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.