Although I worked for a computer software company, I am not a technical person. I did not grow up with computers and my learning has been trial and error. Sometimes this learning has been painful and other times it has been fun. Computer and Internet learning is an integral part of writing.

Still, learning is difficult. I keep hoping I’ve crossed some sort of threshold and become computer literate. This is partly true, and I keep learning new things.

I recently listened to a podcast, “Metadata Is Your Brand,” by Kathy Meis, founder of Bublish. According to Meis, metadata is information that computers use to access information, or, in the case of one author, “online book discovery.” If you and I had metadata dashboards, how would we rate? What would we rate?

Book category. Your editor will be happy to help you choose a category. Since I write books on health and wellness, I thought my category would be “health.” Not so. It turns out that “self-help” and “inspiration” fit together. You must know your category or categories six months before your book goes into production.

Keywords. Right after I signed my book contract, my publisher asked me to think about keywords. Some of the words: family, caregiver, caregiver, care recipient, home health, and health care. Brainstorm keywords for your book and try to find 25 of them.

Photos. Look at book covers on publishers’ websites and on Amazon. Keep in mind that some covers stand out and others look poor in comparison. The cover of your book should be eye-catching and include elements that represent the content. The book covers can be changed. When my publishing house was bought by another company, I asked for a book cover to be changed. The owner was happy to comply.

Rentals. This category includes the publisher’s website, Amazon listing, eBook listing, and online presence. With these things in mind, I added additional information to the bottom of my emails: Visit (website link), Learn (blog link), Like (Facebook link), Connect (LinkedIn link) and Follow (link from Twitter).

Get Amazon reviews. Your options include asking friends to post reviews, paying for reviews, putting an electronic version on a review website, book groups, and clubs. Getting reviews is a slow process, so please wait a long time. Send friendly reminders to friends who have agreed to write reviews but haven’t.

Use hashtags. This is a new practice for me and it may be new to you. Think of hashtags as a system of file categories. Rachael Sprung explains it in his web article, “How to Use Hashtags in Your Social Media Marketing.” Three suggestions from him: 1) Be unique and specific; 2) Make it easy to remember; 3) Use in multiple social networks.

You can improve your metadata information, but it is an ongoing and detailed task. What would you look for if you wanted to discover your book? Think creatively, think technically, and think metadata. Help spread the word about the book you care about so much.