FAQ
Glossary of Publishing Terms
Glossary of Publishing Terms
This glossary is intended to help you understand book production, design and publishing terms. These terms will not only help you navigate the process of book production, but will help you build success for your book.
A
Acknowledgments: 1) Recognition or honor given to people who have influenced the book being published or who have made a difference in the life of the author. 2) Section of a book containing such recognition.
Appendix: Part of book that follows a chapter (end-of-chapter appendix) or, more commonly, that comes after all the chapters (end-of-book appendix). An appendix contains supplemental material, such as tables or source material, which does not conveniently fit into a chapter.
Author Review: The phase of production in which the author reviews cover and galley proofs and either approves for printing or makes revisions.
B
Back Matter: Counterpart of front matter. Any material, such as appendixes, notes, references, glossary or index, that comes after the chapters of a book.
Bleed: To bleed means to extend outside the normal trim area of a book's page. A bleed is a bar, illustration, rule or other element that extends outside the trim area. Such elements have ink that is visible on the edge of the page in the bound book.
Book Block: PDF files that comprise all book content except the cover.
Book Consultant: This is your book sales representative; they will assist you with all book orders.
Book Pricing: The Suggested Retail Price (“SRP”) of your print book, determined by trim size, page count, and interior format (black and white versus color), distribution costs and your royalty percentage.
C
Check In Coordinator: The Trafford Publishing representative whose job it is to evaluate all submitted materials to determine if it meets publisher qualifications. They will also help you prepare your publishing materials for the production and design teams.
Author Copy: First printed copy of the completed book sent to the author, together with the book copies that come with the package.Content Editor: Person who edits the content (subject matter) of a book in addition to its form (sentence structure). A content editor often recommends substantive corrections to a manuscript, such as those affecting presentation, grammar, style and so forth.
Copyright: Ownership of intellectual property, including printed matter that is protected by law. Also, the right to copy, repurpose or publish content of the copyrighted work.
Cover Design: Aesthetic layout on the covers of a book, usually intended to be attractive or alluring to the eye.
Cover Sign Off: A form the author signs attesting that the cover of the book is complete and authorizing Trafford Publishing to send it to the printer exactly as it appears in the electronic proofs.
D
Design (Book): Layout, selection of font and font size and typesetting of a book. See also Cover Design.
Developmental Editor: Person who deals with the overall organization of a book's manuscript rather than with changes such as wording of sentences within paragraphs. A developmental editor also addresses re-ordering entire blocks of text, and such an edit may extend to re-ordering entire chapters or the re-structuring of a book's plot. The edit may also address tone, voice, addition or deletion of material, complexity of material and transitions among paragraphs and sections of the book.
Distribution: Making your book available to wholesalers, retailers and consumers.
Distributor: An entity that sells products or services to retailers instead of directly to consumers.
DPI (Dots Per Inch): Convention expressing graphic resolution of a graphic file, resolution of a computer monitor or potential printing density of a computer printer.
E
E-book: Electronic file format to which books may be published. Although dedicated devices (e-readers) may be used to read e-books, they may be read on other platforms such as smartphones, tablets and personal computers as well.
Endorsement: Written statement promoting an author or book. Usually listed on the cover or in the front matter of the book.
Editorial Assessment: With this service included in certain Trafford Publishing packages, an author’s manuscript is evaluated for its editorial quality and publishing readiness. Includes a short sample edit.
Editorial Services Associate: Works with an author who purchases editing for their book until the editing process is complete. Acts as the liaison between the author and the editor.
F
Footnote (FN, Endnote): A footnote is a reference citation and supplementary information that appears at the bottom of a book page. A reader's attention is usually directed to a footnote through the use of a superscript character. An endnote takes the same form as a footnote but appears at the end of the chapter or book.
Formatting: 1) Process by which a design team lays out a manuscript to create book pages. 2) Text effect applied to characters to make them appear bold, italic, sheared or otherwise.
Front Matter: Any material preceding the beginning chapters of the book including the table of contents, dedication, acknowledgements, introduction, and foreword.
G
Galley: The interior text of the book after all editing and formatting has taken place.
Galley Sign Off: A form the author signs attesting that the interior of the book is complete and authorizing Trafford Publishing to send it to the printer exactly as it appears in the electronic proofs.
Genre: Broad category or kind of book, generally denoted by the book's subject matter. Some examples of book genres include romance, sci-fi, self-help and true crime.
Grayscale: Refers to images (which may originally have been represented in color) that are composed only of black and white and the gray shades in-between.
H
Hard Return: Occurs when the “enter” or “return” key is used at the end of a line of text rather than allowing the text to naturally wraparound to the next line.
Hardcover Book: Book that has cloth material glued to a type of pasteboard material, forming a durable cover and spine. Reference books and lending library books are often bound in this way.
I
Illustrations Coordinator: Works with an author who purchases illustrations for their book until the illustrations are complete. Acts as the liaison between the author and the illustrator.
Index: List of words at the end of a book that guides a reader to the specific pages on which subjects appear in the main body of the text.
Interior: All content within the book. Refers to everything except the cover.
Interior graphics/images: Pictures, diagrams, figures and other graphical items that appear within the contents of a book.
International Standard Book Number (ISBN): Unique 13-digit number (can be 10 or 13 digits if issued prior to 2007) that identifies a specific edition of a book.
K
Keyword: Important word or phrase that is input to conduct searches in online search engines and databases to find all related results.
L
LCCN: Library of Congress Control Number. The publisher will apply for this with the Library of Congress on the author’s behalf and include on the copyright page of book.
Line Editor: Person who performs an edit that is heavier than a typical copy edit and who considers a book's voice, tone and phrasing. Fiction line editing considers the story's pacing, character development, handling of details and vocabulary of the period and place where the novel is set and the naturalness and effectiveness of dialogue. A line editor also focuses on correcting errors in grammar, punctuation and writing style.
M
Manuscript: Complete version of a book (often as an electronic text file) as prepared by the author. The term manuscript refers to both textual and graphic elements of the book. Editors and authors make preproduction book alterations to the manuscript. The finalized manuscript is used to produce a set of book pages.
Manuscript Evaluation: A review of your manuscript for compliance with our policies.
Marketing: Promotional and advertising efforts to sell books.
Marketing Consultant (MC): Your Trafford Publishing representative in the marketing department will assist you with the understanding and purchase of marketing services. The MC helps an author determine which marketing services are best suited for their book and complement their publishing package.
Marketing Services Representative (MSR): An author’s point of contact during the fulfillment of various publicity services.
O
Offset Printing: Common printing technology that applies layers one at a time. A reverse image of each color interfaces with the page via a roller. The roller presses against the paper applying the proper color of ink.
Online Bookseller (Online Retailer): Bookstore on the Web that sells books directly to the customer.
P
PDF (Portable Document Format): Adobe Systems file format that can be precisely reproduced on different systems. PDF files are often sent to a printer.
Permission (Copyright): 1) Agreement from a copyright holder that permits the reproduction or publication of copyrighted material. 2) Process of securing agreements from copyright holder.
Prepare for Design: The design consultant evaluates all of the submitted materials to ensure that everything is in order and ready to be moved into the design phase.
Print-on-Demand (POD): Publishing process in which books are printed only as orders are placed.
Print-Ready: Final PDF files of a book that are ready to go to the printer. See also PDF (Portable Document File).
Production: The process of designing the book’s interior and cover. The production team consists of an author’s design consultant, customer service, book designer, and cover designer. Once all production materials have been submitted and evaluated, the book will enter production.
Proof: An electronic copy of the book galley or cover submitted to the author for review.
Proofreading: Read-through of typeset material to ensure that content matches the book's manuscript. Incorrect grammar, punctuation, spelling or usage is queried to the editor.
Publication Date: Official date when a book is available to the public.
Publishing Consultant (PC): Your Trafford Publishing representative who will help you determine which publishing package will best meet your needs.
Publishing Services Associate (PSA): A Trafford Publishing representative who acts as an author’s point of contact during the production process from the time that all materials are received to the time the author approves publication of the book. Also acts as a liaison between the author and designers.
R
Return: Book returned to and refunded by the publisher after failing to sell on the bookstore shelf.
Review: Professional book reviewer's published opinion of a particular book in a periodical or online.
Royalty: Payment to a book's author that is usually a percentage of the net sales revenue.
S
Self-Publishing: Form of book publishing in which the author generally assumes the financial cost of producing copies of the book, and the publication, marketing and publicity of the work. The self-publishing model typically circumvents the need for an author to enter into an exclusive contract with a publisher to ensure publication and distribution of their book. The author may distribute and market their book directly or may enter into a contract with a third party for distribution and marketing.
Softcover: The front and back cover of a paperback book.
Spine Width: Width of part of the book that is visible on a bookshelf. The spine connects the front and back covers.
T
Table of Contents (TOC): This section, also called "Contents," appears in the book's front matter. It lists the book's chapters and their opening page numbers.
Target Audience: Specific group of people whom a book, series or genre targets. Book marketing tends to be concentrated on the target audience.
Text Box: A space outset from the normal text within the interior of the book in which text is displayed.
TIFF (Tagged Image File Format): Compressed-file format for graphic images. The filename extension is .tif
Title Live: This represents a book’s status after it has completed the production process and is available for sale.
Trim Size: Final physical dimensions of a book page after the book is bound and trimmed.