Translations are one of the most powerful ways to extend the life of your books. A single story, told in a new language, becomes brand new again—fresh to new readers, valuable in new markets. But for authors, translations are often more complicated than they should be.
Managing them usually means creating duplicate books. Copy-pasting metadata. Uploading new versions of blurbs, keywords, ISBNs, and files—all in different languages, each with slight variations. It gets messy fast. And over time, you start to lose track: Which titles have been translated? Which language editions are actually live? Is that the German version of Book 2 or Book 3?
MetaShelf was built to solve this problem at the core.
In MetaShelf, a translation is never a separate book. It’s a version of the original. It inherits as much metadata as it can, while giving you the space to override the rest. You don’t have to copy anything manually. You just create the translation, pick the language, and the system does the linking for you.
The result is clarity. The original stays central. Every translation stays connected.
You always know which titles exist in which languages. You always know what’s missing. And you never have to dig through your catalog or guess what’s done and what still needs attention.
Languages with structure
Every book in MetaShelf can have multiple translations. Each one is linked directly to the original, and clearly marked by language. You can set the title, subtitle, description, keywords, and even author name for each translation—because we know sometimes that changes across markets.
But here’s the key: translations don’t start empty. They inherit values from the original. So if you haven’t translated the blurb yet? That’s okay—the original one is still visible. If you haven’t changed the title? It stays synced until you do.
This makes your catalog feel smarter. Because it is.
You’re not duplicating data. You’re managing variation. That means less effort, fewer mistakes, and more confidence when your catalog goes multilingual.
Designed for the real way authors translate
Some authors translate as they go—launching in two or three languages at once. Others come back to older books years later, working through a backlog one title at a time. Some use traditional translators. Some use AI. Some work with partners or foreign publishers.
We built MetaShelf to support all of it.
You can filter your entire library by language. You can view all translations of a book at once. You can see gaps in your catalog—like which books in a series still need a Spanish edition. You can check progress on individual translations, even down to the format level. Maybe the ebook is done, but print still needs a cover. Now you’ll know.
It’s not just about making translations visible. It’s about making them actionable.
And it doesn’t stop with the book. Each translation can have its own formats—ebook, print, audio—just like the original. These formats behave the same way: inheriting what they can, adapting what they must. So your translated paperback still has a page count, trim size, ISBN, and distribution path. But you don’t need to rebuild the entire structure from scratch.
Metadata that speaks every language
Every translation is stored as structured data. That means you can export it. Sync it. Use it. Whether you’re populating a multilingual website, creating distributor spreadsheets, or pitching foreign rights, your translated metadata is already organized. It doesn’t live in a doc. It lives in your system.
Over time, this saves hours. But more importantly, it reduces friction—the kind that slows you down and chips away at motivation. Translating your work is an investment. MetaShelf protects that investment by giving you the tools to manage it well.
You can track what’s been translated. You can store translator info. You can set links for each market. And you can surface only the translations that are live, hiding drafts or in-progress editions until you’re ready.
This is especially helpful when managing larger catalogs. When you’ve got 10 books in 4 languages across 3 formats each, that’s 120 potential products. You shouldn’t need a separate system to track that. You just need one that understands what you’re trying to do.
Grow into global
Most authors don’t start with translations. But many eventually consider them. That moment—the shift from one market to many—is a powerful milestone in an author’s career.
MetaShelf is built with that future in mind.
You can use it with one language today, and scale up to five tomorrow. You can start tracking translations even before they’re finished—marking books as “in progress,” or using placeholder text while you wait on final files. You can link up your formats as they come in, instead of trying to do everything at once.
Because growth isn’t always linear. And publishing tools shouldn’t assume it is.
In MetaShelf, you don’t need a separate system for translations. You just need the one you already have—designed to scale with you.
Authors deserve global systems
If you’re already publishing in multiple languages, MetaShelf will give you the structure to manage that growth without confusion or duplication.
If you’re just starting to consider translation, it will give you the foundation to do it right from the beginning.
Translations are no longer a tech headache. They’re a natural extension of your publishing process.
One book. Many languages. One system that understands how they all fit together.
