing in your store…

…and they will order it from your competitor while they are standing in your store.

We must reach readers wherever they are.

But how?

The “Secret” to reaching your customers, wherever they are is:

What is metadata anyway?

According to Webster, metadata is:

Data about other data.

That’s right…

Los datos sobre otros datos.

¿Cómo se dice “una definición circular" en ingles?

Samuel Johnson would not accept such a definition

...wherever I turned my view, there was perplexity to be

disentangled and confusion to be regulated...

In the preface to his famous dictionary (the first comprehensive dictionary of the English language), Johnson wrote:

Disentangling the perplexity of metadata

• Metadata is, simply, the information that describes the “data”

• For our purposes, the “data” is the book

• In other contexts, metadata describes a web page, an XML message, a film, etc.

When your product metadata is accurate and

comprehensive, your customers will find this…

Bogotá, Colombia

• Pop. 6,840,116

• Founded 1537

• Elevation: 2,625 m

• Storied history

• Seat of national government

• Center of business

• Center of learning

• Pronounced \bō-gō-Ntä,\

Instead of this…

Bogota, New Jersey

• Population 8,187

• Founded 1894

• Elevation: 17 m

• Named for 17th-century Dutch settler Roelof Bogert

• Home of Andy’s Corner Bar (say hello to Tommy the bartender when you visit)

• Pronounced /bə̕Nɡoʊtə̕/ (rhymes with pagoda)

If we think of the book itself as the data…

Then this is the metadata:

• ISBN

• Author• Publisher• Publication

Date• Page count

• Price

• Format/binding• Status/availability

• Subjects• Language• Series• Edition

• etc.

• Title

Metadata used to look like this:Author

Title

Publisher

ISBN

Subjects

Catalog cards, MARC records, ONIX product records all carry the same basic information: The book’s metadata.

And it used to be stored in this:

Now metadata looks like this:Title

Author

Publisher

Publication date

ISBN

Format

Page count

And it is stored in this:

Book product metadata is…• Your book’s “business card”

It lists your book’s credentials

• Your book’s listing in the “Yellow Pages”

It tells your customers how & where to find your book

• Your book’s “real estate listing” It lists your book’s selling points vs. other

books

Needless to say, you want your book product metadata to be

accurate.

When it isn’t accurate, the results can be frightening…

Title: You two are my favorites

Subject: NeuropsychopharmacologySubject: ResearchSubject: PsychiatrySubject: NeurosciencesSubject: NeuropharmacologySubject: NeurophysiologySubject: Mental DisordersSubject: MunichSubject: NeuropsychiatrySubject: Canadian poetrySubject: Feature films

Subject: Psychiatry -- Research.Subject: Photovoltaic power generation.Subject: Solar cells.Subject: Munich (Germany) Pictorial works.Subject: Opioid habit.Subject: Buprenorphine -- Therapeutic use -- Congresses.Subject: Prose poems, Canadian.Subject: Opioid-Related Disorders.Subject: Poâesie canadienne-anglaiseSubject: Poáemes en prose canadiens-anglaisSubject: Buprenorphine

An actual catalog record

Edition Number: 3rd ed., rev.Edition Description: Includes bibliographical references and index.Series: NIH publication Series Volume: 121Publication Date: c2000Illustrations: YesPages: 432 p.

Publisher Comments: The cultural and natural World Heritage thirty years after the adoption by UNESCO of the World Heritage Convention (1972).Production: Director, H.S. Rawail ; music, Madan Mohan, Jaidev.Performance: Rishi Kapoor, Ranjeeta, Ranjeet, Danny Denzongpa.Publisher: HenRhoad ProductionsLocation: Columbus, Ind.

ISBN-13: 9780123456786 ISBN-10: 0123456789

Accurate product metadata: A true story

Cien años de soledad Cien anos de soledad

Perdona la palabra,por favor.

Accurate, timely product metadata increases sales.

This has been proven…

Metadata and salesAccording to a Nielsen study of the top-selling 100,000 books in the U.K. in 2011:

Books without complete basic data or an image sold, on average, 385 copies in 2011.

Books that added a cover image saw sales increase to 1,416, a 268% boost. Books with complete basic data but no image had average sales under 437 copies.

Books with all of the necessary data and image requirements, had average sales reach 2,205. This represents an increase of 473% in comparison to those records which have neither the complete basic data elements or an image.

So how do I ensure quality metadata?

Follow international standards and best practices

ISBN

ONIX

BISG Product Metadata Best Practices or BIC Basic

ISNI

BISAC or BIC Subjects

ISBN: International Standard Book Number

• ISBN was first standardized in 1972• One of the most successful information standards

every adopted• In late 1990s, a shortage of numbers loomed• Standard revised in 2005: ISBN lengthened to 13

digits• ISBN-13 formally launched in January 2007• 979- prefix ISBNs are already in use in France• ISBN-10 should always be converted to ISBN-13

Print Books and e-books Need ISBNs

• Each distinct format of a book needs its own ISBN– Don’t recycle print ISBNs for e-books!

• If you publish e-books in more than one format, (e.g, both ePUB & PDF), each format should get its own ISBN

• Each separately traded book product needs its own ISBN. – This helps ensure you will get paid properly and get

credited for the sale.

• Google and other search engines love ISBNs– Make sure your book is returned in an ISBN search

ONIX (ONline Information eXchange)

• Highly robust information standard capable of conveying rich product data

• XML-based• Large base of suppliers and recipients• Version 2.1 released in 2003; widely adopted in

North America• Version 2.1 offers good support for e-book data• Version 3.0 released in 2010; gaining acceptance

internationally among e-book publishers• Version 3.0 offers detailed support for e-book data• Detailed Best Practices are available

ONIX Looks Like This <ProductIdentifier> <ProductIDType>15</ProductIDType> <IDValue>9789875780644</IDValue> </ProductIdentifier> <ProductForm>BC</ProductForm> <ProductFormDetail>B106</ProductFormDetail> <Title> <TitleType>01</TitleType> <TitleText>La vida breve</TitleText> <TitlePrefix>La</TitlePrefix> <TitleWithoutPrefix>vida breve</TitleWithoutPrefix> <Subtitle>Town and District</Subtitle> </Title> <Contributor> <SequenceNumber>1</SequenceNumber> <ContributorRole>A01</ContributorRole> <PersonName>Juan Carlos Onetti</PersonName> <PersonNameInverted>Onetti, Juan Carlos</PersonNameInverted> <NamesBeforeKey>Juan Carlos</NamesBeforeKey> <KeyNames>Onetti</KeyNames> </Contributor> <EditionTypeCode>NED</EditionTypeCode> <EditionNumber>1</EditionNumber> <Language> <LanguageRole>01</LanguageRole> <LanguageCode>spa</LanguageCode> </Language> <NumberOfPages>420</NumberOfPages> <BICMainSubject>FA</BICMainSubject> <Subject> <SubjectSchemeIdentifier>13</SubjectSchemeIdentifier> <SubjectCode>1KL</SubjectCode> <Subect> <AudienceCode>01</AudienceCode>

Format

Title

Author/contributor

Edition information

Language

Page countSubject

ISBN

Once you load the ONIX files into your systems, you can easily output the data to a web site

<ProductIdentifier> <ProductIDType>15</ProductIDType> <IDValue>9789875780644</IDValue> </ProductIdentifier> <ProductForm>BC</ProductForm> <ProductFormDetail>B106</ProductFormDetail> <Title> <TitleType>01</TitleType> <TitleText>La vida breve</TitleText> <TitlePrefix>La</TitlePrefix> <TitleWithoutPrefix>vida breve</TitleWithoutPrefix> <Subtitle>Town and District</Subtitle> </Title> <Contributor> <SequenceNumber>1</SequenceNumber> <ContributorRole>A01</ContributorRole> <PersonName>Juan Carlos Onetti</PersonName> <PersonNameInverted>Onetti, Juan Carlos</PersonNameInverted> <NamesBeforeKey>Juan Carlos</NamesBeforeKey> <KeyNames>Onetti</KeyNames> </Contributor> <EditionTypeCode>NED</EditionTypeCode> <EditionNumber>1</EditionNumber> <Language> <LanguageRole>01</LanguageRole> <LanguageCode>spa</LanguageCode> </Language> <NumberOfPages>420</NumberOfPages> <BICMainSubject>FA</BICMainSubject> <Subject> <SubjectSchemeIdentifier>13</SubjectSchemeIdentifier> <SubjectCode>1KL</SubjectCode> <Subect> <AudienceCode>01</AudienceCode>

ONIX, Alas, Is Not Magic• ONIX won’t improve your metadata by itself

• It is just a container in which you move your product metadata

• You have to improve the data in your own systems

• Best practices can help you do this

• ONIX Best Practices

• BISG Product Metadata Best Practices

• BIC Basic

• Two sets of Best Practices:• For data providers (e.g., publishers, distributors, data aggregators)

• For data recipients (e.g., booksellers, libraries, data aggregators)

• Guidance on when data providers should supply various metadata elements, e.g.:• Author name should be supplied 180 days before a book is released

• Page count may be estimated until 30 days prior to a book’s publication

• Establishes minimum levels of service for data recipients• Recipients should acknowledge receipt of metadata

• Metadata should be processed promptly

BISG Product Metadata Best Practices Overview

• Based on the ONIX for Books metadata standard

• Limited to 30 key data elements

• Compatible with

• BIC Basic

• Canadian Bibliographic Standard

• Detailed style rules on each data element available in Product Metadata Best Practices

• Although based on ONIX, an Excel template is also provided

BISG Product Metadata Best Practices for Data Providers

BISG Product Metadata Best Practices Focus on These Core Data Elements

1. Standard Product Identifier (ISBN-13/GTIN-13/EAN-13)

2. Title/Name of Product3. Contributor(s)4. Publisher/Imprint/Brand Name 5. Price(s)6. Publisher's Proprietary Discount Code 7. Publisher Status Code 8. Product Availability Code 9. Product Form

(Format/Binding/Packaging) 10. DRM/Usage Constraints11. Software/Hardware requirements12. Publication Date(s)13. Strict-On-Sale Date 14. BISAC Subject/BIC Subject15. Language(s) of Product Content 16. Series/Set Information

17. Edition Information 18. Intended Audience for Product19. Case Pack/Carton Quantity 20. Related products21. Territorial Rights22. Bar Code Indicator23. Weight and Dimensions24. Return Code25. Extent (Page Count/ Running

Time/File Size)26. Distributor(s)/Vendor(s) of Record27. Number of Pieces28. Textual Description(s) of Product &

Other Text (e.g., sample chapter)29. Illustration & Multimedia details30. Digital Image(s) of Product

BIC Basic consists of three elements:

• A statement of the basic data elements of a product record, whether for physical or digital products, which publishers and bibliographic agencies should be able to provide, accurately and on time, to UK retail booksellers and other supply chain intermediaries.

• A set of guidelines and recommendations for the provision of product data.

• A timetable for publishers for the electronic supply of product data to data aggregators.

BIC Basic

• Industry-standard in the United States and Canada

• 52 major subject headings sections defining broad subject areas

• 3,822 detailed subject categories

• BISAC also has separate listing of 77 Merchandising Themes listing seasonal, cultural, and topical themes that cross subjects

• BISAC also publishes a list of Regional Themes that allow for geographical classification of books across subjects

• Actively maintained and updated annually by BISG

• Easily mapped from BIC Subject Categories

BISAC Subject Codes

• Industry-standard in the United Kingdom

• Widely used in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa

• 18 sections defining broad subject areas

• Over 2,600 detailed subject categories

• Separate children’s section that covers all subjects

• All codes are hierarchically arranged, and of various length depending on their position in the hierarchy

• Over 900 Qualifiers covering 5 distinct additional aspects:

BIC Subject Categories

• Geographical area

• Language

• Time Period

• Educational Purpose

• Interest Age & Special Interest

BIC Subject Categories have been adapted for use in:

New IBIC Subject Taxonomy• Italy• Sweden

• Russia• Spain

• At the 2011 Frankfurt Book Fair, EDItEUR announced the development of a new global, multilingual subject classification scheme

• Will be based on the long-established BIC subject categories

• Individual countries’ needs will be met by extensions to the ‘qualifiers’ which define geographical, historical, educational and other country-specific aspects.

• First release of the new scheme is planned for October 2012

• Participation and support from publishing industries in:

• United Kingdom• Spain• Italy• Sweden

• Germany• Portugal• Netherlands• Norway

• Arab countries

• Each Public identity of a given Party gets its own ISNI:

• Lewis Caroll & Charles Lutwidge Dodgson get separate ISNIs

• Separate identities that are the same person can be linked

• Authors of the same name get distinct ISNIs:

• Thomas Wolfe

• Tom Wolfe, author of The Bonfire of the Vanities

• Tom Wolfe, author of numerous books on woodcarving

ISNI: International Standard Name Identifier

• Günter Graß, Guenter Grass and Guenter Graß are character set variances of the same Public Identity

• Ciaikovsky, Pjotr Iljc and Пётр Ильич Чайковский are transliteration variances of the same public identity and also receive the same ISNI.

• Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Peter Tchaikovsky are linguistic variances of the same public identity and again receive the same ISNI

Character-Set & Spelling Differences Don’t Change the ISNI

• ISBN: www.isbn-international.org

• Or consult your national ISBN agency

• ONIX: www.editeur.org

• EDItEUR maintains many useful standards in addition to ONIX

• BIC: www.bic.org.uk

• For information on BIC Basic & BIC Subject Categories

• BISG: www.bisg.org

• For information on BISG Product Metadata Best Practices & BISAC Subject Codes

For More Information

• Standardization is about developing scalability• How quickly could the e-book business have

grown without the acceptance of the ePub standard?• What if there were dozens of e-book file

types instead of the ePub?• How difficult would it have been for the retail

sector to grow without the EAN and bar code standards?

• Working together we make it easy for every organization to operate in the information economy

The Importance of Standards

• Get your product metadata right and your customers will find your products

• Don’t be wedded to your existing methods of production, marketing, and developing new authors

• If you build it correctly, they will come.

Remember…

The Liberator rhymes with Oliver

Remember Accurate Product Metadata…

And you won’t confuse this…

…with this.

Muchas gracias.

Richard StarkDirector of Product Data, Barnes & Noble

Chair of the BISG Metadata Committee

rstark@bn.com+1-212-352-3816

rstark@speakeasy.net+1-917-535-5258