SOMETHING IS WRONG ABOUT MY BOOK ON THE INTERNET

This happens to everyone. It's ok.

Image via XKCD

Hi friends,

Today we’re talking about a really exciting milestone in the life of a published author—the first time you find your book online. Yay!! It exists outside your computer and email! It’s (almost) a real book! Whether you find it on your publisher’s website, Amazon, B&N, Goodreads, or elsewhere, it’s very cool to see your book where other people can see it, too!

BUT OMG SOMEONE ELSE CAN NOW SEE YOUR BOOK!!!!!!!!!!

Very often, (and really, I mean very often) the listing for your book online WAY before publication (and I mean like 6 months or more before) is wrong. Your bio might be off. There could be changes to the back cover copy that didn’t get updated. The cover shown might be that one you hated and said you would never, never, never accept as your cover!!

AND THIS IS VERY DISTRESSING BECAUSE IT IS ON THE INTERNET AND EVERYONE CAN SEE IT!!!

But I promise this is ok. I frequently go over this with my clients (I <3 you all) and quell their fears about this very common occurrence.

So why does this happen? Metadata. That’s why it happens. Metadata is all the information associated with a book that isn’t the text or illustrations. The title, subtitle, author, ISBN, BISAC codes, genre, pub date, imprint, publisher, page count, back cover copy, cover illustration, copyright information, and probably even more info I don’t even know about. Editors fill out this information starting from day one of your book’s life in whatever database/software/system their publisher has, and it then feeds into pipelines (scientific term) to retailers. Not everything, but what the retailers need to sell the book.

Over time, that info changes. Maybe you wanted your middle initial as part of your author name but that’s not what was on your contract and your editor hasn’t had a second to update that and then the bots grab the metadata from the pipeline (scientific terms) and your middle initial is not there!!!!! Maybe the cover copy changes several times right before retailers start picking up the metadata. Maybe the cover changes right at the last minute. Maybe the person in charge of making all these changes left the company and no one knew they didn’t finishing updating everything until the info starts feeding out. There are many things about a book that can change, and only a few humans who make those changes, humans who are very busy doing many, many other things.

This is how mistakes end up on the internet. It’s not gross incompetence. It’s bots and databases and software. Retailers’ websites check for updates from publishers periodically and they pick up any new information and your book listing gets updated. If something really, really, really needs to get changed quickly, like someone forgot to edit out the TK TK TK TK from the back cover copy or your name is spelled wrong, then the editor will likely call their rep/administrator to that retailer/site and request they update the metadata ASAP. For less pressing changes, they update the metadata in-house, and the bots eventually pick it up. Sometimes it can take two weeks for all the new info to show up. And that’s ok. I promise.

If it’s really close to publication, things get changed much more quickly, because everyone wants the most accurate information up when the most people are going to be looking at the book. But if it’s six months before publication, it’s not that big an emergency. No one (but you and your best friend and maybe your parent) are looking at that listing. If you’re about to start a major pre-order campaign, tell your editor and they’ll rush through any needed changes. But if it’s just wrong and no one’s looking at your book yet? It’s ok to wait for the bots to fix it in their own time.

This is a normal thing. It is in most cases a non-emergency. If you see something wrong in your book listing, email your agent and editor and they’ll get it fixed. If you have sent your agent or editor a panicked email about something wrong on your book listing, don’t worry. It’s ok! We know how it feels when it’s your book. We want to get it fixed, too. A mistake doesn’t mean the publisher doesn’t care about your book. It doesn’t mean they’re sloppy and bad at their jobs. It just means they’re human and some things change faster than the bots can refresh the information. It will be ok! (And if it’s not ok, it will get fixed ASAP!)

Take care, my friends. Take your shots if you can.

OXOXOXOX,

Kate