Writing Tip Wednesday--Self-Publishing Terminology

Welcome to Writing Tip Wednesday! Self-publishing offers writers another choice on the road to publication, whether they’re already traditionally published and/or e-press published, or unpublished. Although the author maintains control of the process, she also has a lot of hard work ahead of her. Education about self-publishing and the publishing industry is vital to a good product and creating a professional image.

Knowing Self-Publishing Terminology makes communication with editors, formatters, and other publishing professionals easier. This list varies slightly from the one included in Writing Tip Wednesday: The Writing Career Handbook, but numerous terms overlap and are important to traditional, e-press, and self-publishing platforms. Several are used in the formatting guidelines for the retail outlets and will make self formatting easier to understand.

Audio book – narrated version of a book
Back matter – information or pages included after the story content in a book
Blurb – short description of the book designed to hook the reader; usually 25-150 words; used for promo and back cover
Bookmark – a link within a document that connects to another location in the document
Calibre – software used to convert document files to other formats
Copy edits – checks for grammar, spelling, and punctuation; also verifies legal and usage questions and checks or questions facts
Copyright – the exclusive right to publish, sell, or reproduce an artistic work
Copyright page – front matter of a book that contains copyright information
CreateSpace – Amazon’s print self-publishing venue
Developmental edits – edits for plot and character development
Draft Layout – page view that shows the document with breaks
Draft2Digital – digital publishing venue with options to publish to other venues
DRM – digital rights management: technology that limits the use of digital media for users
epub – e-publishing file; type of digital format file
Front Matter – information or pages included before the story content in a book
Google Play/Google Books – digital publishing venue
Hyperlink – an active web address link within a document
iBooks – digital publishing venue for Mac users
ISBN – international standard book number
iTunes Producer – Mac software used in conjunction with the iBooks publishing venue
KDP – Kindle Direct Publishing
KDP Select – Kindle Direct Publishing exclusive
Kobo – digital publishing venue
Line edits – checks the pacing, story continuity, and content
lit – literature digital file with DRM; type of digital format file
Metadata – data about other data; keywords and terms that help identify books
mobi – type of digital format file
Nook Press – Barnes & Noble self-publishing venue
Page break – break used at the end of text to separate it from text on the following page
pbd – program database file; type of digital format file
pdf – portable document format; type of digital format file
POD – print on demand
Print layout – page view that shows the document as it would print
Producer – narrator or production organizer for audio books
rb – rocket e-book digital file; type of digital format file
Royalties – percentage of the sale price earned by the author on sold copies
Section break – break used at the end of text to separate if from text in a following section
Self-publishing – publishing in which the author is the publisher and is responsible for all aspects of book production, distribution, and marketing, including but not limited to editing, cover art, and formatting expenses. The author receives all royalties directly from the chosen distributors.
Smashwords - digital publishing venue with options to publish to other venues
Tagline – brief phrase meant to spark interest in the book
Title page – front matter of a book that contains the title and author
TOC – table of contents

Be sure to check out the writing craft series, Writing Tip Wednesday: The Writing Craft Handbook, in e-book at Amazon and B&N and in print at Amazon and CreateSpace, and the writing career series, Writing Tip Wednesday: The Writing Career Handbook, in e-book at Amazon and B&N and in print at Amazon and CreateSpace. Watch for Writing Tip Wednesday: The Self-Publishing Handbook in early January—with extra formatting and conversion content!

Mellanie Szereto
Romance...With A Kick!