** If you are a reader of information, scroll down for the text version of this post. If you’d rather watch or listen to learn… here’s a video!

When I first wandered into the writing world, I felt continuously lost. The lay of the land, the shifting landscape, the unwritten rules and industry norms… everything felt foreign. Vocabulary and language were NO EXCEPTION. Half the time I didn’t even know what people were even talking about! It can all feel pretty overwhelming, especially when all you want to do is share your stories with the world. Can you relate?

Alright. Take a deep breath. Let’s get our feet on solid ground with a quick vocab lesson. I was a reading and English teacher for twelve years, so trust me when I say you are in capable hands. Below you will find an alphabetical list of writing world terms, phases, and insider vocabulary words defined and dissected. Hopefully once you’ve read them through, you’ll be able to look at your writing road map and feel a little less lost. Maybe you’ll even feel confident enough to travel further than you have ever gone before.

Are you ready? Let’s go.

Advance: An amount of money an author is given prior to the publication of their book. The book must “earn out” this amount of money before the author is paid royalties. For example, if an author is given a $10,000 advance, it means they were paid their first $10,000 of royalties ahead of any actual book sales. Once the book sells enough copies to surpass that initial advance-royalty amount (in this example case, $10,000), the author will be paid royalties monthly, quarterly or semi-annually depending on their contract with their publisher.

Agent: A book industry professional who represents authors and illustrators and helps them place their work with publishers. This person also helps the creator manage any deals, contracts, payments, etc. Getting an agent takes a lot of work, but having one dramatically increases a writer’s success with traditional publication. Most agents are paid 15% of/from an author’s earnings.

ARC: Advance Reader Copy. Publishers send copies of a book to reviewers, bookstores, book bloggers and media professionals prior to it’s release (to the public) in order to create excitement and buzz about it’s publication.

Back Matter: Material that appears in the back of a book in the form of an afterword, an appendix, a bibliography, a glossary, and/or an index. Back Matter is especially helpful and valuable in nonfiction books and is used to further educate the reader. Authors who include back matter in a book increase its usefulness. This is especially true for children’s nonfiction books if an author is interested in finding a home inside the school/library market. Typically Beta Readers are not paid.

Beta Reader: A “practice reader” that lets an author know a story’s strengths and weaknesses. A beta reader will read an in-progress version of a manuscript and give the author feedback in order to improve the book. Beta readers can be friends, critique partners or strangers found online through manuscript swaps.

The Big 5: Five publishing houses publish 80% of all books in the United States. These publishing houses are: Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Hachette and Macmillan. These publishers are known for producing high quality books and have the highest status in the writing world… Book Publishing Royalty if you will. To get a book deal with one of these publishers feels like hitting the lottery. Publishing with a Big 5 company often means your book will get top of the line editing, marketing and attention from reviewers, awards committees, etc. To learn more about each of these companies and how to work with them, click here.

Book Proposal: A written plan of a nonfiction book that an author sends to an agent or publisher. The author submits the plan for the book before writing it so that they are saved the time of research and writing if an agent/publisher is not interested in publishing the book. Often a book proposal includes an outline, sample chapters, comp titles, a market analysis and an overview of the writer’s platform/past work.

Book Signing: A publicized event, often held at bookstores or book festivals, featuring the author reading from their book as well as a Q&A session. There is also the opportunity for book signings and informal chatting with the author. Book signings are both fun and important for the success of a book.

Comp Titles: Books that are similar to an author’s manuscript. These help a publisher or agent know potential competitors of a proposed project and also help in communicating a vision for the author’s overall desired outcome for their book.

Critique: Feedback given about a manuscript, touching on issues such as structure as well as character and plot development. A critique can be given by a beta reader, writing partner, instructor, editor or other industry professional.

Dummy: A mock-up of a book that shows in physical form where all front matter, text, illustrations, and back matter will appear. Some dummies include actual sketches and images. A dummy is usually only made for picture books.

Editor: A publishing house employee that meets with agents to find and sign new work to turn into books. Editors support a project throughout the entire publishing process and make suggestions to improve the manuscript so that it can be the best possible publication.

Endorsement: A statement given by a well-known author about another writer’s work. This statement is often written right on the book cover and/or used to promote the book in hopes of increasing sales.

Genre: The type and style of a story. For example, science fiction, romance, historical fiction, etc. There are certain “rules” about word count, style and story elements for each specific genre. Ignoring these guidelines is a fast way to show publishers you are uninformed and miss the mark of your target reader. Sure, rules are meant to be broken… but we also have rules for a reason. If you are a rookie, I wouldn’t recommend breaking them!

Ghostwriter: A person who helps to write/writes a book for another. A ghostwriter is paid, but is not allowed to put their name on the final project, or tell anyone that they wrote it. It’s like they are a ghost… felt but not seen.

Indie Publisher: A small publishing house separate from the Big Five we talked about earlier. They do all the things a Big 5 publisher does, just on a much smaller scale. To learn more about the distinctions between publishing options. Check out this article that offers more in depth explanations.

ISBN (International Standard Book Number): This one is kind of complicated to explain, so I’m just going to quote BookJobs.com, “A worldwide, numbered identification system that provides a standard way for publishers to number their products without duplication by other publishers. "ISBN" also refers to ISBN numbers themselves. The first part of the ISBN identifies the language of publication ("0" for English), and the second part identifies the publisher. The next string of digits in the ISBN identifies the book product itself, and is followed by a digit specifically calculated to ensure the integrity of the ISBN.”

POD: Print on Demand A publishing method that allows books to be printed one at a time. This method of printing is used most frequently with self-published books.

Query Letter: A letter that is sent to an agent asking them to represent your work or a publisher asking them to publish your work. These letters, while short, are very difficult to write. They require the perfect combination of specific elements and must, to be successful, grab the reader’s attention immediately. Writers take entire courses on how to write a query letter, so forgive me if I just refer you to Google if you’d like to learn more about this one. Actually, hold up, here is a great article from Jane Freidman on query letter writing. Start there and then Google as necessary.

Royalty. A percentage of the sale price paid to the author. Frequently author’s earn between 5 and 12% of the book’s retail price. These monies are paid to the author every month, 3 months or 6 months depending on the author’s contract with their publishing company.

SCBWI: Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. This international organization is as respected as they are knowledgabe and supportive (especially of new writers!) I love this organization. If you are writing for anyone under the age of 18, sign up ASAP.

Self-Publishing: The process of publishing a book on your own, without the services or guidance of an indie or Big 5 publisher. All of my books (to date) are self-published. Self-publishing is great because you get complete and total control of the artistic process, but can feel overwhelming because you must do all the jobs. You can hire out specific tasks of the process, like copy editing or cover design, but you are the person in charge of finding and hiring and approving each step. If you are interested in this process and would like help, I’m your girl. Just click here to get started.

SEO: Search Engine Optimization. There are certain keywords and phrases that a person can use to make their website more “findable” in the big ol’ wide world of the internet. SEO is intentionally utilizing these special words.

Slush pile. A stack of unsolicited submissions sent to agents, literary journals, or publishing houses. These pieces are not given any sort of special consideration or recommendations, nor are they represented by agents. It is difficult, but not impossible for an author to be discovered in a slush pile.

Traditional Publishing: A method of publishing that is completed by an indie or Big 5 publisher. (AKA: NOT self-published.) Traditional publishers do everything but write the book. They take care of every step along the way… desiging the interior and exterior of the book, finding an illustrator, completing market research, planning/implementing publicity, tracking of sales, distributing the book, ALL OF IT. However, more and more often, an author is expected to promote and market their work heavily, so even if you get a book deal with a traditional publisher, be ready to work hard on selling your book!

Vanity press. A publisher that requires author to assume all financial risk in the publishing process. The company offers tools to help a writer publish their book, but writers must pay for these tools. Vanity presses should be avoided because they do not care about the success or sales of your book, they are only interested in getting the writer’s money.

Okay. Whew. That was a lot.

Maybe print this out and save it somewhere safe, so if you find yourself confused or lost along your writing way, you’ll have a guide to look back on. For even more vocabulary definitions, you can check out this site.

I hope you have found this information helpful and that now, when participating in a writing world conversation, you know what the heck everyone is talking about. If you have any questions, about anything related to writing, feel free to email me any time.

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