Print-On-Demand Distribution
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      Print-on-demand Metadata Guidelines

      The ultimate guide to metadata submission for POD titles.

      Our store partners take extra care when it comes to accepting or rejecting books to achieve the highest customer satisfaction. Nobody wants unhappy readers.

      Our team follows the stores' guidelines when reviewing content to make sure that your books don't get flagged or rejected by the partner stores.

      The following guidelines are what you should keep in mind if you want a smooth publication process in all stores:

      Title and subtitle

      The title field should contain only the actual title of your book as it appears on your book cover.

      If your title does not have a subtitle, you can leave this field blank.

      Examples of items that are prohibited in the title field include but are not limited to:

      • Unauthorized reference to other titles or authors
      • Unauthorized reference to a trademarked term
      • Reference to sales rank (e.g., "bestselling")
      • Reference to advertisements or promotions (e.g., "free")
      • Keywords

       

      Other important rules we need to comply with:

      • The title always has to match the title on the cover image and inside the content file.
      • The title and subtitle in the metadata always have to be written in the same language and using the same script that is on the cover image. They also have to match the language that is selected as the primary language in the metadata.
      • The title and subtitle should always use the standard sentence case.
      • All capital letters, all lowercase or a mixture of both are not allowed, even if it’s shown that way on the cover.
      • Capitalization should follow the rules of the language the book is written in.
      • The subtitle, series numbers, genre, author name, etc. all have their own fields, please use those to enter this information, not the title.
      • The title should not contain any incorrect grammar, typos or spelling mistakes.
      • The use of ‘...’ is highly discouraged in the title and subtitle field.
      • The title cannot match exactly with another book that you already uploaded to PublishDrive.
      • Titles and subtitles that are written in a non-Latin script (for example, Arabic, Cyrillic, Korean, Japanese, Hindi, Chinese) need to have a transcription if Ingram is enabled since they make print-on-demand titles available in stores such as Barnes & Noble and Gardners, and these stores do not support non-Latin script.
      • The subtitle cannot be duplicated in the title field.
      • It is acceptable if a subtitle on the cover is not entered in the metadata or vice versa.
      • The title and the subtitle have to be in the same language. The only exception is bilingual books, here some difference is okay.
      • The subtitle cannot be in brackets.
      • The title cannot end with a period (‘.’) or a colon (‘:’) and in the latter case, be continued in the subtitle.
      • There is no character limit in place for titles or subtitles.

       

      ISBN

      For publishing a print-on-demand title, an official ISBN is needed. Unfortunately, PublishDrive can not assign an official ISBN for print-on-demand titles, it needs to be purchased by the author/publisher, who wishes to upload the print-on-demand title for distribution.

      It can be obtained from your local ISBN agency (https://www.isbn-international.org/agencies) or it can be bought from several vendors over the Internet and these are all perfectly safe to use. For those residing in the US, we recommend using Bowker (https://www.bowker.com/isbn-us) since they are the most well-known in the publishing industry.

      Please note that ISBN is the only piece of metadata that can not be changed after publication since it is the main identifier of your book, and changing it would result in technical difficulties on the distribution side. If you enter a wrong ISBN, or get an ISBN after your book is published, you will need to withdraw your book and upload it again with the correct/new ISBN.

       

      Contributors

      Author names always have to match the ones on the cover image. They cannot be a different variation of the author’s name; the cover image and the metadata have to match 100% in this case.

      As part of our requirements:

      • All authors who are listed on the cover image must also be named in the metadata under the “Authors” field.
      • Contributors such as editors or translators do not need to appear on the cover image or in the metadata, though you may include them if you wish.
      • If AI tools have contributed to the creation of your book, please also note "AI" in the creators' field: enter “AI” as the last name, and assign the role you used it for (author, translator, editor, illustrator, etc.)

      More information on AI content: https://help.publishdrive.com/ai-generated-content-what-is-it-and-why-is-it-important

      Author names should not include any additional information. Some examples that users sometimes include:

      • Mr., Mrs., Ms. prefixes
      • Roles like ‘editor’, ‘illustrator’, ‘author’ do not have to be spelled out in the metadata, it is enough to select the corresponding role from our list
      • Birth dates
      • Contact information
      • Keywords

      Dr, MD, PhD, Jr., Sr., etc. can be added here if they are added to the appropriate name field. If it is a prefix, it goes in the first name field, if it is a suffix, it goes in the last name field. Middle names are usually added to the first name field.

      The author's name always has to comply with correct capitalization rules. For example, they cannot start with lowercase letters (unless it’s a specific pen name, online alias, etc.) and they cannot be all capital letters either.

      Only authors that have published anonymously to remain unknown, or authors that are historically unidentified, can be designated as “Anonymous” or “Unknown” in the metadata. Otherwise, books without a credited author need to use the publisher’s name as the ‘editor’ in the metadata.

      All books need to have at least one author name or if that is not available, then an editor name. Editor names can be names of publishing houses, brands, website names, etc. There is more freedom here compared to the author name field.

      It is necessary to add something to the last name field, but not to the first name. If the author's name only consists of one word or the editor field has a company name for example, these need to be added to the ‘last name’ in their entirety.

      For languages that use the Eastern name order (Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Khmer, Hungarian), make sure that the names are entered in the correct order. You can enter the names using the Western convention, then use our 'Eastern name order' switch.

      Pen names can be chosen freely; however, they cannot deceive readers. For example, if someone writes romance, they cannot write under the name ‘Mr. Love’. If the genre is self-help, they cannot use names such as ‘John Doctor’ (unless it's their real name), writing about the health benefits of cannabis, they cannot select a pen name like ‘Hermione Ganja’, etc. We also do not accept pen names that have the phrase ‘pen name’ in it.

      If the author’s name is written in a non-Latin script on the cover, it has to be entered in the same script in the metadata. If they used a transcription on the cover, the same can be done in the metadata. They need to match 100%.

      If there is more than one author, they need to be entered separately in the metadata. They cannot be in one field using the ‘XY & XY’ format.

      Click on the “Add another creator” button to add a new contributor.

       

      Series

      If your book is part of a series, enter the name of the series in the “Series name” field. The series name will be displayed up after your book's title in parentheses in the stores.

      The series name must adhere to the book title guidelines above.

      Enter only the name of the series. Do not include the number in series (volume) or the title of the book.

      When you start the book upload, you will only see the “Series name” field under “Metadata”.

       

      Start typing in the title of your series, and the “Series number” field will appear.

       

      Enter the series number (volume) in the Series Number field as a single digit ("3" for the third book in a series, not "Book 3" or "Book 3 of 4"). If you include the correct series name, Amazon will automatically link your books.

       

      Description

      The description needs to be written in the same language as the primary language selected in the metadata.

      Always make sure to add the correct description if you are uploading several books at the same time.

      It is important that the description accurately describes the book and is appropriate for store distribution.

      Types of descriptions to avoid:

      • Biography of the author
      • Table of contents copied, chapter titles listed
      • A quote from a book, but no further description
      • Descriptions that are too short (one sentence, only a few words)
      • Descriptions that are too long (usually 2-3 paragraphs are preferred)
      • Text copied from Wikipedia
      • Incomplete descriptions
      • Copy pasted descriptions for all books in a series. All descriptions need to be unique.

      Elements to avoid in descriptions:

      • Search terms, keywords
      • HTML tags
      • Explicit terms, 18+ language, not even in a censored format
      • Marketing terms like ‘reduced price’, ‘low price’, ‘on sale’
      • Any references to price
      • Phrases like ‘click the buy button’ or ‘buy now’ because this does not apply in subscription-based services or library distributors
      • Contact information or personal details of the author (this should always be included in the front or end matter of the book, if necessary)
      • Advertising other products or services
      • Upselling other, more complete versions of the same product
      • Misleading information, for example, references to physical content or other content that isn’t included (“CD”, “Disc”, “Audiobook”)

      Additional formatting guidelines:

      • The description cannot be in all bold or italic text.
      • The description cannot be in all capital letters or all lowercase. Appropriate use of sentence case is required.
      • Correct use of line breaks is required.

       

      Number of pages

      All books should be at least 10 pages long (~15,000 characters). The front and back matter does not count, only the actual content.

       

      Language

      The language selected in the metadata should always match the language of the content file.

      When you reach the “Language” field, you can only see one space for selecting a language. Click on the “Add another language” filed if you wish to add more.

       

      The language you select first will be the primary language of your book. The language you select after that will be the secondary language of your book.

      A secondary language can be added, but only if a significant portion of the book is in a different language. You don't have to add a secondary language if only a few words or sentences are in a different language.

      If the book has a secondary language, the book’s description can also contain that language, but first and foremost it should still be written in the primary language.

      The metadata of the book has to be written in the same language that is selected as the primary language. This means the title, subtitle, description and keywords need to match the content file. If the language uses a non-Latin script, then it is preferable that the author's name is written in this form, but a transcription is also allowed if the author's name is written that way on the cover.

      Content on the cover image always has to be in the same language as the primary language selected.

      If the book is for people who are native speakers of X language to study Y language, X language should be selected as the primary language and Y language as the secondary one. For example: in the case of a book intended for English speakers to learn Spanish, the primary language is English and the secondary language is Spanish.

       

      Categories

      Make sure that the categories selected actually match the book. Categories are one of the most powerful tools that will help potential readers discover a book, so it is important to select them accurately.

       

      Common mistakes include:

      • Selecting completely different categories that have no relation to the book at all
      • Incorrectly selecting a genre like drama or comic books to books that do not fall into these categories. Make sure you also check the main category that your selected sub-category falls under!
      • Drama categories can only be used for books written in the screenplay or theatrical play format. First-time authors sometimes think that Drama applies to their book if it has a dramatic plot. While that is the case for movies or TV shows, it is not applicable in book publishing.
      • Poetry books should always have categories that are under the Poetry main category.
      • Fiction and Nonfiction categories should not be used together. There might be a very few exceptions where it can be accepted, but the general rule is to choose one or the other, depending on the book’s nature. The general rule is to make sure that your book doesn't have clashing categories.

       

      Other tips:

      • It is not obligatory to utilize all three category slots, but using the maximum available slots can help your book gain visibility in stores.
      • The main categories Juvenile Fiction/Nonfiction apply to books targeted at children and the main categories Young Adult Fiction/Nonfiction apply to books targeted at older teens and college age readers. Juvenile categories require a target age group.
      • If one of the categories have ‘Erotica’ in them or imply erotic content (and most importantly, if your book does indeed have erotic content in it!), make sure that adult content is indicated in other parts of the metadata.

      Read more about selecting the appropriate adult content category here: https://help.publishdrive.com/what-kind-of-adult-content-categories-does-publishdrive-accept

       

      Adult content

      If your print-on-demand title has adult content, please select “Yes” and then select the appropriate category, based on the type of adult content your print-on-demand title has.

      This is needed to ensure that titles which include adult content will not be delivered to stores, for example, that specializes in children’s books.

      If your print-on-demand title does not include erotic scenes, but it does include for example violence, please select the “Adult, but not erotic” category.

      If your print-on-demand titles does not have any adult content, please select “No”.

      Learn more about adult content, and what the categories include: https://help.publishdrive.com/what-kind-of-adult-content-categories-does-publishdrive-accept

       

      Target audience

      It is quite self-explanatory: only make sure that the selected target audience roughly fits with who you mainly want to reach with your book.

      The huge majority of books will be fine with ‘General’ selected as the target audience, except for children’s books and academic publications.

      The target audience ‘Adult education’ often causes some confusion, but it simply applies to educational materials aimed at an adult audience who are over the typical secondary or higher education age. It does not mean ‘adult’ as in erotic content.

      A target audience example for the categories selected above:

      As young adult categories were selected, the best practice is to select “Young Adult” as the target audience.

       

       

      Keywords

      The keywords have to match the book, make sure you do not enter any that are not connected to the book’s topic.

      By default, you can enter seven different keywords, but they are not mandatory, if you wish, you can enter less than seven, or even skip them and not enter any. However, to ensure that you maximize your print-on-demand title’s visibility in stores, it is recommended to enter at least a few that matches the main topic.

      When you reach this section of the book upload page, you can only see three free slots for keywords – but do not worry, more will appear as you start to type them in.

       

       

      The keyword field cannot contain:

      • store names
      • references to price
      • references to other authors or books by other authors
      • references to sales rank (for example, 'bestselling')
      • advertisement or promotions
      • a description of the book instead of keywords

       

      Digital list price

      Pay attention to entering a price that is higher than the minimum. The minimum price is calculated based on the length and the interior color of your print-on-demand title, to ensure after each sale your book generates; you will not earn a negative amount. 

       

      If you wish to learn more about printing cost before you start the upload process of your print-on-demand title, we have the perfect tool for you: the Printing cost calculator.

      It can be found on the left side menu as “Printing cost calculator”.

      By entering the trim size and the page count of your print-on-demand title, and selecting the interior color, it will calculate the exact printing cost you need to take into account when setting the price.

       

      An example for the calculation with Amazon:

      Price of the book: 34.99 USD

      Distribution cost set by Amazon: 50%

      Manufacturing cost: 5.56 USD

      Author’s earnings: 34.99 * 50% - 5.56 = 11.93 USD.

       

      Learn more about author royalty rates per store here: https://publishdrive.com/stores.html

       

      Publication date

      The only thing to keep in mind here is that the publication date cannot go back too much into the past.

      The publication date can be in the future, too. In this case you can upload the final file or a placeholder file.

      Currently, Ingram and Amazon Print accept pre-orders for print-on-demand books. If you wish to sell your book in these stores before the release date, select a future date by clicking on the “Else” button on the book upload form, and select if the content file you uploaded is the final version or not.