Author Entity Guidelines

AI models assemble their answers from information they can verify and corroborate. When your name, pen names, books and website tell the same story everywhere, models are far more likely to connect a reader question to you. When information conflicts, or cannot be verified, you are more likely to be left out of the answer. These guidelines protect both your visibility and the integrity of the scores we publish.

• Use your real legal name and the pen names you actually publish under.
• Use the same form of your name everywhere: your author website, retailer pages, social profiles and the author databases you appear in.
• Do not invent an author identity, persona or backstory to influence AI answers. Do not create profiles that impersonate another author or public figure.
• If you have published under several names, list them in your profile so they are connected to you.

• List only books you wrote or co-wrote, and that are published or genuinely forthcoming.
• Record titles, subtitles, series names and series order accurately, and use the correct ISBNs and formats.
• Do not claim authorship of books you did not write, or create listings for books that do not exist.
• If a title is out of print or withdrawn, update your profile rather than leaving stale entries.

• Maintain one primary author website that you control, and link to it from your profiles.
• Keep your biography, genre and book list consistent between your website and retailer pages.
• Use structured data on your site that matches what a reader actually sees on the page. Do not add markup describing books, awards or reviews that are not present.
• Keep your website reachable and free of broken book links; AI models rely on pages that resolve.

• List only awards and honours you have actually received, with current, accurate details.
• Do not claim bestseller status, prize placement or professional credentials you have not earned.
• Never create, buy or submit fake reviews, and never present fictional testimonials as real.

Retailers, libraries, author databases and social platforms have their own rules. Follow them. Correct errors through the platform's proper process rather than repeated or bulk edits, and do not add marketing content where a platform prohibits it.

If we find fabricated identities, books, awards or reviews connected to an account, we may remove the affected entries and, where the misrepresentation is serious or repeated, suspend the account in line with our Terms of Service. We would rather help you correct an error than close an account, so contact support if something in your profile is wrong.

Not sure whether something belongs in your profile? Ask us through the Contact Support page before you publish it.