#10 ENVELOPE. A standard, business-size envelope.
ADVANCE. A sum of money a publisher pays a writer prior to the publication of a book. It is usually paid in installments, such as one-half on signing contract; one-half on delivery of complete and satisfactory manuscript.
AGENT. A liaison between a writer and editor or publisher. An agent shops a manuscript around, receiving a commission when the manuscript is accepted. Agents usually take a 10-15% fee from the advance and royalties.
ARC. Advance reader copy.
ASSIGNMENT. Editor asks a writer to produce a specific article for an agreed-upon fee.
AUCTION. Publishers sometimes bid for the acquisition of a book manuscript that has excellent sales prospects. The bids are for the amount of the author’s advance, advertising and promotional expenses, royalty percentage, etc. Auctions are conducted by agents.
AVANT-GARDE. Writing that is innovative in form, style, or subject.
BACKLIST. A publisher’s list of its books that were not published during the current season, but that are still in print.
BIMONTHLY. Every two months.
BIO. A sentence or brief paragraph about the writer; can include education and work experience.
BIWEEKLY. Every two weeks.
BLOG. Short for weblog. Used by writers to build platform by posting regular commentary, observations, poems, tips, etc.
BLURB. The copy on paperback book covers or hard cover book dust jackets, either promoting the book and the author or featuring testimonials from book reviewers or well-known people in the book’s field. Also called flap copy or jacket copy.
BOILERPLATE. A standardized contract.
BOUND GALLEYS. Prepublication edition of book, usually photocopies of final galley proofs; also known as “bound proofs.”
BYLINE. Name of the author appearing with the published piece.
CATEGORY FICTION. A term used to include all types of fiction.
CHAPBOOK. A small booklet usually paperback of poetry, ballads, or tales.
CIRCULATION. The number of subscribers to a magazine.
CLIPS. Samples, usually from newspapers or magazines, of a writer’s published work.
COFFEE-TABLE BOOK. A heavily illustrated oversize book.
COMMERCIAL NOVELS. Novels designed to appeal to a broad audience. These are often broken down into categories such as western, mystery and romance. See also genre.
CONTRIBUTOR’S COPIES. Copies of the issues of magazines sent to the author in which the author’s work appears.
CO-PUBLISHING. Arrangement where author and publisher share publications costs and profits of a book. Also known as cooperative publishing.
COPYEDITING. Editing a manuscript for grammar, punctuation, printing style, and factual accuracy.
COPYRIGHT. A means to protect an author’s work.
COVER LETTER. A brief letter that accompanies the manuscript being sent to and agent or editor.
CREATIVE NONFICTION. Nonfictional writing that uses an innovative approach to the subject and creative language.
CRITIQUING SERVICE. An editing service in which writers pay a fee for comments on the salability or other qualities of their manuscript. Fees vary, as do the quality of the critiques.
CV. Curriculum vita. A brief listing of qualifications and career accomplishments.
ELECTRONIC RIGHTS. Secondary or subsidiary rights dealing with electronic/multimedia formats (i.e., the Internet, CD-ROMs, electronic magazines).
ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION. A submission made by modem or on computer disk.
EROTICA. Fiction that is sexually oriented.
EVALUATION FEES. Fees an agent may charge to evaluate material. The extent and quality of this evaluation varies, but comments usually concern salability of the manuscript.
FAIR USE. A provision of the copyright law that says short passages from copyrighted material may be used without infringing on the owner’s rights.
FEATURE. An article giving the reader information of human interest rather than news.
FILLER. A short item used by an editor to “fill” out a newspaper column or magazine page. It could be a joke, an anecdote, etc.
FILM RIGHTS. Rights sold or optioned by the agent/author to a person in the film industry, enabling the book to be made into a movie.
FOREIGN RIGHTS. Translation or reprint rights to be sold abroad.
FRONTLIST. A publisher’s list of books that are new to the current season.
GALLEYS. First typeset version of manuscript that has not yet been divided into pages.
GENRE. Refers either to a general classification of writing, such as the novel or the poem, or to the categories within those classifications, such as the problem novel or the sonnet.
GHOSTWRITER. Writer who puts into literary form article, speech, story, or book based on another person’s ideas or knowledge.
GRAPHIC NOVEL. A story in graphic form, long comic strip, or heavily illustrated story; of 40 pages or more.
HI-LO. A type of fiction that offers a high level of interest for readers at a low reading level.
HIGH CONCEPT. A story idea easily expressed in a quick, one-line description.
HONORARIUM. Token payment.
HOOK. Aspect of the work that sets it apart from others and draws in the reader/viewer.
HOW-TO. Books and magazine articles offering a combination of information and advice in describing how something can be accomplished.
IMPRINT. Name applied to a publisher’s specific line of books.
JOINT CONTRACT. A legal agreement between a publisher and two or more authors, establishing provisions for the division of royalties the book generates.
KILL FEE. Fee for a complete article that was assigned and then cancelled.
LEAD TIME. The time between the acquisition of a manuscript by an editor and its actual publication.
LITERARY FICTION. The general category of serious, non-formulaic, intelligent fiction.
MAINSTREAM FICTION. Fiction that transcends popular novel categories such as mystery, romance and science fiction.
MARKETING FEE. Fee charged by some agents to cover marketing expenses. It may be used to cover postage, telephone calls, faxes, photocopying or any other expense incurred in marketing a manuscript.
MASS MARKET. Non-specialized books of wide appeal directed toward a large audience.
MEMOIR. A narrative recounting a writer’s (or fictional narrator’s) personal or family history; specifics may be altered, though essentially considered nonfiction.
MIDDLE GRADE OR MID-GRADE. The general classification of books written for readers approximately ages 9-11. Also called middle readers.
MIDLIST. Those titles on a publisher’s list that are not expected to be big sellers, but are expected to have limited/modest sales.
MODEL RELEASE. A paper signed by the subject of a photograph giving the photographer permission to use the photograph.
MULTIPLE CONTRACT. Book contract with an agreement for a future book(s).
MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS. Sending more than one book or article idea to a publisher at the same time.
NARRATIVE NONFICTION. A narrative presentation of actual events.
NET ROYALTY. A royalty payment based on the amount of money a book publisher receives on the sale of a book after booksellers’ discounts, special sales discounts and returns.
NOVELLA. A short novel, or a long short story; approximately 7,000 to 15,000 words.
ON SPEC. An editor expresses an interest in a proposed article idea and agrees to consider the finished piece for publication “on speculation.’’ The editor is under no obligation to buy the finished manuscript.
ONE-TIME RIGHTS. Rights allowing a manuscript to be published one time. The work can be sold again by the writer without violating the contract.
OPTION CLAUSE. A contract clause giving a publisher the right to publish an author’s next book.
PAYMENT ON ACCEPTANCE. The editor sends you a check for your article, story or poem as soon as he decides to publish it.
PAYMENT ON PUBLICATION. The editor doesn’t send you a check for your material until it is published.
PEN NAME. The use of a name other than your legal name on articles, stories or books. Also called a pseudonym.
PHOTO FEATURE. Feature in which the emphasis is on the photographs rather than on accompanying written material.
PICTURE BOOK. A type of book aimed at preschoolers to 8-year-olds that tells a story using a combination of text and artwork, or artwork only.
PLATFORM. A writer’s speaking experience, interview skills, website and other abilities which help form a following of potential buyers for that author’s book.
POD. Print on demand.
PROOFREADING. Close reading and correction of a manuscript’s typographical errors.
PROPOSAL. A summary of a proposed book submitted to a publisher, particularly used for nonfiction manuscripts. A proposal often contains an individualized cover letter, one-page overview of the book, marketing information, competitive books, author information, chapter-by-chapter outline, and two to three sample chapters.
QUERY. A letter that sells an idea to an editor or agent. Usually a query is brief (no more than one page) and uses attention-getting prose.
REMAINDERS. Copies of a book that are slow to sell and can be purchased from the publisher at a reduced price.
REPORTING TIME. The time it takes for an editor to report to the author on his/her query or manuscript.
REPRINT RIGHTS. The rights to republish a book after its initial printing.
ROYALTIES, STANDARD HARDCOVER BOOK. 10 percent of the retail price on the first 5,000 copies sold; 12 percent on the next 5,000; 15 percent thereafter.
ROYALTIES, STANDARD MASS PAPERBACK BOOK. 4-8 percent of the retail price on the first 150,000 copies sold.
ROYALTIES, STANDARD TRADE PAPERBACK BOOK. No less than 6 percent of list price on the first 20,000 copies; 71⁄2 percent thereafter.
SASE. Self-addressed, stamped envelope; should be included with all correspondence.
SELF-PUBLISHING. In this arrangement the author pays for manufacturing, production and marketing of his book and keeps all income derived from the book sales.
SEMIMONTHLY. Twice per month.
SEMIWEEKLY. Twice per week.
SERIAL. Published periodically, such as a newspaper or magazine.
SERIAL FICTION. Fiction published in a magazine in installments, often broken off at a suspenseful spot.
SERIAL RIGHTS. The right for a newspaper or magazine to publish sections of a manuscript.
SHORT-SHORT. A complete short story of 1,500 words.
SIDEBAR. A feature presented as a companion to a straight news report (or main magazine article) giving sidelights on human-interest aspects or sometimes elucidating just one aspect of the story.
SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS. Sending the same article, story or poem to several publishers at the same time. Some publishers refuse to consider such submissions.
SLANT. The approach or style of a story or article that will appeal to readers of a specific magazine.
SLICE-OF-LIFE VIGNETTE. A short fiction piece intended to realistically depict an interesting moment of everyday living.
SLUSH PILE. The stack of unsolicited or misdirected manuscripts received by an editor or book publisher.
SOCIAL NETWORKS. Websites that connect users: sometimes generally, other times around specific interests. Four popular ones at the moment are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
SUBAGENT. An agent handling certain subsidiary rights, usually working in conjuction with the agent who handled the book rights. The percentage paid the book agent is increased to pay the subagent.
SUBSIDIARY RIGHTS. All right other than book publishing rights included in a book publishing contract, such as paperback rights, book club rights and movie rights. Part of an agent’s job is to negotiate those rights and advise you on which to sell and which to keep.
SUBSIDY PUBLISHER. A book publisher who charges the author for the cost to typeset and print his book, the jacket, etc., as opposed to a royalty publisher who pays the author.
SYNOPSIS. A brief summary of a story, novel or play. As part of a book proposal, it is a comprehensive summary condensed in a page or page and a half, single-spaced.
TABLOID. Newspaper format publication on about half the size of the regular newspaper page.
TEARSHEET. Page from a magazine or newspaper containing your printed story, article, poem or ad.
TOC. Table of Contents.
TRADE BOOK. Either a hardcover or softcover book; subject matter frequently concerns a special interest for a general audience; sold mainly in bookstores.
TRADE PAPERBACK. A soft-bound volume published and designed for the general public; available mainly in bookstores.
TRANSLATION RIGHTS. Sold to a foreign agent or foreign publisher.
UNSOLICITED MANUSCRIPT. A story, article, poem or book that an editor did not specifically ask to see.
YA. Young adult books