Publishing Terms

Advance: Money paid to authors before the book is published. Additional money is computed by royalty rates and is paid only after the book has earned back the original advance money.

ARC (Advance Reading Copy): A very slick galley usually with two or more colors and often with an exact copy of the cover on it. Sometimes they are the larger galley size; often they are the same size as the finished book.

Blurb: The excerpt on the back cover.

Book Contract: The agreement between the publisher and author establishing the terms of purchase.

Bump: The number of copies a book must sell before the author's royalty rate kicks up to the next level.

Category Romance: A romance novel with a one man/one woman relationship published as one in a series (or a line).

Character Count: The number of letters, spaces and punctuation marks that the publisher uses to determine the length of a book.

Charge Backs: Items listed on the P&L statement. (Example: The account is charged with the expense of the galleys produced and sent around to the bookstores.)

Clean Copy: Material that is error free, double-spaced, and on one side of the paper.

Copy Editor: Editor who corrects a manuscript's errors in punctuation, grammar and style.

Cover Art: The artwork on the front, back and spine of the book.

Cover Letter: The letter sent with a submission, describing what you are sending and telling a bit about your qualifications.

Distributors: Such as Ingram. These distributors warehouse books and send them to accounts via independent carriers (usually UPS). They are direct sources for a number of small accounts and resupply larger accounts whose initial order came from the publisher.

Earn-Out: The dollar amount it will take for a book to make in order to reach the advance figure. Computed by multiplying the cover price of the book times the number of books sold times the royalty rate. (Example: Cover price $5 x 25,000 books sold x 8% = $10,000.) Once you pay back this money, you begin earning royalties.

Front Space: The area in the front of the store window area. Because this area is more frequented by people, books here sell more.

Galley: The "mock-up" of a book showing the way it will look when produced, but it may still need some final changes. Galleys may be loose-leafed pages or bound. Bound galleys may be full production galleys with nicer paper and an exact duplication excerpt in one color, or they may be covered in less expensive paper and stamped with the production information in a box.

Generic Dump: A cardboard display filled with the author's books, but having the standard "romance" header instead of a custom header which is artwork from the author's cover (Custom Dump).

Genre: Type or kind of novel (Western, Romance, Science Fiction, etc.)

Go to Contract: Finalize the manuscript purchase by signing a contract.

Hook: An opening sentence or short paragraph that "hooks" the reader.

ID Market: Books found in places other than bookstores. These accounts buy from a middleman, not directly from the publisher.

ISBN: The International Standard Book Number that appears on the copyright page of all published books.

Joint Accounting: Also called Basket Accounting. In multi-book contracts, the advance the author receives, which is based on all of the books, must be earned back before any royalties are paid on the first book, even though the first book may have earned out.

Justification to Print: Also called a Reconciliation to Print. The breakdown of an author's sales usually containing information not given on the royalty statement.

Lead Time: The time between the purchase and release date of the printed book.

Letter Quality: Print with the "look" of an electric typewriter.

Line or Series: Books grouped by type, length and cover art published by one company, such as Silhouette Romance, Desire, Special Edition, Intimate Moments, Diamond Homespun, Harlequin Intrigue, etc.

List Position: Books are promoted and sold according to the position on the sales list. The first book is called the "lead book." It gets a better cover, more promotional money, and, in general, a bigger push.

Mainstream: Definition depends on the house. Usually aimed towards general audiences with less romance.

Manuscript (ms/mss): A typewritten story (abbreviation for manuscript/manuscripts).

P & L: Profit and Loss statement. Detailed sales breakdown on single title books which give info on exactly what the book costs to produce.

Print Run: The number of books printed. Not to be confused with the ship figure, which may be lower. Some houses warehouse more books than others.

Proposal: A cover letter, synopsis, and first three chapters.

Pseudonym: Author's assumed name or "pen name."

Query Letter: Letter to an editor sounding out possible publishing interest.

Reserve: Books the author is not paid for because the publisher is holding them "in reserve" to see if more books are returned. Eventually you'll get the money if more books aren't returned.

Returns: Books that are returned to the publisher. The author doesn't get paid for these books.

Revisions: Portions of the manuscript that are written at the editor's request. Many authors receive payment after acceptance of the revised manuscript.

Royalties: Payments on a published book based on a percent of the cover price.

Representatives: A sales team working for the publisher. They have been given territories and gather orders within this territory, usually calling on the bookstores in person.

SASE: A self-addressed, stamped envelope.

Scraps: Books in the warehouse which are usually sold to discounters. If these books are never shipped, they are not counted against the author the way stripped books are.

Sell-In: The period of time when sales reps are soliciting orders for your book, usually five or six months before the publication date.

Sell-Through: This is a percentage figure based on the number of books shipped and then sold. (Example: 50,000 books shipped with 25,000 sold is a 50% sell-through figure.)

Simultaneous Submission: A manuscript submitted to more than one publisher at a time.

Single Title: "Standalone" books that are not part of a line.

Slush Pile: Unsolicited manuscripts received by the publisher.

Strips: Rather than return a whole book, the cover is "stripped" and returned to the publisher to prove the book wasn't sold. The author is not paid for these books. The number of books stripped are used in calculating the author's sell-through.

Synopsis: Short summary of a book's plot.

Target Number: The goal set for orders on your book.

Telemarketing: Instead of a person calling on an account, the publisher sends a sales kit to the store and they telephone in their orders.

Tip Sheets: Manuscript guidelines from a publisher available on request.

Wholesalers: Distributors who rack smaller accounts like drugstores and supermarkets. Levy and ARA are examples usually covering a very large territory. They use trucks to deliver books and magazines for their accounts.

Word Count: Total number of words in a manuscript. The standard ms page is 250 words.

Works for Hire: Books that are contracted by the publisher for which they retain the copyright, making it impossible for the author to resell her work at a later date. Often no royalties are paid.