Book data guide
How to add author and ISBN to Shopify products
Shopify has no built-in author or ISBN field, but it has what you need: put the ISBN in each variant's Barcode field, and store the author in the Vendor field or, for most bookshops, in a product metafield you can display in your theme without code.
Vendor, tags or metafields: where should the author go?
| Option | Good for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor field | Fastest setup. Works in automated collections ("vendor is equal to…") and many themes can show it on product cards. | One value per product. If the author is there, the publisher has to go somewhere else. Co-authors end up squeezed into one string. |
| Tags | Several authors per book. Automated collections with "tag is equal to…". | Tags mix with everything else (genres, promos, internal notes), are easy to misspell and aren't a clean label to show readers. |
| Product metafield | A dedicated field with its own name, type and validation. Shows in your theme through dynamic sources and can power storefront filters. | Needs a one-time definition, and every product has to be filled in (the bulk editor and CSV import help). |
What works for most bookshops
If you're starting small and nearly every book has one author, the Vendor field is a perfectly good choice: it's already there, it's easy to fill in and automated collections understand it. Plenty of shops run this way for years.
As the catalog grows, a cleaner setup pays off:
- Barcode for the ISBN, on every variant.
- A product metafield for the author, as a list if you sell books with co-authors.
- Vendor for the publisher, so you can build publisher collections and filter by it in the admin.
- More metafields for page count, translator, illustrator, publication date, language and age range, only for the ones you'll actually show or filter by.
- Product type for the main genre and tags for themes and promotions.
Whatever you choose, write names the same way on every book. "Ursula K. Le Guin" and "Le Guin, Ursula" are two different authors to a collection condition or a filter.
How to put the ISBN in the Barcode field
The Barcode field is meant for product identifiers such as ISBN, UPC and GTIN. For books, the ISBN is that identifier, and it belongs to the variant because each format has its own.
Open the product
Go to Products and open the book. If it has formats as variants, open each variant in turn.
Find the Inventory section
The SKU and Barcode fields live there. If you don't see them, tick the option that shows SKU and barcode.
Type the ISBN-13, digits only
No hyphens, no spaces, no "ISBN" prefix. Clean digits are easier for sales channels, scanners and apps to recognize.
Convert old ISBN-10s
For older books that only carry a 10-digit ISBN, use the 13-digit form: add 978 at the front and recalculate the final check digit, or look it up on the publisher's record.
Save and repeat per format
Hardcover, paperback and large print each get their own ISBN. Don't copy one ISBN onto every variant.
How to create metafield definitions for books
A metafield definition tells Shopify that your products have an extra field, such as Author. You create it once and it appears on every product in the admin.
Open the metafield settings
Go to Settings → Custom data (called Metafields and metaobjects in newer versions of the admin) and choose Products.
Add a definition
Name it "Author". Shopify suggests a namespace and key, such as
custom.author; you can keep it. Add a short description so your team knows what goes in it.Pick the right type
Single line text for author, publisher or translator, with "list of values" if a book can have several. Integer for page count, so it can be sorted and compared. Date for publication date.
Add validation where it helps
Set a minimum of 1 for page count, or limit language and age range to preset choices so nobody types "Eng" on one book and "English" on the next.
Check the extra options
Depending on the type, you may see options such as using the field in automated collection conditions or giving storefront access. Turn them on only if you plan to use them.
Fill it in
Open any product: your new fields appear in the metafields area of the page. Before creating a field, check whether the product category you chose already offers the same attribute, so you don't end up with two.
Show author and page count on the product page
In an Online Store 2.0 theme you can display a metafield without touching code:
- Go to Online Store → Themes → Customize.
- Open the product template from the page selector at the top.
- In the product information section, add a Text block (or use an existing one).
- Click the Connect dynamic source icon next to the text field and choose your Author metafield. You can type "by" before it.
- Add another Text block for page count, write "Pages:" and connect the Pages metafield.
- Drag the blocks into place under the title and save.
A fixed label like "Pages:" may still appear on books where the value is empty, so fill in every title or leave the label out. If you're comfortable with Liquid, the value is available as {{ product.metafields.custom.author.value }}, using your own namespace and key.
Metafields also make good filters. In Shopify's free Search & Discovery app you can add storefront filters based on product metafields, so readers can narrow a collection by author, language or age range. Showing metafields on collection product cards usually takes a theme edit, while the vendor often has a ready-made setting.
Filling in hundreds of books: bulk editor and CSV
Nobody wants to open 800 products one by one. Shopify gives you two faster routes.
The bulk editor. In the Products list, select the books you want and click Bulk edit. You get a spreadsheet-style grid where you can add columns, including barcode, vendor, product type and your metafields, and fill them in row by row or paste values down a column.
CSV import. Export your products first from Products → Export: it gives you a backup and the exact column headers your store uses, such as Vendor, Type, Tags and Variant Barcode. Recent versions of the product CSV can also include metafield columns; export a product that already has them filled in to see how the headers look. Shopify's help center explains the product CSV format and how overwriting existing products works.
One trap catches almost everyone: spreadsheet programs turn a 13-digit ISBN into something like 9.78E+12, and drop the leading zero from ISBN-10s. Format the barcode column as text before you paste or open the file, and check a few rows before importing.
Common mistakes to avoid
ISBN only in the description
Readers can see it, but channels, scanners and apps can't use it. Put it in the Barcode field and repeat it in the description if you like.
The same ISBN on every variant
Each format has its own number. Copying one onto every variant confuses anything that matches by barcode.
Page count as text
"320 pages" in a text field can't be sorted or compared. Use an integer field and put the word "pages" in the theme label.
The same author spelled three ways
Collections and filters treat every spelling as a different person. Agree on one format and fix the old ones with the bulk editor.
Author in three places at once
Vendor, a tag and a metafield that don't agree are worse than any single choice. Keep one source for each piece of data.
Fields no one will use
Every metafield is one more thing to fill in. Start with the ones you'll show or filter by and add the rest later.
Clean book data pays off in other places too
Well-kept author and page count fields help beyond the product page: filters work, author collections stay complete and apps that read your catalog get it right. InShelf, the app that shows a Shopify catalog as a 3D bookshelf, reads the author and page count from your products to draw each spine: the author appears on the spine next to the title, and the page count decides how thick the book looks. If a book has no author field, it uses the Vendor instead.
You can see the result in the live demo, read how the 3D bookshelf works, or go back to the full guide on how to sell books on Shopify.
Frequently asked questions
Does Shopify have an ISBN field?
Not a dedicated one. The Barcode field on each variant is designed for identifiers such as ISBN, UPC and GTIN, so that's where the ISBN goes. Use a metafield only if the barcode is already taken by something else, like an in-house code.
Should I use ISBN-10 or ISBN-13?
ISBN-13. It's the current standard and what you'll find on the back of recent books. For older titles with only an ISBN-10, convert it to the 13-digit form.
How do I add more than one author to a book?
Create the author metafield as a list of single line text values and add each author separately. If you use the Vendor field, you'll have to write both names in one string, which makes author collections harder.
Can I build author collections automatically?
Yes. With authors in the Vendor field, use the condition "vendor is equal to". With tags, use "tag is equal to". Some metafield types can also be used as automated collection conditions if you enable that option in the definition.
Can I show the author on collection pages, not just the product page?
Many themes have a setting to show the vendor on product cards, which is one reason some shops keep the author there. Showing a metafield on cards usually requires editing the theme's product card.
Do apps read my metafields?
Apps can read the data they have permission to access. InShelf, for example, reads the author and page count to draw book spines; check each app's documentation for which fields it looks at.