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Home » publishing » Page 2

publishing

Publishing Acronyms

By Steve Laubeon February 22, 2016
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After being in an industry for a while there is a natural tendency to speak in code. Acronyms flow freely and can be a foreign language to those new to the conversation.

Below is an attempt to spell out some of the more common acronyms in the publishing industry and some specific to the Christian publishing industry. They are grouped by topic in a rudimentary way but in no particular order. If there is one I’ve missed or you have a correction, please add them to the comments below.

Impress your friends at your next party by confidently saying, “My WIP now has an ISBN, CIP, and a BOB. It will be published as a PB, HC, EPUB, and MOBI. The BCC is nearly complete and BHP has promised to create an ARC. They also promise to promote it at BEA, ICRS, ACFW, and RWA! You really should read my new SF/F!”

Book Related (Editing and Production lingo)

ARC – Advance Review Copy
P&L – Profit & Loss – The financial report created to determine if a proposed book will be profitable
D&A – Delivery and Acceptance – used in editorial to describe the two stages of a manuscript…delivered and later it is declared accepatable…which is when advance money is often paid.
PubCo – Publication Committee (aka Pub Board) – where the final decision is made on whether or not to offer a contract on a proposed book. I described that meeting in a previous post.)
PB – Paperback
HB or HC – Hardback or Hardcover
EBK – E-book
MM or MMP – Mass Market Paperback (4×6 trim size)
TP – Trade Paperback (5×8 trim size or larger)
DRM – Digital Rights Management
EPUB – Electronic Publication (a specific ebook format)
MOBI – MobiPocket Reader (Amazon Kindle’s specific ebook format)
PDF – Portable Document Format
BOB – Back-of-Book Ad
BCC – Back Cover Copy
ISBN – International Standard Book Number
ASIN – Amazon Standard Identification Number
CMYK – Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black (The four colors in a 4-color printing process. Read about it here)
CIP – Cataloging-in-Publication (a program from the Library of Congress to capture bibliographical data on titles not yet published. It helps libraries.)
ONIX – Online Information eXchange – The official term for the metadata information behind every book. Enables “if you bought this you’ll like this” type of experience online.
ASCII – American Standard Code for Information Interchange (curious how it is used? Read about it here)
LOL – What agents and editors did when reading my manuscript
NYP – Not Yet Published
POD – Print on Demand
WIP – Work in Progress
MS or MSS – Manuscript or Manuscripts (plural)
CMOS – Chicago Manual of Style (i.e. CMOS says…)
OP or OOP – Out of Print
CV – Curriculum Vitae (Refers to author’s publication history – some might call it your resume or your sales history…but CV is a shortcut)

Industry related

ABA – American Booksellers Association (now a term to indicate the General Market, as different from CBA. There also used to be an ABA booksellers convention but it was sold and became BEA)
ACFW – American Christian Fiction Writers (refers to both the organization and their convention)
ALA – American Library Associaton
AWSA – Advanced Writers and Speakers Association (refers to both the organization and their convention)
B&N – Barnes & Noble booksellers (Over 600 stores nationwide)
BAM – Books-a-Million bookstore chain (200 stores in the South, Midwest, and Northeast U.S.)
BEA – Book Expo America (the big general market convention)
BISG – Book Industry Study Group
CBA – Christian Booksellers Association (technically no longer stands for anything but the three letters. There used to be a CBA booksellers convention but they changed the name to ICRS.)
ECPA – Evangelical Christian Publishers Association
ICRS – International Christian Retail Show (Christian booksellers convention)
RWA – Romance Writers of America (refers to both the organization and their convention)
AYSR – Are You Still Reading this list? I’m impressed.
RT – Romantic Times (magazine and conference)

Publishers and Distributors

B&T – Baker & Taylor Distributors (primary serves the library, institution, and retail markets)
BHP – Bethany House Publishers
HC – HarperCollins (And for those of us with long memories…H&R = Harper & Row)
HCCP – HarperCollins Christian Publishing
IVP – InterVarsity Press
HH – Harvest House
NAV – NavPress
MLT – Multnomah
PRH – Penguin Random House
S&S – Simon & Schuster
SA – Spring Arbor distributors (now a division of Ingram, serves the Christian retail market)
STL – Send The Light distributors (serves the Christian retail market)
TN – Thomas Nelson (a division of HCCP)
TYN – Tyndale
ZON – Zondervan (a division of HCCP)

Genre

MG – Middle Grade (usually means 8-12 year old audience)
NA – New Adult (a new classification for 18-24 year old audience)
SF – Science Fiction
SF/F – Science Fiction and Fantasy
YA – Young Adult (usually means 13-18 year old audience)
$$ – Finance books… (just kidding!)

 

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Category: Book Business, Book Business, Communication, Contracts, The Publishing LifeTag: Acronyms, publishing

The Great Slot Mystery

By Dan Balowon May 26, 2015
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Every traditional publishing company has a personality or focus that defines them and their product. Usually that personality or focus is determined by past success. They also know how many books they can effectively publish during a year. Combining focus and capacity, you have the beginnings of a publishing strategy. No publisher (or for that matter any company) will succeed for long unless they …

Read moreThe Great Slot Mystery
Category: Book Business, The Publishing LifeTag: Categories, publishing, The Publishing Life

Time Travel?

By Dan Balowon April 28, 2015
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Most people find it astounding how long it takes for things to happen in traditional publishing. Even after spending months or even years writing, an author waits for weeks or months to hear from an agent, who if they agree to work together, wait weeks and months for publishers to make a decision and then finally a book is scheduled to be published a year or more in the future.  Sometimes two …

Read moreTime Travel?
Category: Book Proposals, Career, Get Published, The Publishing LifeTag: publishing, The Publishing Life, Time

How Publishers Make Decisions

By Dan Balowon September 23, 2014
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We all agree that book publishing is changing fast. New technology, new formats and new ways to sell books have changed everything.  Well, almost everything. One thing has not changed…the fundamental way decisions are made as to what new authors an agent represents and publishers publish. It has always been and remains people making quick, subjective decisions (aka QSD). A number of years ago I …

Read moreHow Publishers Make Decisions
Category: Book Business, Book Proposals, Career, The Publishing LifeTag: Book Business, publishing, The Publishing Life

8 Things Authors Should No Longer Ask Their Publisher

By Dan Balowon August 12, 2014
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Publishing is changing faster than ever before.  Book publishers have been wrenching to find new business models that make them more flexible, efficient and adaptable to the realities of the digital publishing age. Within this fast-change world, another group who has felt the pain of shifting tectonic plates are authors who have been around publishing for ten or more years.  Some issues that used …

Read more8 Things Authors Should No Longer Ask Their Publisher
Category: Book Business, CareerTag: Book Business, Career, publishing

A Brave Heart

By Dan Balowon June 24, 2014
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The 2014 Christy Awards were held last night in Atlanta, Georgia. Check the Christy Award’s website for the winners and other information. Three years ago in 2011, when the International Christian Retail Show was last held in Atlanta, the keynote speaker for the Christy Awards was Randall Wallace, who had a novel about to release from Tyndale House. Mr. Wallace is known for his writing and work in …

Read moreA Brave Heart
Category: Awards, Book Business, Creativity, Dan, ICRS, The Publishing LifeTag: Book Business, Christy Awards, publishing, The Publishing Life

A Matter of Experience

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon June 19, 2014
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Sometimes I’ll have one of those days where I’m minding my own business, when I pick up the phone to discover the author on the other end of the line is irate. (No, this is not a rerun of an article from the 20th century. I do still have a land line for my office). “Ohhh, Tamela! I know that Hell is indeed located on Earth and where is it? It’s at my publisher’s …

Read moreA Matter of Experience
Category: Book Business, Career, Communication, Tamela, The Publishing LifeTag: Book Business, Career, publishing, The Publishing Life

Actually, The World is Pretty Big

By Dan Balowon May 27, 2014
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At one time or another, every one of us have remarked how small the world is, usually caused by meeting someone by chance and finding out that you both know a certain person, or went to school with the person, are both reading the same books, are fans of the same team, etc. But you might be surprised how a “small” view of the world can alter your entire perspective. I am not referring to a …

Read moreActually, The World is Pretty Big
Category: Book Business, Branding, Dan, Get Published, Marketing, Platform, The Publishing Life, Trends, Writing CraftTag: publishing, The Publishing Life

Stories in Hiding Places

By Dan Balowon April 15, 2014
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Since I blog on Tuesdays and the next April 15 to fall on a Tuesday is not for another eleven years, I felt like I couldn’t pass up this opportunity. Corrie ten Boom was born on this date in 1892 and died on this date in 1983.  If Evangelicals were in the habit of naming saints, she would be among them. For those unaware of this great Christian woman, she and her family helped many Jews escape the …

Read moreStories in Hiding Places
Category: Book Review, Christian, Dan, Faith, Personal, Writing CraftTag: Book Review, Faith, publishing, Reading

What About Medium Stuff?

By Dan Balowon April 8, 2014
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Today I stand in support of medium stuff. There is no argument that big important things deserve our undivided attention. There seems to be some disagreement over small stuff…do we sweat it or not? According to the Stan Jantz and Bruce Bickel’s book, God is in the Small Stuff, we probably need to be paying close attention to those things. I am concerned with those things in the middle…the medium …

Read moreWhat About Medium Stuff?
Category: Book Business, Career, Dan, The Publishing LifeTag: Book Business, publishing, The Publishing Life
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