Bulk Uploading Title Data in Stison – Stison

This guide covers everything you need to know to bulk upload title data into Stison.

Overview

You can bulk upload title data into Stison using an Onix file, an Excel spreadsheet, or a CSV file. This article covers uploading via spreadsheet or CSV. For guidance on uploading Onix files, see Uploading ONIX Files.

Important: identifiers, titles, and subtitles (e.g. ISBN13s and EAN13s) can only be added in bulk on the first upload for a title. If you try to add or change them afterwards via bulk upload, the change will not be stored, so you'll need to update them manually. Every upload must include an identifier, typically an ISBN13.

For the full list of fields available for upload, see Fields in Title Manager that can be uploaded by spreadsheet.

1. Before You Start: Preparing Your Data

Before uploading, check your file against the points below. These apply whether you're uploading a CSV, Excel, or text file, and they're the most common causes of upload errors.

Mark the end of your data. The system needs to see an end-of-line marker, especially for text files. Add a final column where every cell reads "EOL" (End of Line), and mark that column as Ignore when you map columns during upload.
Clean header row. Remove any extraneous header information so the top row contains only column headings.
One worksheet only. Make sure there are no extra tabs in the spreadsheet — in a multi-sheet Excel file, only the first worksheet will be imported.
Remove summary data. Strip out totals, calculations, or any other rows that aren't individual title records.
Consistent dates. Format all dates the same way throughout the file.
Clean numbers. Numbers should be free of separators (1000, not 1,000) and should not include currency symbols.
Multi-value fields. Where a cell needs more than one value (e.g. keywords, mixed rights), separate values with a semicolon.

Following these points before you upload will save you from most of the common upload errors.

2. Recommended Upload Order

Some data applies at title level — the same for every format of a title, such as the title itself or its description — while other data applies at format level, such as dimensions or extents. We recommend uploading in stages: start by establishing every format of each title, then layer on title-level data, then format-level data. This keeps mapping simple and mirrors the structure of the templates in Section 3.

Stage 1 — Establish titles and formats

ISBN13, Title, Sub Title, Form (e.g. Paperback or Hardback), Publication Date, Publishing Status, Supplier

Stage 2 — Title-level data (add against one ISBN per title)

The following fields can be uploaded together, but it may be easier to track by separating uploads in a manner similar to the examples below. For title-level data, information that is uploaded will map across the title's different formats (paperback, hardback, etc.).

ISBN13, Long Description, Short Description, Main Description
ISBN13, Contributor Name, Contributor Role
ISBN13, Thema, BISAC, BIC and other categories, Key Words (semicolon-separated)
ISBN13, Dewey, OCLC Number, Lib. Cong. Number, Lib. Cong. Class, and any custom Subjects/Themes (if used), etc.

Stage 3 — Format-level data (add against each ISBN)

Note: Format-level data, such as the fields below, does not map across all formats of a title on bulk upload. These data upload should therefore be completed per ISBN13.

ISBN13, Height, Width, Page Count, Illustration Note, Thickness, Product Form Detail, Content Type, Product Packaging, etc.

Stage 4 — Commercial data

ISBN13, Rights, Price Type, Price (e.g. USD), Supplier, Product Availability

This list follows the fields typically required by bibliographic data aggregators. In addition to the fields above, best practice is to also supply a cover image alongside your data — see Cover Images for details.

If you'd rather split a stage across several smaller files (for example, uploading keywords separately from descriptions), that's fine — just include the ISBN13 in column A of every file, with one column per data set, and separate multiple values with semicolons.

3. Spreadsheet Templates

To make the upload order in Section 2 easier to follow, use the ready-made templates below. Each template lines up with a stage of the recommended order. Note: the templates contain instructional notes in the cells — delete these before uploading your file.

Starting point

Upload Template 1: Basic Title Data

ISBN13
Title
Subtitle
Form* (e.g. Paperback or Hardback)
Publication Date

*Match either the text or the code from Onix Code List 150, e.g. "Hardback" or "BB".

Title-level templates (map to all formats of a title — upload against one ISBN per title)

Upload Template 2: Descriptions

ISBN13
Main Description
Short Description
Long Description

You can use HTML tagging in descriptive text for paragraph breaks and basic bold/italic formatting.

Upload Template 3: Key Categorisations (Thema, BISAC, BIC) & Keywords

ISBN13
Thema Code
BISAC Code
BIC Code
Key Words

Multiple entries must be semicolon-separated. If you have no Thema or BISAC codes at the time of upload, you can upload Thema only and Stison's remapping tool will select BISAC codes automatically based on the Thema chosen.

Upload Template 4: Additional Categorisations

Only necessary if relevant to your organisation. See here for more information.

ISBN13
Dewey
OCLC Number
Lib Cong. Number
Lib Cong. Class

If you've created your own subjects and themes in the Categorisation menu, these can also be included:

Subject Code
Theme Code

Use codes rather than names for own subjects/themes, semicolon-separated for multiple entries. Delete any columns not relevant to you before uploading.

Upload Template 5: Contributors

ISBN13
Contributor 1
Contributor 1 Role
Contributor 2
Contributor 2 Role

Select "Import multiple contributors?" at the mapping screen if adding contributors to a title that already has some — otherwise your upload will replace existing contributors.

For Contributor Role, match text or code from Onix Code List 17 (e.g. "By (Author)" or "A01"). You can upload up to 7 contributors at a time this way. Contributor names must match existing Stison contact records exactly, or a new contact record will be created — use aliases if you need a different display name for a particular title.

All contributors currently appear on all formats of a title; if you have format-specific contributors, for example for audiobooks, you may need to consider splitting the formats across two content IDs. If you have any questions, please reach out to helpdesk@stison.com.

Format-level template (maps at ISBN level, not title level)

Upload Template 6: Product Information

ISBN13
Product Form Detail
Content Type
Product Packaging
Height x Width
Thickness

For Product Form Detail use the relevant code (not text) from Onix Codelist 175, e.g. "b215" for fuzzy felt book

For Content Type use the relevant code (not text) from Onix Codelist 81, e.g. "10" for Text, or "48" for Mathematical Content

For Product Packaging, use the relevant code (not text) from Onix Codelist 80, e.g. "00" for No outer packaging, or "08" for Shrink wrapped (biodegradable)

For Height x Width and Thickness, the unit that this measurement will be uploaded in will depend on the default units set for your organisation. You can find out here to edit this here.

4. Note on Uploading: Test With a Small Batch First

Before uploading a full data set, test with a small batch so you can confirm the data lands correctly and get comfortable with how mapping behaves.

Start with around 5 titles and about 5 columns, then expand from there.
Upload one stage (from Section 2) at a time rather than combining everything into a single giant file — this keeps column mapping simple and makes it easier to spot problems.

5. Performing the Upload

Log in to your Stison account.
Navigate to the Book list window: Title Manager > Books.
Click the Upload button in the top right-hand corner.
A new window will appear:
Click Choose File and browse to your file on your local machine.
Select the file and click Update.
The Organisation field will auto-populate with your publisher — change it if needed.
Set the Encoding for the file if appropriate (usually not necessary).
If you're importing multiple contributors against a title, select Import Multiple Contributors.
The system will show the first few rows of your spreadsheet. Map each column heading (click the purple heading bar) to the matching field in Stison, or choose Ignore. Double-check any columns the system hasn't mapped automatically — this is the most common point where mismatches occur.
Once mappings look correct, click Process File.

Processing time depends on file size, so allow a few minutes for larger files.

You'll get a notification on your mail icon once the upload has finished. Click Data Upload Report to view the results.

6. Reading Your Upload Report

Some entries in the report may state that a title record "could not be found." This simply means the title wasn't already in the system, so Stison created a new record for it — it is not an error, even though it can look like one at first glance.

7. Troubleshooting & Related Topics

Getting an error on upload? It may be because the file is too large — see Errors Upon Uploading Large Files for details.

For guidance on specific data types not fully covered above:

Questions we haven't covered? Email helpdesk@stison.com.

How can we help?

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