Publishers around the world struggle with how their metadata morphs as it travels from their domains into the wilds of retailers, distributors, and other partners. Despite the use of industry standards like ONIX, there is still a lot of inconsistency that can happen when a title record is sent out to so many different destinations. In this session, we will look at that flow of data and consider some of the best practices you can use to make your metadata more consistent and more robust across various end points. We will talk about: the flow metadata takes both inside and outside a publishing house; how the flow of metadata is affected by different metadata formats; real-world examples of metadata that is delivered to different retailers, with explanations of the differences and quirks you’ll encounter; and, best practices for creating and maintaining your metadata.

1. Understanding Your
Metadata's Journey
Joshua Tallent
@jtallent

2. History.com

3. Wikimedia

4. Wikimedia

5. Wikimedia

6. Pexels

7. Wikimedia

8. WHAT IS AT STAKE?
Pexels

16. A TALE OF TWO BOOKS
Pixabay

18. Description Author Bio Excerpt Reviews
   
   

20. INTERNAL METADATA FLOW
Google

24. Pexels

25. Unsplash, Natalie Fox

26. Unsplash, Eric Rothermel

27. EXTERNAL METADATA FLOW
Pixabay

28. History.com

29. Pexels

30. 2/1/2017
Retailer
Publisher
M. Night
Shyamalan

31. Retailer
Shamalan
Publisher

32. Retailer
Publisher
Wholesaler
Data
Aggregator
Shamalan

33. Retailer
Publisher
DelayWholesaler
Data
Aggregator
Delay
Shamalan

34. Retailer
Shyamalan
Publisher
DelayWholesaler
Data
Aggregator
Delay

35. Retailer
Shamalan
Publisher
DelayWholesaler
Data
Aggregator
Delay

36. Retailer
Publisher
DelayWholesaler
Data
Aggregator
Delay
Shyamalan

37. Retailer
Shamalan
Publisher
Old
Distributor
DelayWholesaler
Data
Aggregator
Delay

38. Retailer
$0.99
Publisher
Other
Retailer
DelayWholesaler
Data
Aggregator
Delay

39. YouTube

40. of publishers manually check
their metadata
of publishers say their
metadata is altered

41. Columbia Pictures Corporation

42. Cookie Jar Entertainment Inc.

43. EXAMPLE TIME!
Pixabay

44. GAM019000 GAMES / Activity Books
(incl. Coloring Books)
Childrens » Activities » Coloring Books
US
Arts & Photography > Drawing > Coloring
Books for Grown-Ups > Flowers & Landscapes
Canada
Humour & Entertainment > Puzzles & Games

50. ≠

51. ≠

55. Contributor Roles
1. Amazon
2. Barnes & Noble
3. Indigo (Canada)
4. Books-a-Million
5. IndieBound

65. Wk1 Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Wk10 Wk11
2015 1,047 788 922 818 759 1,171 1,559 2,056 2,949 5,647 6,043
2016 637 669 683 937 774 1,066 1,525 3,164 5,366 8,660 11,740
% -39% -15% -26% 15% 2% -9% -2% 54% 82% 53% 94%
-60%
-40%
-20%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
-
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000

67. firebrandtech.com/keywords

68. Conclusion

69. 1. AUTOMATE ALL THE THINGS

70. 2. TARGET YOUR TARGETS

71. 3. FOCUS ON QUALITY

72. 4. GIVE IT MORE POWER

73. 5. RETURN TO YOUR DATA

75. Joshua Tallent
Director of Outreach and Education
joshua@firebrandtech.com
978-225-2757
www.firebrandtech.com
@jtallent @firebrandtech