Book publishing glossary: Terms in plain language

ACX: Audiobook Creation Exchange, Amazon's platform for producing and distributing audiobooks to Audible, Amazon and Apple Books. Authors can hire narrators through it or upload finished audio. See Module 5.
Advance: Money a traditional publisher pays an author before publication, against future royalties. The author receives no further royalties until the book's royalties have "earned out" the advance. Self-published authors do not receive advances.
Advance reader copy (ARC): An early version of the book, printed or digital, sent before publication to reviewers, endorsers, media and early readers so they can read it in time for launch. Often nearly final but not fully proofread. See Module 6.
Aggregator: A service that distributes your ebook (or audiobook) to many stores from a single upload, in exchange for a share of sales or a fee. The alternative is uploading to each store yourself.
Agent (literary agent): A professional who represents authors to traditional publishers, pitches their proposals and negotiates their contracts, usually for a percentage of the author's earnings from the deal. Most large traditional publishers only consider books submitted by agents.
ASIN: Amazon Standard Identification Number, the product code Amazon uses for everything in its store. Kindle ebooks get their own ASIN from Amazon. For print books, Amazon generally uses the book's 10-digit ISBN as the ASIN. An ASIN only works inside Amazon; it is not a substitute for an ISBN elsewhere.

Back matter: Everything after the last chapter: conclusion, acknowledgments, notes, resources, index and the about-the-author page. See Module 5.
Barcode (EAN): The scannable code on the back cover of a print book. Book barcodes use the EAN-13 format and encode the ISBN of that specific edition. A small second barcode beside it can encode the price; the code 90000 means no price is encoded.
BISAC subject codes: The standard list of subject categories used across the North American book trade, maintained by the Book Industry Study Group. You choose BISAC codes when you set up your book with distributors, and they help stores and libraries shelve and list it. Amazon uses its own category system for its store. See Module 5.
Bleed: Extra image area that extends past the edge where the page will be trimmed, so that color or images run cleanly to the edge with no white sliver. Covers almost always need bleed; interiors need it only when images run to the page edge.
Blurb: Usually a short endorsement of the book from a credible person, printed on the cover, the first pages or the store page. Some people also use "blurb" for the book description on the back cover, so check which meaning someone has in mind. See Module 6.
Book proposal: The document you use to sell a nonfiction book to a traditional publisher before it is written: an overview, your credentials and platform, a marketing plan, comparable titles, a chapter outline and sample chapters. See Module 5.

CIP (Cataloging in Publication): A block of library cataloging data printed on the copyright page, prepared before publication by the Library of Congress for eligible publishers. Self-published authors are generally not eligible for the Library's program. Some buy a similar block, called publisher's cataloging in publication, from private cataloging services, which can help with library sales.
Comparable titles (comps): Existing books that your reader might buy instead of, or alongside, yours. You use them to position the book, price it, and choose its categories. See Module 2.
Copyedit: The edit that corrects grammar, spelling, punctuation and consistency (names, numbers, capitalization, style rules) in the final text, before layout. Every book needs one. See Module 4.
Copyright: Your legal ownership of the text you wrote. It exists as soon as the work is written down. In the United States, registering the book with the Copyright Office is optional but strengthens your position if you ever need to enforce it. An ISBN has nothing to do with copyright.
Copyright page: The page, usually on the back of the title page, that lists the copyright notice, ISBNs, edition, publisher, credits, any disclaimers and, if you have them, library cataloging data.

Developmental edit: The big-picture edit of a complete draft: structure, argument, order, gaps, repetition and whether the book delivers on its promise. It comes before any sentence-level editing. Sometimes called a structural or substantive edit. See Module 4.
Distribution: How a book gets from the publisher into stores, libraries and readers' hands. For self-published print books this is usually done through print-on-demand platforms; a distributor is the company that handles it.

Edition: A version of the book. A new edition (with significant changes) gets new ISBNs. Small corrections such as fixing typos are usually a new printing, not a new edition.
EPUB: The standard file format for ebooks. Text in an EPUB reflows to fit any screen size, which is why ebook layout is handled differently from print layout.

Foreword: A short introduction written by someone other than the author, usually a well-known person who vouches for the author or the book. Not to be confused with "forward" (a direction) or a preface (written by the author). Most books do not need one.
Front matter: Everything before chapter one: half title, title page, copyright page, dedication, contents, foreword, preface and introduction. See Module 5.

Galley: An early proof of the typeset book. Originally galleys were uncorrected proofs used for checking, and they were also sent to reviewers, so today "galley" and "advance reader copy" are often used to mean the same thing.
Ghostwriter: A professional writer who writes a book that is published under someone else's name, usually working from interviews with the author, who reviews and approves every draft. Common and accepted in nonfiction. See Module 4.

Half title: A page near the front of a book that shows only the title, before the full title page.
Hybrid publishing: A loose term for arrangements where the author pays a company to publish the book. Terms vary widely: some leave rights and royalties with the author, others take them. Read the contract carefully. See Module 5.

Imprint: The publishing name printed on the spine and copyright page. Large publishers have many imprints. A self-publishing author can create their own imprint name and register ISBNs under it.
Index: An alphabetical list of names and topics at the back of a book with page numbers. Useful for reference-style books; usually prepared by a professional indexer after layout, because it depends on final page numbers.
IngramSpark: A print-on-demand and ebook distribution platform run by Ingram, a major book wholesaler. Self-published authors use it to reach bookstores, libraries and online retailers beyond Amazon. Many use it alongside Amazon KDP.
ISBN: International Standard Book Number, the 13-digit number that identifies one edition of a book in one format. Each format (paperback, hardcover, ebook, audiobook) should have its own. The publisher applies for it; if you self-publish, that is you. It is an identifier, not a form of copyright protection, according to the International ISBN Agency. See Module 5.

KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing): Amazon's self-publishing platform for Kindle ebooks and print-on-demand paperbacks and hardcovers sold on Amazon. Free to use; Amazon takes a share of each sale.
KDP Select: An optional Amazon program that requires your ebook to be sold only on Amazon for the enrollment period. In return the ebook is included in Kindle Unlimited, Amazon's ebook subscription, and gets access to promotional tools. It does not restrict your print books.
Keywords: Search words or phrases you enter as part of your book's metadata so it appears when readers search for them. Use the words your reader actually types.

LCCN (Library of Congress Control Number): A number the Library of Congress assigns so libraries can find the cataloging record for a book. US publishers, including self-publishers, can request one before publication through the Library's Preassigned Control Number program, and are then asked to send a copy of the finished book. It is printed on the copyright page.
Line edit: A sentence-by-sentence edit for clarity, flow, tone and wordiness, after the structure is settled. See Module 4.
List price: The retail price the publisher sets for the book. Royalties and wholesale discounts are usually calculated from it.

Metadata: All the information about a book that stores, libraries and search engines read: title, subtitle, author, description, categories, keywords, ISBNs, price, format details, release date and more. Keep it identical everywhere. See Module 5.

Offset printing: Traditional bulk printing, where many copies are printed at once. The cost per copy is lower than print on demand at large quantities, but you pay up front and have to store and ship the books.
Orphan: See widow and orphan.

Positioning: The place your book holds in the reader's mind: who it is for, what it promises and why they would choose it over other books. See Module 1 and Module 2.
Preface: A short note from the author before the main text, often about why or how the book was written. Different from a foreword, which someone else writes, and from an introduction, which is part of the book's content.
Print on demand (POD): Printing each copy only when it is ordered. There is no inventory to buy or store, which is why most self-published print books use it. The cost per copy is higher than a large offset print run.
Proof (proof copy): A test copy of the book, printed or digital, used to check the final files before release. Always check a printed proof of a print book page by page.
Proofread: The final check, done on the typeset pages, for remaining typos and layout errors such as bad breaks, missing words and wrong page headers. It comes after the copyedit and after layout. See Module 4.
Publication date: The official date the book is released and available to buy. Also called the release date or on-sale date.

Returns: The book trade's practice of letting bookstores send unsold copies back for credit. Bookstores generally expect books to be returnable before they will stock them. When you self-publish through a distributor like IngramSpark, you choose whether your book is returnable, and returned copies are charged back to you.
Royalty: The author's share of each sale. In traditional publishing it is a percentage of the list price or of the publisher's net receipts, set by contract. In self-publishing it is what the platform pays you after its share and, for print, the printing cost.
Running head: The line at the top of interior pages showing the book title, chapter title or author name. Usually left off chapter opening pages.

Self-publishing: Publishing a book yourself: you hire or do the editing, design and setup, own the rights and the ISBNs, set the price and keep the royalties. See Module 5.
Spine: The narrow edge of a print book that shows on a shelf. Its width depends on page count and paper, so the final cover can only be finished once the interior layout is done.
Style sheet: A list a copyeditor keeps of the decisions made for your book (spellings, capitalization, how numbers and titles are written) so the rest of the team follows the same rules.

Thesis (chapter thesis): The single point a chapter makes, written in one or two sentences. In this course every chapter in your outline has one. See Module 3.
Traditional publishing: Publishing through an established publishing house that buys the rights to the book, pays the production costs, usually pays an advance, and controls most decisions. See Module 5.
Trim size: The finished page size of a print book, such as 6 by 9 inches or 5.5 by 8.5 inches. It affects page count, printing cost and how the book feels in the hand.
Typesetting (interior layout): Turning the final manuscript into designed book pages: fonts, margins, spacing, headings, page breaks and images. See Module 5.

Wholesale discount: The percentage off the list price that a publisher gives to retailers and wholesalers, which is how they make their margin. Bookstores generally expect a larger discount than online sales require. A higher discount means a lower royalty for you on each copy.
Widow and orphan: Typesetting terms for lines stranded away from the rest of their paragraph, such as the last line of a paragraph alone at the top of a page, or the first line alone at the bottom. Definitions vary slightly between designers. Good layout avoids them.
Word count: How long the manuscript is, measured in words rather than pages, because page count depends on trim size and layout. The Scribe Method chapter on book chapters mentions roughly 50,000 words as a common convention for nonfiction, but length should follow the material.

Sources: the International ISBN Agency (isbn-international.org) for ISBN basics; the Book Industry Study Group (bisg.org) for BISAC; The Scribe Method (free online at scribemedia.com) for word count conventions. Definitions written for this course. Platform programs and rules change; confirm current terms on each platform. Published by Scribe Media.

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