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D2D quite fussy about metadata

1.9K views 4 replies 3 participants last post by  Stan123  
#1 ·
I uploaded my book to D2D and I received this message:

Metadata Issue: There is an issue with your metadata that prevents distribution.
The reviewer included the following note:
Current vendor formatting guidelines prohibits additional information in the description, such as search terms, tags, contents lists or keywords, beyond what’s necessary to describe the book.
Not exactly specific.

D2D seems to be quite fussy about metadata. To try and figure out precisely what's bugging them, will seem to be some undertaking.
I used the exact same metadata for Ingram with no problems whatsoever.

At first I saw that my keywords in the search terms field were not individual items. I re-submitted and still got the above message. I do not see anything out of the ordinary which is quite concerning if this is the start I am having with them.
 
#3 ·
It said description yes. But in my experience, when channel reviewers also mention things like keywords or search terms, they may be referring to other parts of the metadata outside of the actual blurb also. Almost as if a bot gave a generic reply. But I think you are right, in this instance it was more than likely in the description itself.

I ended up removing a section as a test to see how they would react. The section was actually descriptive to the book, but I would not have considered it keyword stuffing. There was also not url's in my blurb. It could also possibly be bullet characters that triggered this.

The book ended up being accepted and published after the change. Strange that D2D would be more fussy than Ingram. I thought it would be the other way around.
 
#4 ·
You may not consider it keyword stuffing, but D2D doesn't allow keywords and such things in the actual description you provide. I know it's a thing on Google, but other sites don't like it. Even Amazon doesn't like it, mainly because descriptions aren't searchable, so it's not helpful and looks awful. I believe I've read the D2D customers don't allow such things, so they don't want it done to begin with.

I can't remember at the moment Smashword's rules, but since they're part of D2D now, and soon to become their store fully, I doubt it will be accepted there, either.