Hey y’all, it’s KimBoo! I’m an author and a podcaster who is also a librarian, text technology historian, and former I.T. project manager. I write about a lot of interesting things, I hope you agree! Please consider supporting me so I can keep throwing errata & etcetera into the Scriptorium!
Here’s a fun question for every author who spends too much time staring at the “keywords” box on Amazon: what exactly is metadata, and why should you care?
Okay maybe it’s not that fun, but it is important!
Most writers think metadata begins and ends with categories and keywords for Amazon, or maybe BISAC codes if you’re feeling fancy. But metadata is a bit like an iceberg: what you can see above the surface is only a small fraction of what it actually does. And, like icebergs, it can either keep your boat afloat… or take it down.
Before you panic, take a deep breath! As a librarian, I studied things like taxonomies, metadata, paratext, cataloguing, and other obscure but incredibly important elements of information technology. I know just how complicated and arcane those topics can be, but I’m here to simplify it for you!
No, you won’t have to memorize schema.org fields (IYKYK!). You just need to know how metadata and paratext work together. They are simply two halves of the same coin.
The Basics
Metadata and paratext overlap in content, but not purpose. The title of a book, along with the author, the genre, and the blurb, are all important bits of information that can function as both.
Metadata is structured information about a thing, designed primarily for systems, not humans. The title and other data (along with the ISBN, tags, publication date, and more) let the system know what your book is and where it belongs. Metadata is functional.
Paratext is the interpretive framing that surrounds a work and shapes how humans experience it. It tells potential readers what they will feel if they read the book. So, yes, the title and the blurb and the writer and the cover are all paratext, too, but remember: the purpose of paratext is narrative.
Two Jobs for One Book
Think of your book like a job applicant. Metadata is its résumé: organized facts and descriptors that tell the algorithm (or librarian, or bookstore database) what it is: title, author, keywords, categories, ISBN, file type, page count, etc. All very tidy and measurable.
Paratext, on the other hand, is the cover letter and the outfit your book wears to the interview. It’s the tone of your back-cover blurb, the emotional atmosphere of your cover design, the tagline that whispers “you want to read me.” If metadata says “This is a fantasy novel set in an alternate Victorian England,” paratext says “Come wander the gaslit streets with a heroine who can outwit the devil himself.”
See? Same content. Different job.
Why This Matters for Writers
Because the way your book finds readers is not the same as how it keeps them.
Metadata is all about visibility. It feeds the search engines and recommendation systems that decide what readers see. It’s all about how your book functions within a massive, impersonal ecosystem of algorithms, classification, and databases. That’s the brain: metadata.
Paratext is about persuasion. It shapes the reader’s expectations, mood, and sense of whether this story belongs to them. How does your book make a reader feel when they encounter it? What’s the atmosphere, the promise, the allure? That’s the heart: paratext.
Confusing one for the other can sabotage both.
You can have flawless metadata that makes your book discoverable, but if the paratext (cover, blurb, description) doesn’t emotionally connect, readers will scroll right past.
Conversely, you can have dazzling design and a killer tagline, but if your metadata is vague (“General Fiction,” “Fantasy”), nobody is going to stumble across it in the first place.
And here’s the super annoying truth: one doesn’t work without the other. Metadata might get your book in front of 10,000 readers, but your paratext is what convinces some of those people to click “Buy.”
Making This Work for You
You don’t need to become a metadata specialist (that’s MY job!) but you do need to treat your metadata fields and paratext elements as part of one coherent reader experience.
When you’re updating your book details, pay attention to:
Keywords and categories: Are they accurate and specific? Do they reflect the story’s actual audience, not just a dream market?
Title and subtitle: Do they include natural language cues readers might actually type into a search bar?
Blurb and jacket copy: Do they echo the mood implied by your cover art and reinforce what your metadata claims the book is?
Series or author branding: Does your metadata reinforce continuity? Does your paratext carry an identifiable tone or promise that makes readers recognize you at a glance?
The Takeaway
Metadata and paratext are not separate worlds, they’re partners:
Metadata helps your book get found.
Paratext helps your book be chosen.
And both are, ultimately, part of your storytelling craft. Your story starts long before a reader opens it to the first page, often as early as when potential readers see a thumbnail image of your cover while scrolling Amazon on their lunch break. How did they find it, and what’s the author promise?
Get that part right, and the algorithms will be happy. But more importantly, the readers will be, too.
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