Glossary of Publishing Terms
October 11, 2009 by John Hewitt
After our recent comments discussion, I thought it would be a good idea to compile a small, publishing-related glossary, so we agree on our terms. Please note that these definitions are geared toward book publication and our discussion is geared toward the publication of poetry books.
- Acquisitions Editor: An editor whose job it is to find new books and authors to publish.
- Advance: Money paid by a publisher to an author for the right to publish a book. It is called an advance because it is payment on “potential” royalties in advance. In other words, until your book sells enough copies to generate a percentage of profits above what you have been paid in advance, you will not receive any more money.
- Backlist: A list of books, published more than twelve months earlier, which are available for sale from a publisher.
- Best seller: A fairly ambiguous term that will be applied by a publisher to just about any book that makes a profit.
- Book proposal: A sales tool consisting of information about a possible book that an author sends to a publisher. The proposal often includes sample chapters, an outline, a discussion of possible markets and a list of the author’s credentials. The goal of the author is to persuade the publisher to pay to produce the book and to share the profits with the author.
- E-book: A book produced digitally, often in the absence of a printed book.
- First printing: The number of books produced in the initial print run.
- In print: A book that is still available to be ordered directly through the publisher.
- Independent bookseller: A locally owned book store that is not affiliated with a large chain such as Barnes & Noble or Borders. Independent booksellers, in general, are more likely to display and sell books by local authors.
- ISBN: Short for International Standard Book Number. This number is required if a book is to be stocked or available to order by a major chain or sold through an online publisher. If a book is only going to be sold directly by the author (such as at readings or through a personal web site) an ISBN is not required.
- Midlist book: A book acquired by a publisher for a relatively small advance and given a smaller print run and less publicity than a book that the publisher expects to be a best seller.
- Niche book: A book that is aimed at a smaller market of possible buyers. Most books of poetry are considered niche books because few of these books sell more than 5000 copies. Many “how-to” books also fall into the niche category.
- Out-of-print: A book that can no longer be ordered directly from the publisher.
- Print-on-demand: A book publishing process mainly associated with self-publishing, in which a book is printed in small runs (sometimes as small as a single book) from an electronic file. This process makes it possible to produce niche books more cheaply.
- Publisher: A company or individual who is in charge of producing, printing and distributing a book or other material.
- Publishing: The process of producing, printing and distributing a book or other material.
- Review Copy: A free copy of a book that is sent to the media with the hope that the book will be reviewed.
- Royalty: The percentage of book sale profits paid to the author.
- SASE: Self-addressed, stamped envelope. Often used when submitting a query to make it easier for the editor/publisher to respond.
- Self-publishing: The production, printing and distribution of a book (or other material) by the author of the book or at the author’s expense, rather than by a third-party publishers.
- Slush pile: Unsolicited (not requested) queries/manuscripts that may or may not get read by the editor or (more likely) an assistant.
Related links
- 27 Things This Writer Loved About 2007 (0.500)
- How to Calculate Potential Book Profits (0.422)
- 10 Ways to Make Editors Hate You Before They Even Know You (0.422)
- ZenHabits.net is now Public Domain, how about Poewar? (0.422)
- Tuesday Mini-Rants (0.422)
Contact John Hewitt
Writing Content and Web Consulting
Email: hewitt@poewar.comPhone: (520) 261-6104
LinkedIn: poewar
Twitter: @poewar
Facebook: pwar2
John,
Thanks, I love to learn more vocabulary. This really helps me when it comes to understanding people when they talk about publishing. (Any thing in general) I am also grateful of the other vocabulary words you put up: poetic meter, beat, foot, stressed syllable, ECT. I didn’t know what they meant nor that they where apart of writing, so I thank you for that too. I’ve learned more about writing here then I have with most of my classes. thank you.
I also have a question: do you think that maybe you could post sporatically vocab. to catch some people up on the jargon of writing? God Bless!!!
Ahh, the ubiquitous “best seller”. I remember being told while studying professional writing and editing, that a best seller in Australia was 3000 copies. As an author usually only gets a couple of dollars per book, it’s not much of a return on the time investment. It’s a good thing we do it for love.
Cerebralmum,
That’s very true.
Wow, that’s a lot of sold books.
Rosemary: the reason for an ISBN number is for the retail merchant’s use for their inventory and tracking of the sales of a book. It is required for your larger retail merchants. As John mentioned, if the book doesn’t have a spine, then it can not be easily seen on the shelves and is not as attractive to book sellers for that reason. I have ISBNs on one of mine. It has not made it any more or less marketable, but it does present as more professional.
Rianon: Another suggestion is to get someone you know who has a bit of stature as a poet to review your book and make comments that recommend the book that you can add to the back of the chapbook cover.
My family and friends love getting chapbooks for Christmas.
Best,
Connie,
I would accept that I don’t have any friends because I have a bad habbit of pushing everyone away. I have a stamp on my forhead that says stay away. But that’s ok, having people who I talk to via computer is better for me I guess. Honestly besides my boyfriend, VIA different state, I haven’t really talked to anyone as long as I’ve talked to you guys before, well without them mocking me. See, I’m a little different, VIA scars everywhere, people get scared about that or something. I don’t know, it doesn’t really matter. I guess I prefer not to explain everything to people. Anyways, my parents arn’t really big fans with poetry, they don’t mind me writing it they just don’t like it. So I don’t really have anyone else to look it over, but thanks anyways. God Bless
I love the “best seller” definition. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.
Rianon, I’m really glad you aren’t afraid to converse with people here. I’ve only been a “member” of this site for a little over a month now but I love everything about it. Feel free to “talk” as much as you’d like. There are plenty of friendly ears and eyes here….
Is it just me or am I using an awful lot of qoutation marks today? *raises an eyebrow*
Sandra,
Quotes are not bad to use because that means that you like to stand out, you want some words to stand out more and it means that your real, if you know what I mean.
Yeah I guess it’s not bad talking here. God Bless.
P.S.
yeah “raises and eyebrow”
Many thanks for sharing this information, I had a pretty good idea of most of the glossary terms but it always good to remind yourself now and again. I hope that one day I can have the honor of being on a best seller list.
Amanda
A best seller in Australia 3000 copies … except for a best-seller of POETRY in Australia, which is 500 copies. Whereas in America, where my last book was printed (long story) 400 copies was considered a “limited edition”.