Get started with series

Important:

• Some features described on this page may not be available in your country.
• Series pages on Google Play are currently limited to English, Japanese, Korean and French.

A series page on Google Play is a dedicated page that features a group of books that are meant to be read or listened to in order. 

Create a series on Play

Google Play automatically creates a series when publishers fill in the 'Series name' and 'Series number' fields under 'Book info' for two or more books. To create a series: 

• The series names must be the same for all the books in the series. 
• The series numbers must be whole numbers, with no skipped or repeated numbers in the series. 

Additional metadata requirements are below.

Submit series metadata

Series name

The name of the series that you want to create. 

• After you click into a book within your catalogue, you can find the 'Series name' field under the 'Book info' tab. 
• The series name must match across all books in the series, including capitalisation, spaces and other punctuation.

Tip: When you use ONIX, <TitleElement> composites with <TitleElementLevel> of 02 is considered the series name. Learn more details about ONIX.

Series number

• The volume number of the books must be whole Arabic numerals.
• Each book needs a number with no skipped or repeated numbers.

Tip: There’s an exception for books in special book types with no sequence numbers.

Genre

If the books in your series are comics, graphic novels, manga or light novels, add the appropriate genre listed below to all the books in the series. Play uses this information to give the most relevant information to users.

• Comic/graphic novel: Under 'COMICS and GRAPHIC NOVELS' in Book Industry Standards. and Communications (BISAC)  
• Manga: Under 'COMICS and GRAPHIC NOVELS' in BISAC or Manga subject codes (Japan and South Korea)
• Light novel: Under 'YAF035000 YOUNG ADULT FICTION/Light novel (Ranobe)' in BISAC

Also, make sure that you provide the correct language of your book in the Book info.

Special book types

To help your customers and Play understand the relationship between books, include words in the book's title that indicate its special type: 

• Omnibus 
• Bundle 
• Box set  
• Special edition

How Google Play displays books in a series

Google Play optimises how it displays a series page based on the genre of the book. 

If your book is in a comic, graphic novel, manga or light novel genre, Play displays:

• Book subtitle
• Series name
• Series number

If your book is in a genre other than those listed above, Play displays:

• Book title
• Series name
• Series number

Update series metadata

When you update your series metadata:

• If you submit an incorrect series name or number for a book, resubmit the correct data through Partner Centre, ONIX or CSV. 
• Any changes that you make to the series name or number to an individual book takes around 48 hours to update.

Tip: To provide a consistent user experience, these changes may not go live on Google Play. If Play doesn't reflect a change to a book  after 48 hours, contact our customer support.