Write That Book Already!: The Tough Love You Need To Get Published Now (28 page)

Platform
The audience, contacts, organization, and fame of the author

Portrait
An upright image or page where the height is greater than the width

Pre-emptive offer
A publisher’s bid that prevents a project from going to auction

Preface
Text at the front of a book that explains or introduces it to the reader. This is the author’s own statement, and may include acknowledgments. It follows the foreword, if there is one, and is part of the front matter.

Proof
An initial typeset and designed version of the book or the cover, produced to correct errors and make alterations

Proof correction marks
Standard set of signs and symbols in the margin to indicate corrections on proofs

Publication (or pub) date
A date set by the publisher before which news media are not supposed to review the book; this is to allow time for transportation from the warehouse to booksellers, and may be from four to eight weeks after the finished book is available

R

Reading line
A descriptive line of text that appears on the book jacket or cover but isn’t the official subtitle

Recto
The right-hand page of an open book; the standard side to start a story or chapter

Release date
The day on which a book is scheduled to be shipped to bookstores and/or is ready for sale; this comes before both the on sale and publication dates

Remainder
The fate of books that are printed in much too large a quantity for subsequent sales; the resulting discounts at extremely low prices are beneficial to the consumer, but not the author or publisher

Review copy
Book copy sent to the media in the hope that they will publish a review or promote the book

Rock Bottom Remainders
A mediocre rock band made up of famous authors and “rock stars in residence,” with the stated purpose of raising money for literacy-related charities; the band’s members include (or have included) Stephen King, Dave Barry, Amy Tan, Scott Turow, Mitch Albom, Tad Bartimus, Dave Marsh, Greil Marcus, Joel Selvin, Ridley Pearson, James McBride, Roy Blount Jr., Matt Groening, Barbara Kingsolver, Robert Fulghum, Roger McGuinn, Warren Zevon, Al Kooper, and—by astonishing coincidence—Sam Barry and Kathi Kamen Goldmark (She founded the band in 1992)

Running head or footer
Line of type at the top of a page which repeats the heading or other information on each page; the Headless Horseman in Washington Irving’s alternate universe

Running text
This is a fancy term for the way most people write—forming words into sentences, which are in turn formed into paragraphs. In other words, your basic prose

S

Saddle stitch
To bind by stapling sheets together in the seam where the sheets fold; how a cowboy mends his trousers

Sample chapter
A sample of the manuscript included in a book proposal

Sell through
The percentage of books shipped that are actually sold by retailers (a 50 percent or higher sell through is considered respectable); in current practice, most unsold titles are returned to the publisher

Short discount
The discount generally given by trade publishers on academic books of 20 percent off a book’s list price; trade books usually come with a 40 to 50 percent, or long, discount

Slush pile
The unsolicited (over-the-transom) manuscripts that lie around on editorial assistants’ desks or languish in e-mail inboxes; the sidewalk outside Random House in early March

Spine
Back or binding edge of a book or publication

Spiral bind
Continuous wire or plastic looped through holes along bound edge

Stet
Proof correction that rescinds a correction (The copyeditor of our book says “Oh no! We don’t like authors to know they can stet” but she doesn’t mean
you.
)

Stock
Paper for printing

Style sheet
A list of words, terms, and phrases that a copyeditor maintains for a manuscript so that the book will be consistent (e.g., do or don’t capitalize “church”)

T

Table of contents (TOC)
Listing of the divisions of the book (e.g., chapters) and the pages on which they begin

Teaser page
A page or pages at the beginning of the book that promotes the book by offering praise for the author’s writing, a sample of the contents, or some other promotional material

Template
Layout with basic page dimensions; the thing you serve “tem” on

Thumbnail
A small version of an image or, if plural, small versions of images

Tip in
The insertion of an extra page in a book after the normal printing process is completed

Title page
A page that includes the title, author’s name, and possibly other information such as the translator or publisher

Track
Sales record of an author’s previous books

Trade publisher
A company that publishes for the general consumer market

Trim size
The book’s finished size

Typo
Typographical errur

U

UV coating
Laminated paper treated with ultraviolet light

V

Varnish
Clear liquid applied after printing for glossy appearance and protection

Vellum
A thick, rough book paper (originally an ancient form of paper made from the treated skin of a calf )

Verso
The left-hand page of a book

W

Widow
Instance of the last line of a paragraph left alone at the top of a page