by Nielsen BookData
In the ever-evolving world of publishing, the importance of good metadata cannot be overstated. Nielsen BookData, a specialist in bibliographic metadata and market trends, plays a pivotal role in this landscape. With a global reach that spans 93 countries, Nielsen BookData collects data for English-language books, including audio and ebooks, from over 60,000 publishers and suppliers worldwide. This data is gathered through electronic data feeds and an online title editing service, ensuring comprehensive coverage with the help of a data partner in the US.
However, the journey of metadata begins long before it reaches our systems. We collaborate with trade bodies on both national and international levels, fostering industry-wide cooperation to create standards and best practice guidelines. These efforts are crucial in meeting the modern book supply chain’s needs and encouraging the adoption of these standards.
Our Testing & Integration team works closely with publishers who supply data via the ONIX message for books. This collaboration ensures that the metadata is complete, meets the highest standards, and provides Nielsen BookData with the most comprehensive product records available. Every ONIX feed undergoes a meticulous testing process to maintain these standards.
The small publisher portal, Title Editor, is another vital tool in our arsenal. It ensures that self and small publishers entering and uploading their product records meet at least a minimum bibliographic standard. The portal offers an extensive template for uploading complete bibliographic records, making the process seamless and efficient.
Our involvement in the industry extends to various committees and working groups. Our Managing Director, Andre Breedt, is on the International ISBN Agency board and Jon Windus, Product Leadership Director, currently chairs the Book Industry Communication (BIC) committee, with other colleagues representing Nielsen BookData on each of the five BIC leadership committees. Howard Willows, Senior Manager for Data Development, plays an instrumental role in the development of the Thema Classification System. As a global database, we collaborate with publishers based in New Zealand and Australia, India, South Africa, and the UAE to improve local supply chain data.
Our research The Importance of Metadata for Discovery and Sales (2020) firmly established the relationship between physical book sales and the provision of high quality metadata in the supply chain. This report concluded that there was a strong correlation between the completeness of book metadata and book sales, illustrating that rich metadata assists the discoverability of books.
Furthermore, we work with book distributors in the UK, New Zealand, Australia, and beyond to ensure we have the most up-to-date market price and availability information. Daily update feeds from key distributors keep the data current and reliable. Nearly 11m records are held on the database across both the Australian and New Zealand territories alone.
Thanks to our comprehensive metadata we are able to use that bibliographic information to inform our sales tracking and measurement service, now available in 17 countries, including Australia and New Zealand. BookScan provides independent and authoritative sell-through data to enable publishers to make better decisions around reprints and publishing opportunities, and for retailers, to spot gaps and fast-movers for stock control. Independent bestseller charts supplied to the media help consumers understand what they should buy. When combined with our metadata services, this ensures that BookData is a comprehensive and valuable partner to the book supply chain on all fronts.
In conclusion, Nielsen BookData’s dedication to maintaining high standards in bibliographic metadata is evident in our extensive collaborations, rigorous testing processes, and continuous efforts to improve data quality. Our work not only supports the publishing industry but also ensures that accurate and comprehensive metadata is available to all stakeholders, including global retailers to populate their websites, ultimately benefiting the entire book supply chain by enabling consumer book sales.
For further information on Nielsen BookData services, please contact:
NZ: infobooknz@nielseniq.com
Au: infobookdataaus@nielseniq.com