Demystifying Publishing Terminology
Working in publishing sometimes feels like it brings with it its own particular language and shorthand. Nowadays I merrily refer to subs, comps, acquisitions, advances… but when I first started in publishing it genuinely seemed to me that people were speaking in tongues. I tweeted asking people which terms they’d love to have explained and was overwhelmed by the response. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but I hope it goes some way to expanding people’s publishing vocabulary!
ACQUISITIONS – A meeting where the keen editor who loves the submission presents the book to their team of marketing, publicity, sales, international and finance and their other editorial colleagues to try and get an offer signed off.
ADVANCE – Advance against royalties is what an author is typically paid for the rights to their work. The royalties per copy sold stack up against this sum and once it (hopefully!) earns out the author will see royalties for each copy sold.
AI – Advanced information sheet, sometimes known as a TI. An internal sheet at a publisher containing the copy, any key selling points, author biog, reviews, key sales information, rights they hold.
ARCS – Also known as proofs, or galleys. These are ‘advance reader copies’ sent to reviewers, book shops, authors and influencers to build excitement and secure endorsements for a book. Often they don’t have the same cover or copy as the finished version, and they’re uncorrected text so might change in due course. They’re a marketing tool in their own right and can sometimes look extremely fancy, or help a publisher change tactic if the cover/copy doesn’t seem to be landing with reviewers etc.
AUCTION – When multiple publishers place bids for a book and compete against one another. Sadly does not involve a gavel or David Dickinson.
BACKLIST – A title that has been out for more than six months, but is still in print. Typically, shops refresh their stock based on demand and bring in new titles (frontlist), meaning that other books might be returned to the publisher or shelved in a less prominent area. Sometimes a backlist title will suddenly become huge (see: TikTok bringing new life to older books!).
COMPS – Comparison titles. ‘This novel would sit alongside authors such as Sarah Waters and Stacey Halls, with the fantastical element of The Binding.’ ‘This novel is Alien meets Jack Reacher.’
COPY – The marketing blurb on the back of the book, or the content of a newsletter or website. Basically, most text which is designed to hook you in and sell the book.
EARN OUT – When you sell enough copies and enough royalties to make back the advance you were paid, you see royalties. Some authors never earn out, others earn out very promptly.
FORMATS – Hardback, trade paperback, paperback, ebook, audio… These are all formats of the same book.
A ‘GOOD’ DEAL – The $$ levels that Publisher’s Marketplace quantifies deals by! A ‘good’ deal is $100k or above, a significant deal is $250,000 or above, a major deal is $500,000 or above in advance.
GRANT OF RIGHTS – Where around the world the publisher can publish the book, and in which formats.
HIGH DISCOUNTS – Once a book is discounted over a certain amount by a retailer, it impacts the royalty the author receives to reflect the fact the publisher is receiving lower revenue for the book. I could write an essay on this!
LBF – London Book Fair. Where international publishers fly in and take meetings with UK publishers and other territories and buy rights to books.
PRE-EMPT – A publisher pays a large sum of money to take something off the table quickly rather than risk losing the book to another publisher.
SUB – Two meanings here! ‘On sub’ usually means on submission to publishers with a manuscript or pitch. ‘The sub’ for a book means the copies that book-stores have ordered in of a book – can range from hundreds to hundreds of thousands.
SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER – Copies sold through tills in the UK are added up each week, split by category, and the top ten fiction hardback and paperback and non-fiction hardback and paperback are printed in a list in the Sunday Times. Unlike the NY Times list which isn’t based off total sales through tills, as different stores are differently weighted (this is VERY confusing, for me too!).
TCM – Total consumer market, which refers to all copies sold THROUGH tills (i.e a reader goes into Waterstones and pays £14.99 for a hardback, and that counts towards the TCM). So say the ‘sub’ or sell-in to bookshops is 10,000 paperbacks, your sell through might end up being 6,417, and the rest would be returned. Or perhaps you sell through the whole 10,000 and more are ordered. It’s also what counts to the Sunday Times bestseller list. Ebooks are not included in these totals.
TERRITORIES – Where the publisher can print and ship the book, and in what language. E.g. ‘which territories are sold?’ ‘UK, Germany, France and North America so far!’
TRACK – Your sales history or TCM is accessible to all publishers which will partly influence future offers they make.
UK/COMM – The right to publish the book in the English language and ship it throughout the UK and the British Commonwealth.