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It’s a lot easier to walk the walk in publishing if you can talk the talk.

The book world has its own language of shorthand and terms that can make your publishing process a breeze, if you understand it, or unnecessarily complicated if you don’t.

Here’s a list of the most important terms to know:

Offset: Large-scale printing. This allows for a lot of customization you can’t get with POD.

POD: Print-on-demand is an alternative to offset printing, and book are printed on an individual basis as ordered. POD printers include LightningSource, Ingram Spark, and CreateSpace.

Mobi: A type of e-book file. Only Amazon uses this file format. Other e-book vendors use epub files.

Dev ed: Developmental edit, a large, macro edit on a manuscript that focuses on plot and content, rather than individual words and sentences.

Copyedit: A type of edit that focuses on copy. That is, on words, sentence structure, and flow.

Proofread: The final step in the editorial process, a check for grammar, spelling, and style inconsistencies.

Trade: General readership. Most books are trade, which are sold at bookstores.

Platform: The combination of an author’s (or book’s) ability to reach fans through various media, and expertise that will get you (or your product) noticed.

Style sheet: A document that keeps a list of style choices for a single project, including treatment of proper nouns.

Blog Tour: A virtual publicity tour, comprised of guest blog posts and interviews on other people’s blogs and websites. This allows you to spread the news of your book.

Keywords: Search terms that will lead browsers to your book. Think “romance,” “mythology,” and “women’s fiction.”

Cover Reveal: A marketing tactic to drum up interest for an upcoming book, where a book’s cover is debuted on social media.

ARC: Advanced Reader Copy. A pre-proofed, designed, and printed book that is distributed for review purposes.

Beta Reader: Someone who reads your book in the early stages to give general developmental feedback from a consumer perspective.

Proof: A mock-up of the final, printed book (or section thereof). This is where you get to see what your book is going to look like, and it’s your last opportunity to make changes.

Readers, are there any other terms you’d like to see explained?

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