- YouTube bestie and fabulous Book launchers client
Efron Delgado was dropping some major publishing lingo
my way and it triggered the idea for this video
cuz there's a lot of words used in the publishing world
that you will need to know as an author.
So if you're wondering
if you've got the vocabulary needed
to communicate in the book publishing world
well then this video is,
for you.
(fast paced music)
Hey there, I'm Julie, the book broad
author and founder of Book Launchers
a fabulous self-publishing services company.
Blacklist, Blurb, Boiler Plate, Advance, Fair Use,
Galley Copy.
Oh my!
There are so many words that get tossed all around
in the publishing world
and you might feel really outta place
when you first step in
and for the most part that's totally fine.
The definition of word
is only a Google search away these days
so you're not really required to study
before you join the world of authors.
That said, if you are like me
and you feel a lot more comfortable
if you know what the heck people are talking about,
well let's start at the end of the alphabet
and work our way backwards
with some words that you may not know
but you probably will hear.
Work for hire.
Now, this is essentially what we do at Book Launchers.
You hire us, we do as much of the work as we can
including in some cases, ghost writing the book
and then you keep the rights.
Typically in industry use,
the phrase refers to writers,
but really anyone that you pay to work on your book
while you retain all rights is Work for Hire.
Trade book.
Trade books are books that are written
and published for general audiences.
These are typically the books you see
at bookstores and libraries.
They're not academic books, rare books
or specialized books intended for niche readership.
A trade book can cover a wide range of genres
with fiction and non-fiction.
Although in fiction, most books are trade books
whereas that's not true in non-fiction.
Slush Pile
I just like that word.
It's used to describe the gigantic pile
of unsolicited pitches and manuscripts
that an agent or editor has in their office
or their computer.
The reason traditional publishing
is such a slow and painful process to go through
for many authors is getting your manuscript out
of that slush pile
and into the hands of someone that's excited enough
to want to work with you is tough work.
Reprint Rights.
The rights to republish a book
after its initial printing.
This can be something that's negotiated in some contracts
or if you self-publish, something you sell later on.
I love owning my rights.
Query.
This is typically written as a letter
and it's the brilliant concept
that sells your book idea to an editor or an agent.
In other words
something us self-publishing authors don't need
but if it gets a nod
then you'll need to create a Book Proposal
which is mostly for us non-fiction authors.
It may contain a chapter or two as an example
but it's rarely the entire manuscript.
It's the summary of a proposed book that you submit
that usually includes things like cover letter
and overview of your book,
maybe a sample chapter,
the outline
and most importantly the thing publishers most care about
the marketing plan and the author information
showing why you are the one to write it
and how you're going to sell the book.
Next Term
POD or print on demand, P O D,
and this is how most self-published books
get printed these days.
It's different than what it was in the past
when you'd have to do a giant print run
and store your books in your garage.
Now the books get printed upon order,
although truthfully that's not totally true.
Typically you'll find there's a stock
of your book being printed
so that orders can ship out really fast.
You'll especially find this to be true
if you make a small correction or change to your book
and someone a week or even a month later,
depending on your sell through rate,
is still getting the old version.
You definitely see this with hardcover books on Amazon
because Amazon will have a stock of your hardcover book
they clear out
and they take your price from 24.99
and chop it to 5.99
and you're going, what the heck Amazon?
(laughing)
But print on demand is essentially
they're printing it on order and it's far better
than turning your garage into a warehouse
or needing self-storage for your books.
Platform.
I know my YouTube besties like Efron, John Hayes
Quizmaster China, Rachel Robertson, Mike Heard,
go besties go!
I know you all know what a platform is because we talk
about it all the time here on BookLaunchers.TV,
so if you don't know, you'd better make sure you subscribe
to this channel and turn the notifications on
so we can make sure you're educated
and ready to crush the world as an author.
Your platform is essentially anyone in your audience,
including newsletter, social media,
speaking engagements, your network,
like your associations and groups that support you
and your book.
Pen name.
Okay, you know what this is, right?
It's your fake name that you write under to
hide your identity or separate your brands.
What number are we on?
Hmm.
Okay, I've totally lost count.
Is this 10?
This might be 10.
Okay, let's call it 10.
If I'm wrong, go ahead and tell me in the comments,
maybe you've been keeping count.
Option Clause.
That's what we'll do next.
Option Clause.
This is something to watch out for
if you do get a traditional deal.
This is a clause in your contract that gives the publisher
the right to publish an author's next book.
It can lock you in when you don't want it to,
so read it carefully.
Narrative Non-fiction.
A narrative presentation of actual events,
also called creative non-fiction.
I think this is where people get a little confused
with fiction and non-fiction actually.
Fiction can be seen as the creative writing
whereas non-fiction can be seen as how-to and educational.
However, there's a big world of creative non-fiction
which is essentially storytelling.
It's where truth meets a well told story.
Memoir is a category of narrative non-fiction.
Log line.
This is essentially what we call the hook of a book.
I first heard the term when I was in LA
and people would speak to the log line
as a summary of a TV program, movie or book
that captures the main conflict of the story.
It's stated in a way
that generates an emotional response
that makes you intrigued or interested.
Of course, with non-fiction,
we generally lean on this being
the outcome of the outcome for your reader.
Imprint.
Name applied to a publisher's specific line of books.
I mean, in self-publishing you can be fancy
and say you're a publishing company like mine,
Stick Horse Publishing is an imprint.
Officially though it's used for big houses
like Penguin to use for their different kind of books.
They have Avery and Berkeley
and Writer's Digest books and Penguin Classics.
I mean, look at their website.
They've got a lot of imprints.
Ghostwriter, so you know what this is, right?
Someone who writes your book, an article
or content for you and your name goes on it.
Sometimes you may put the writer on as a feature too
but in self-publishing and with Book Launchers
that's not how we roll.
You are the author and the writer helps you get it done.
Genre.
This is one that gets thrown around a lot
so I figured it's a good one for the list.
Essentially, this is where your book gets classified
like if you were in a grocery store
and you know this is where you find it
like fruit versus baked goods versus dairy
except we're talking fiction versus nonfiction
and then drilling down further
into horror versus romance or finance versus fitness.
GaLleys.
A galley copy is basically an ARC,
an advanced reader copy.
It's not a final version
but you want to get it out for blurbs and endorsements.
It often will say galley on it.
For our authors, we generally get the final version
or use the almost final version for this.
I mean, when you self-publish
you really want your best foot forward
for endorsements and blurbs,
so we prefer to use the best possible version
but galleys still do exist,
less and less in print form though,
most publishers have moved away from that
or are moving towards ebook versions
to save money and maybe some trees.
Fair Use.
A term from copyright law that allows you to use quotes
or images from other rights holders
for the purpose of commentary and education primarily.
We've talked a lot about that before
so I'll link to a video for you on that at the end.
I think we're at 18, we'll call it 18.
The blurb, the copy, the words,
the copy that is written on book covers or book dust jackets
promoting the book and the author
featuring testimonials from book reviewers
or well-known people in the book's field.
Backlist.
I've talked about this in regards to audio books
because there isn't a big backlist of books
like you would find on Amazon for print or eBooks
but in industry terms you'll find
that this is in reference to books not published
during the current year
but are still for sale from a publisher.
Advance.
Cha ching my friends!
This is something self-publishing authors are getting
via Kickstarter campaigns.
Oh yeah.
But in industry terms, this is money you're paid prior
to writing a book that is
in advance against future royalties.
You'll usually get this in chunks
maybe one chunk when you sign,
one chunk when you deliver the manuscript,
and maybe when it publishes
it varies depending on the contracts.
All right, I think that was 20,
but I did lose count,
and of course I left off a lot of words
like content editors,
developmental editing, line editing, copy editing
a lot of editing
because I feel like we've covered these topics extensively
like in this editing breakdown video.
But if you're comfortable with all of those editing terms
this over here is the video I promised on Fair Use.
That's pretty useful too.
And because this is one where I could send you
to a dozen videos,
let me also give you a shout out to this one on Platform,
right over here, Platform building for authors.
All three are guaranteed good watching,
so click on over
and let me know when you're there.