Publishing glossary

Advance

This is the sum that a publisher pays up front for the licence to publish the author’s work, however, most don’t realise that this sum is usually split and paid in three or four instalments (on contract; on delivery, on hardback publication and paperback publication. Some publishers also include a clause that some of the advance is held back and only paid once the author has completed a certain amount of publicity). ​An author's agent will usually take 15% commission on an advance from a UK publisher, and 20% on any advance from an international deal. If a publisher has world rights for the book, then any money from foreign rights will count against an authors advance as well and allow them to earn out sooner.

Auction

These are rare and do not, like art auctions, take place in one room (as fun as that may be). Submissions to publishers are all done by email and when there is an auction these are all done by email, too. When an agent sends out a book or proposal and more than one publisher is interested in offering on the work then the agent creates a structured way of managing this competition between publishers. Auctions take many forms and each agent will handle it in a different way but the result should be the best possible deal for the author and the best possible author-editor match.

Bound proofs

These look like paperbacks but look closely at the cover and you’ll see a line saying they are ‘uncorrected proofs’ and are 'not for resale'. Proofs are printed cheaply using the first proof pages a few months before publication day and are used to drum up interest ahead of publication: by editors (to solicit early endorsements for the eventual cover), by publicists (to send out to literary editors, events organisers and influencers) and by authors to give out to their contacts. They usually hint at the final jacket design but will use a spin on it so as not to give anything away.

Copy-edit

This is the line-by-line edit that is often done by an out-of-house freelancer rather than an in-house desk editor. This is done after the structural edits by an in-house editor and before the book is typeset ​and will look out for things such as continuity and spelling errors.

Earn out

This is what every publisher is hoping each book does, because it means they were valuing the work at the right level when the bought it, and are seeing a healthy return on their investment. It means that the book has earned the author enough royalties to match their advance payment, and after this they will start being paid any further royalties by the publisher on a half-yearly basis.

Embargo

Publishers use embargoes when they have a serial deal in place with a newspaper to ensure that none of the content is leaked online before the serial runs or the book is published.

Endorsements

These are the glowing quotes from notable authors and celebrities you read on the jacket of a book and are solicited before publication. They are also used in social media and on online retailers to drum up pre-publication interest.

ISBN

Each book has its own unique number (like a fingerprint) and it is used to manage books through their production and distribution process by publishers. Booksellers love them!

Jacket

This is another slightly old fashioned word for book cover. It originally refers to the detachable dust jacket that books were wrapped in when printers couldn’t print directly onto the hardback book bindings. The best meetings publishers have weekly are the cover meetings where in-house designers show their designs for a book cover. Sometimes (rarely) they nail the approach on the first go but usually it takes a few iterations to get to the final cover. A key part of the marketing campaign for a book is the cover reveal.

Legal read

Publishers will on occasion send a manuscript to a lawyer to check it for defamation, libel, copyright infringement and any breaches in privacy.

Marketing

People often wonder about the difference between the marketing and publicity departments: both departments communicate to the outside world about your book. Marketing pays for this communication (ads, merchandising etc) while publicity secures the free coverage like reviews and events. The marketing department will also help support your own social media campaign with ideas for cover reveals and providing online assets.

Metadata

These are tag words that publishers use in their systems that feed through to the online world (retailers and google etc) that help readers find books. When they draft the cover copy they’ll be thinking about including words that will get the most traction too.

Prelims

These are the pages at the beginning of the book that include the copyright page as well as the dedication, the title and half title page.

Pre-Empt

When a submission goes out to editors and one (or more) love the proposal and think it could well end up in an auction then they will try and preemptively avoid this by offering a relatively high advance usually in the first 24-72 hours of receiving the submission. When an editor offers a pre-empts they will always leave it on the table for a short period of time and the agent and author need to decide to accept it or decline it and take the book to auction. There’s no guarantee that you will reach the level of advance offered in the pre-empt in an auction but of course you may receive more. An agent will weigh all possibilities and will be in contact with you throughout this delicate process!

Production department

This is the in-house team who make the physical books we hold in our hands. They liaise with the art, editorial, sales, finance and warehouse teams to produce the most beautiful books within budget and on time and ensure books get to where they need to be on time. Beautiful sprayed edges, ribbons and finishes - this is something your production manager & designer will be responsible for. The production department manages and interacts with a range of external suppliers from typesetters and printers to paper suppliers, couriers and warehousing.

Proofs

After your manuscript has been copyedited it will be sent to a typesetter who will design a layout for the book. You will receive a beautifully designed PDF file that looks a lot like a book when you open it with all the elements that you might not think about carefully considered: page numbers, running heads, typeface selection, line spacing and text size. These proof pages will be sent to a proofreader who will make sure all the copyedits have been taken in properly by the typesetter and that no new errors have snuck in (or that undiscovered typos remain undiscovered). Bound proofs will be printed from this first file.

Publicist

Book publicists are often the hardest working people in a publishing house: they secure all the unpaid coverage a book will receive on launch from book reviews to podcast, events & festival appearances. They craft press releases, do proof mail outs to literary editors and events organisers and offer support to authors before, during and after publication.

​Royalties

This is the percentage of money generated by book sales that is paid by the publisher to the author. It varies from publisher to publisher, and also varies depending on the format of the sale. Very roughly an author can expect to make 10% from a hardback or paperback sale, 20% from the sale of an audiobook, and 25% from an e-book. An author is usually required to earn back their advance payment in royalties before a publisher will begin paying out royalties. And an author's agent will usually take a 15% commission on royalty payments after advance.

Serial

First serial is an excerpt from a book that a newspaper has paid the publisher to run ahead of a book’s publication. Second serial is when a magazine or newspaper run an excerpt after a book’s publication - it usually earns the author less than first serial because newspapers put a lot of store in exclusivity and publishers usually ask for a higher split of this second serial income. Serial deals always go towards paying off the advance so authors won’t see a handy deposit in their bank accounts after a serial runs but it will be reflected in their statements from the publisher (it will mean they have slightly fewer copies to sell in order for their book to earn back the advance).

Sub-rights

These are all the rights associated with the book that a publisher or agent can sell. Like serial, film & TV or translation rights. Some sub-rights are routinely given to publishers in most contracts although some, like dramatic rights, are withheld.

Typeset/Typesetter

A typesetter will receive a manuscript (very often in MS word) and will transform the document into a beautifully laid out PDF document. They will design all the elements on a page and will help take in corrections from a proofreader or editor as well as helping to incorporate illustrations and maps if necessary.

UK and commonwealth rights

Most agents in the UK will look to sell UK & commonwealth rights (sometimes including Canada sometimes not depending on the book). This just means that the British publisher can distribute their edition in the UK and in commonwealth countries and will not face competition from any other publisher in these territories. It also means that they can’t distribute their edition in North America.

Volume rights

Publishers usually gain a licence to the volume rights to a specific work and these volume rights include hardback, paperback, trade paperback, eBook (and sometimes, audio) editions. It’s helpful to outline exactly what is and isn’t included in a publisher’s licence. It usually refers to any object that could be identified as a book (so film and dramatic rights are not included).

World All Language rights

A publisher is granted the right to publish the work in all territories and in all languages.

World English rights

A publisher is granted the right to publish the work in the English language in all territories.