Welcome to London Book Fair Indie Author Fringe: Jay Artale, David Penny, Orna Ross

It has been some time since I reported on a survey, so maybe people are starting to recover a little from the survey fatigue that can set in sometimes. If that applies to you, then you might want to take a moment to answer some of the questions for Publishing Perspectives on a topic close to many of our hearts: awards. Which is very appropriate, as we started the week with an announcement about the Selfies.

ALLi nonfiction adviser Anna Featherstone speaks with Abbey Clark of NielsenIQ BookData Australia about book metadata—what it is, why it matters, and how it shapes discoverability and distribution across the publishing ecosystem. Clark offers clear, practical advice on when to set up metadata, how to keep it updated, and the common pitfalls authors and publishers can avoid. The conversation prompted Featherstone to update her own metadata right away and offers useful guidance for any author who wants to give a book the best chance of being found.

Huge news to start the week. I have been reporting on the Selfies for a decade, and it is always one of my favorite tasks to highlight indie author success. The Selfies have expanded a little in that time and now have three categories: general fiction; children’s (and young adult) fiction; and memoir.