Publishing Terms and Definitions
Those new to the writing industry, and even those with some experience), sometimes draw a blank when it comes to certain publishing terms and definitions. Today's post is for you!
Here's a closer look at some of the commonly used publishing terms and their definitions.
Acquiring editor: a person within
a publishing house whose primary function is to identify and negotiate to
acquire new titles for publication.
Advance: the
non-returnable payment to authors by publishers against which the royalty earnings are offset.
Agent: A book industry
professional who represents authors and illustrators, helping them to place
their work with publishers, collecting their payments, and performing other
duties on their behalf.
Bar codes: the machine
readable image of lines of varying thicknesses which encodes a book’s ISBN and which is printed on the back
cover. When ‘read’ by electronic till equipment it plays a vital part in
booksellers’ EPOS systems for sales monitoring and stock control.
Bleed: term used for an
illustration or image which extends beyond the trimmed page.
Blurb: the brief
description of a book which appears on the back of a paperback or on the inside
front flap of a hardback.
Book proof: a specially produced
advance copy of the uncorrected text of a title, used by publishers’ sales
teams and as early review copies.
Book Proposal: Description of
a proposed book that an author sends to a publisher, often including sample
chapters and an outline. Critique: An evaluation of a manuscript, touching on
issues such as structure as well as character and plot development.
Commissioning editor: a person
employed in a publishing house to seek out authors to write particular books
for publication; sometimes used as a synonym for acquiring editor.
Contract: the agreement
drawn up between the publisher and the author to confirm payment terms, royalty,
respective responsibilities etc at the point of acquisition.
Copy editor: the person
employed in a publishing house who works on the detail of a book, ensuring
accuracy and completeness and preparing it for typesetting.
Copyright: the right of an
author, artist, publisher etc to retain ownership of works and to produce or
contract others to produce copies. In 1996, the full term of copyright was
extended throughout the European Union to 70 years (previously 50 years in the UK
Consignment: books sold on
consignment are not invoiced to the customer but paid for as they are resold.
Books consigned in this way are sometimes described as supplied ‘see-safe’.
Draft: The book's manuscript at
a particular stage. The first draft is followed by rough drafts, which are
unpolished versions. The final draft is sent to prepress.
Dues: orders taken
before a title is published or while it is for any reason unavailable which are
fulfilled when stock is again available. Called in the US
Endpaper: the pages of
heavy cartridge paper at the front and back of a hardback book which join the
book block to the hardback
binding; sometimes used for maps or carrying a decorative colour or design.
Format: the shape of a
book defined by its height and depth.
Frontispiece: an illustration
inserted to face the title page.
Half-title: the first page
of a book, on which the title is displayed, sometimes with a blurb or quotations from reviews.
Imprint: [1] the name of
the publisher under which a title is issued. Increasingly in conglomerate
publishing the term represents a publishing brand rather than a publishing
company in its own right.
[2] also used to refer to the printer’s name and address which by law
must appear in all printed books.
ISBN: universal
abbreviation for International Standard Book Number, a ten digit unique
identifier for each title published, which is used in a wide range of
applications in all stages of the supply chain throughout the world. The number
– made up of a language prefix (0 or 1 for the English language), followed by a
publisher prefix, then a number relating to the individual title, and finally a
check digit (used to validate the remainder of the code) – is customarily
encoded in a bar code printed on
the back of the book and normally appears also in the bibliographical details
on the reverse of the title page.
ISSN: abbreviation for
International Standard Serials Number, the equivalent of the ISBN in the journal and magazine publishing
business.
Kill Fee: A payment that
may be made to an author or illustrator when a publisher cancels a project.
Large print: editions of
existing titles redesigned for reading by those with impaired vision, produced
specifically for the library market.
Limited edition: a book published
on the basis that a stated number of copies will be printed regardless of
demand. Such titles are often individually numbered by hand and may achieve
rarity value for collectors.
Literary agent: a person or
company looking after the interests of author clients and managing the
exploitation of rights in an author’s work. This includes submission of a book
to publishers, perhaps in the form of an auction, negotiating a contract,
collecting money due, and dealing with other rights not held by the publisher,
such as (in many cases) broadcasting and film rights.
Margin: the white space
surrounding a page of type.
Market: [1] the potential
readership for a title. [2] the territories of the world in which a title may
be contractually sold.
Marketing: the department
in a publishing house with responsibility for promoting titles published; this
may include the creation of point of sale display
material, press and other advertising, and securing free coverage through PR
and publicity.
Media Kit/Press Kit: A folder of promotional
materials used for announcing information about a forthcoming book to the news
media and other targeted outlets. Media kits may include excerpts, reviews,
quotes from individuals praising the work, and a press release.
Proofreading: A final
proofing of the manuscript, usually focused on cleaning up any typographical
errors before the manuscript is typeset.
Publicity: the department
within a publishing house which organises ‘free’ promotion of titles published,
often through the sending out of review copies or soliciting coverage in the
broadcast media; often nowadays in larger firms a part of the marketing department.
Public Lending Right: the right of an
author to receive from the public purse a payment for the loan of works from
public libraries.
Query Letter: A letter from an author
or agent to an editor that briefly describes a manuscript and asks whether the
editor is interested in evaluating the manuscript.
Reading Fees: Fees charged by some
agents to evaluate a prospective client's manuscript. The Association of
Authors' Representatives, a major trade association for book agents, prohibits
its members from charging reading fees.
Recommended retail price: the price at
which the publisher recommends that a book should be sold; to which the
bookseller’s discount is applied
and on which the royalty payment
to the author is customarily calculated.
Recto: the right-hand
page of an opening in a book.
Reprint: a second or
subsequent printing of a title with minimal alteration to the text.
Returns: books returned
unsold from bookshops to publishers for full credit.
Review copy: advance copy of
a book sent out without charge to the press or other media for the purposes of
review.
Revisions: Changes,
sometimes extensive, to an original work.
Royalty: the payment made
by publishers to authors and others on sales made; typically a percentage of
the recommended retail price in
the home market and of the monies received from export sales. These payments
are frequently set off against an advance and
accounted for at six monthly intervals.
Scout: a person
employed in an overseas territory to identify possible acquisitions of new
titles.
Serial rights: a subsidiary
right involving the sale of extracts from a title to a newspaper or magazine.
Slush Pile: Manuscript submissions
that are received by publishing houses, but are unsolicited or do not come
through agents. Some publishers do not consider unsolicited manuscripts, while
others do review them.
Submissions: Manuscripts sent by an
author or agent to a publisher for consideration.
Subsidiary rights: rights which are
acquired by publishers for subsequent resale, such as serial rights,
translation rights, etc.
Title-page: the page,
normally the second leaf in
a book, which displays the title, author and publisher’s name.
Topping rights: in an auction the opportunity given by a
literary agent to a
publisher to match (or in practice increase by an agreed percentage) the
highest bid received from other participants.
Translation rights: the right
acquired to translate and publish a work into another language.
Trim Size: The outer
dimensions (horizontal and vertical) of a finished book.
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