I finally got around to creating an ebook with Calibre on my Mac. Easy peasy.
I noticed Calibre has a section called "tags" when creating the ebook (I guess it's metadata). I use the Amazon tags in KDP, but never filled in the tags in Calibre.
Do you guys put in Calibre tags? When/how would they be used?
First, you have to remember Calibre started life as an e-book Library Management program and then morphed into being a program to convert e-book and to make e-books.
Second, I've worked with the tags in Calibre and found what you enter into the program as the tags is what ends up as the Metadata tags in the finished product. Thus I try to make sure the tags I enter into Calibre are what people to be sorting in on at Lulu by matching them on the Lulu entry.
edit to add: I'm not sure what it does with any tags in the metadata of an existing e-book you import.
what you enter into the program as the tags is what ends up as the Metadata tags in the finished product.
But where are they used?
I just googled it (which I should have done first). The tags are used within Calibre's library management. So they're to find books you have in your Calibre library. Nothing I'd be interested in.
The data I enter in the Calibre Tags turns up in the e-pub metadata equivalent of the HTML Keywords metadata - and that's what I use the Calibre tags for, and only that.
Do you guys put in Calibre tags? When/how would they be used?
There's the metadata tags, and then there's a metadata field called 'tags' which consists of SEO data, for that, you put in the relevant search fields you wish included in the book (the field was created so readers could add their own tags to the books they've read).
(the field was created so readers could add their own tags to the books they've read).
So it's only used within Calibre (the Calibre library manager).
For example, putting them in and then creating the epub and then uploading that to Amazon will be meaningless for any search engine to find it. KDP's tags are used for that.
So it's only used within Calibre (the Calibre library manager).
I've tested this, and what I enter into the Calibre Metadata page as Tags before I create the e-pub later turns up in the e-pub metadata as the tags. If I don't enter anything nothing is in that metadata field of the e-pub. How that information is later used by other systems is beyond my knowledge.
So it's only used within Calibre (the Calibre library manager).
For example, putting them in and then creating the epub and then uploading that to Amazon will be meaningless for any search engine to find it. KDP's tags are used for that.
It was created for readers, but works for published works as well. Again, the 'tags' field consists of SEO information (Search Algorithm Tags), so list any related search terms you think might be useful. But I put a LOT of effort into my SEO terms, checking to see which produce the biggest effect without becoming meaningless.
However, while the published book will list the tags, you'll want to register the SEO tags WHEN you publish (say on Amazon, lulu or smashwords), so including them in the epub is really a duplication of effort.
