Glossary of Publishing Terms

Acquisitions Author Welcome Questionnaire (AWQ ) the portion of the editorial department’s work that involves the form an Eerdmans author fills out and sends in to help promote inviting and evaluating book proposals, establishing contracts and sell his or her book. A treasure trove if it’s filled out completely, with authors, and working with authors to bring in acceptable it will include author biography and contact information; both manuscripts. short and long book summaries; ideas for blurbers and reviews; suggested subject categories; the author’s reflections on what makes Acquisitions editor the book unique; cover ideas; and more. a member of the editorial team who is responsible for acquisitions. Backlist Advance previously published books that are still in print. money paid by a publisher to an author or illustrator before the book is published, as an advance payment on royalties. This money Back matter is, in effect, loaned from an author’s future royalties, and royalty printed material found in the back of the book. This includes the payments do not commence until after the advance has been appendix, the bibliography, the index, and other related items. See “earned back.” Not every author receives an advance. also Front matter.

Advance copies Bibliography copies of a book that are released ahead of the official publication a list of all of the sources used (whether referenced or not) in the date and sent to authors, editors, contributors, booksellers and process of researching and writing a book. distributors, reviewers, and others. Blurb Advance reading copy (ARC) See Endorsement. a copy of a book that the publisher sends, free of charge and gener- ally before the book goes into distribution, to the press and other Blurber media, potential buyers, and reviewers in order to promote the book. See Endorser. ARCs are usually printed and have a high quality printed cover, but because they are created from uncorrected proofs, they may Boilerplate contain differences from the final book. Books for which ARCs are general information about a series that remains the same for each not printed are presented to early reviewers in bound page proofs. book in the series. Advance Title Information sheet (ATI) can alternately refer to a publisher’s standard contract terms, used the first promotional material produced for a forthcoming book, as a starting point for negotiations. used to interest bookstores and other buyers in new titles. This sheet contains the title; author info; a catchy tagline; descriptive Book Industry Standards and Communications (BISAC) copy; specs including price, page count, and trim size; contributors code system used by booksellers and distributors to categorize (if the book is a collection); early blurbs or reviews (if we have them); books by subject. Like the Dewey Decimal System for libraries. and a tentative cover image. Book proposal American Booksellers Association (ABA) and Christian set of materials sent to a publisher to propose a book. This usually Booksellers Association (CBA) includes a query letter, a description or abstract of the book or trade organizations serving secular and Christian bookstores books, sample chapters, an outline, the author’s CV, and information (independents and chains), respectively. Both hold annual conven- about the author’s platform and the book’s sales and marketing tions where publishers and other suppliers exhibit their products. potential. Glossary of Publishing Terms, continued

Book signing Copyright page an author talks about and signs copies of his or her book for buyers. a page, usually immediately following the title page in the front matter of a book, that lists information relating to the book’s Bound page proofs / bound galleys copyright. printouts of a nearly finalized book that serve the same purpose as ARCs but are not printed at such high quality. Cover art the artwork used on the cover or jacket of a book. Camera-ready artwork artwork or pasted material that is ready for reproduction. Cover Copy text that may include a book synopsis or description, author Camera-ready copy biography, endorsements, or other information designed to help final publication material that is ready to be printed. sell the book. This information is printed on the back panel of a paperback book cover. See also Jacket copy. Case-bound book a hardcover book whose cover is made with stiff boards. Cases are Crop marks usually covered with cloth, vinyl, or leather or preprinted covers lines or markings on camera-ready copy indicating where the (as with picture books). pages will be trimmed after printing.

Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) Dedication our main sourcebook for questions of grammar, style, and format. an expression of friendly tribute or thanks by the author, printed Our house style currently relies on CMS, 16th ed. on a separate dedication page or on the copyright page as part of the front matter. Conferences and trade shows (SBL, ETS, AAR, BEA, ICRS, ALA, and others) Direct mail academic conferences or trade shows where our sales team displays catalogs, flyers, posters, and other printed promotional pieces that and sells books. SBL = Society of Biblical Literature; ETS = Evan- are mailed directly to consumers. gelical Theological Society; AAR = American Academy of Religion; BEA = Book Expo America; ICRS = International Christian Retail Distributor Show; ALA = American Library Association (among others). an industry intermediary that buys, stores in centralized locations, promotes, and distributes our books to other resellers and libraries. Contract the agreement drawn up during the acquisitions process between Dummy the publisher and the author to spell out payment terms, royalties, a rough mock-up of the illustrations and layout for a picture book. deadlines, rights, respective responsibilities, etc. Eerdmans Books for Young Readers (EBYR) Co-op money/co-op advertising our children’s imprint, which publishes 16–18 titles a year, ranging an agreement with a book distributor whereby a publisher contrib- from board books and picture books to middle-grade readers, young utes a sum of money, usually equal to a percentage of net purchases adult novels, religious nonfiction, and more. made in the previous year (typically 1–2 percent) to promote a title through trade advertising in the following year. This is often an Endorsement obligatory part of conducting business with wholesale distributors. a short promotional comment from a recognized expert or celebrity. We use endorsements on covers, in catalogs, on websites, in ads — Copy and elsewhere as opportunities present themselves. (Endorsements generally refers to text (whether in manuscript form or typeset are referred to colloquially as blurbs.) galleys or pages) but sometimes refers to the entire interior content (text and graphics) of a publication. Endorser someone who writes an endorsement. Colloquially, a blurber or Copyediting blurbist. the line-by-line work of a manuscript’s copy editor or project editor after major structural and content concerns have been resolved. Epigraph This work usually concentrates on grammar and style to ensure a short quote or saying at the beginning of a book or chapter. clarity and conciseness. F&Gs (folded and gathered sheets) Copyright unbound, full-color proofs of an illustrated book, created mainly a creator’s legally enforceable exclusive claim of the use, sale, and for use as advance reading copies of children’s picture books. distribution of an original work, usually for a limited time. Glossary of Publishing Terms, continued

Foreword ISBN (International Standard Book Number) a short introduction to a book, written by a person (not the author) gives the book a unique ID for orders and distribution. Different whom readers will recognize as an authority on the subject. Often parts of the number identify the language of publication (“0” for misspelled “forward.” English), the publisher’s number, and five digits that are unique to the book. All bar codes include an ISBN. Frontlist the books a publisher is releasing in the current year. Jacket copy text that may include a book synopsis or description, author Front matter biography, endorsements, or other information designed to help the pages before the text begins, located in the front of a book; at sell the book. This information is printed on the front and back minimum this contains a title page and copyright page, but it may flaps and back panel of a hardcover book jacket. also contain a half title, dedication, contents page, foreword, preface, etc. Layout the designed presentation of text and art/graphics for a print Galley proofs publication. early typeset pages which can be inexpensively bound and sent to reviewers before publication. (At Eerdmans, we often skip galleys Library jobber and go straight to page proofs, which we then bind and send to a company that places wholesale orders for libraries. reviewers and blurbers in lieu of galleys.) Linechecking Half-title page the act of comparing a newly corrected proof against a marked-up interior page directly inside the front cover, before the title page. proof, to ensure that all noted errors have been fixed and editorial This is where we often place extra endorsements if we have more changes made. copy than we can gracefully squeeze onto the book’s jacket or back cover. Manuscript (MS, plural MSS) the typed original text of a book, prepared and submitted for Hardcover / hardback publication. a book format in which the book is bound between firm boards covered in cloth, paper, leather, or film. Mass-market Paperback a soft-bound edition of a book published in a smaller format (usu- House style ally 4.25″ x 7″) and made from lower quality materials to keep the the particular style of preferred spelling, punctuation, hyphen- list price low. Mysteries, romance novels, and other works of “pulp ation, citation, and indentation used by a publisher to ensure fiction” are often reissued in mass-market paperback after their consistent typesetting and copyediting. initial release.

Imprint Metadata an editorial group within a publishing house that focuses on a digital information about a book compiled and shared electroni- particular category or genre (e.g., Eerdmans Books for Young cally with distributors and their websites using the ONIX (Online Readers). INformation eXchange) publishing protocol. This can include everything from a book’s title, author, and descriptive copy to its Index price, trim size, and publication date. an alphabetical listing of names, places, topics, or references in the Bible or other texts, together with the page numbers on which they Midlist appear. Indexes appear in the back matter. books or authors who are not bestsellers but produce strong enough sales (or anticipated sales) to justify their publication. In-stock date / ship date the date a finished book arrives in our warehouse. After this date, Monograph we immediately begin shipping out copies — to bookstores, dis- a scholarly work by a single author. tributors, reviewers, endorsers, and the author(s) or editor(s). The in-stock date is approximately one month prior to the publication New / second / revised edition date, to allow time for bookstores and others to receive and shelve a reprint of an existing title incorporating substantial textual their shipments. additions or alterations, or a republication of a title that has been out of print. Glossary of Publishing Terms, continued

Out of print (OP) Print run a title the publisher no longer intends to include in its catalog or to the number of copies of a printed book that is ordered from a keep in inventory. A book that is designated “OP when OS” will be printer at one time. A book’s initial print run is roughly determined considered “out of print when out of stock,” meaning that supplies by projected sales numbers for its first year (or first 2-3 years) in are dwindling and it does not make good financial sense to print print. Modern technology — both advances in printing and inven- additional copies when they are gone. tory management and the growth of ebooks — has impacted the traditional understanding of what a print run is and should be. Page proofs the stage following galley proofs (in cases where galley proofs Project editing are made) or the edited manuscript, in which pages are typeset, that portion of the editorial department’s work that involves work- designed, and paginated. These are sent to endorsers, reviewers, and ing with freelancers, authors, and our production department to authors (who then have a final chance to make minor corrections move accepted manuscripts through copyediting, design, and proof- to the text before it goes to press). ing to create publication-ready files

Paperback Project editor a book format in which the book is bound between thick paper or a member of the editorial team who is responsible for project paperboard and often held together with glue rather than stitches editing. or staples. Proof Perfect binding in addition to page proofs, which refer explicitly to the interior a common method of binding paperback books, using plastic glue pages of a book in progress, “proof” can also refer to any preliminary to bind the pages to the book cover. design — of book jackets and covers, catalogs, ATIs, ads, and more.

Permissions Proofread grants of nonexclusive rights to reprint part of a book or other to go over a proof carefully, looking for grammatical and typo- copyrighted work for various uses (often for a fee). Some of these graphical errors and questionable design elements that ought to uses are: inclusion in an anthology; reproduction for classroom use; be changed or corrected. use by an author of more than fifty words in a published article or book. The publisher manages permissions for the author and splits Pub(lication) date the proceeds. Authors are required in advance to request permissions the date a book is in stores, in stock, and universally available for and pay any related fees for images and quoted material that they sale to the general public. This occurs approximately one month wish to use in their own books. after the in-stock date. In many cases, a book’s pub date is largely ceremonial in function, as sales and marketing activities will kick Platform off months before and continue for months after the official pub an author’s visibility, authority, and proven ability to reach a target date. audience. A professorship at a major research university, a popular blog, a regular column in a widely read magazine, an active Twitter Quick Service Order Form (QSOF) profile — these and many other possible “bricks” can all be part of document listing all of our in-print books on one handy order a successful author platform. form for the convenience of booksellers, distributors, and other placers of bulk–orders. This is updated twice a year and accessible Press/media kit on our website. a collection of materials created to introduce members of the media to a book and its author. This could include basic information about Remainder the book, sample interview questions, and excerpts from early a title sold in bulk at or below cost to reduce overstock caused by reviews and endorsements. excess inventory or declining sales.

Press release Reprint a written announcement sent to members of the media. a previously published book that is being sent back to press for an additional print run. Print on demand (POD) producing a specific quantity (as small as one copy) of otherwise Returns not-in-stock books. Books enrolled in a POD program are generally unsold copies that bookstores or wholesalers return for credit to backlist titles with abiding merit but insufficient sales to warrant the publisher. These may or may not be in saleable condition. conventional printing and warehousing. Glossary of Publishing Terms, continued

Review copy Subvention a complimentary copy of a book sent to a reviewer who intends money paid to a publisher, usually by a university or other institu- to read it and possibly publish a review. Review copy requests tion, to offset the cost of producing a specific book. must be from legitimate reviewers and approved by the publicity department. Trade book a book that is geared for sale to the general public. Trade books are Royalties distinct from professional resources, academic titles, and other more the percentage of profits that the author receives out of proceeds specialized offerings. from the sale of each copy of the book. Trade paperback SBL Handbook of Style (SBLHS) soft-bound editions of books that are larger than mass-market our supplemental sourcebook for questions of style, abbreviation, paperbacks and of better quality; more affordable than hardcovers transliteration, etc., for books in biblical studies and cognate areas. to produce, but printed to similar standards. (Eerdmans’s most We currently use the 2nd edition of SBLHS. commonly used format is a 6″ × 9″ trade paperback.)

Slush pile Trim size a nickname for the stack of unsolicited manuscripts, proposals, the horizontal and vertical dimensions of a book. A book with and queries a publisher receives. a 6″ × 9″ inch trim size is 6 inches across and 9 inches high.

Softcover / softback Unsolicited submission See Paperback. a proposal or manuscript that is not represented by an agent and that is sent from an author who has not previously published with Submissions the publishing house or been recruited by an acquisitions editor. manuscripts, queries, or proposals sent to a publisher by an author Unsolicited submissions collectively are referred to as the “slush or agent. They may be exclusive (sent to only one publisher at a time) pile.” or multiple (sent to several publishers at once). We ask authors to indicate in their query letters whether or not their submissions are Vanity or subsidy press exclusive. a company an author pays to publish his or her book.

Subsidiary rights Wholesaler the legal right to produce, publish, or license a product in a format a company that acts as an intermediary between publishers and different from the original. Subsidiary rights sales could involve retailers; like a distributor, but one that doesn’t engage as actively foreign translation rights or film rights, among a long list of other in the promotion of books. possibilities.