Live to Love on the Edge Blog

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Publishing Terms 101

When I first started writing, I didn’t have a clue as to the definitions of some of the basic terms used in the Publishing industry. It was worse than legalese at times. I thought I’d help out the pre-published and newbie authors with some of these explanations.

ADVANCE: The Advance is the money you are paid up front for your work. You don’t pay back an advance if you don’t sell enough books to EARN OUT (see below). Your advance is applied against the royalties you earn and once you earn beyond the advance, you start getting additional monies.

ARC: Advanced Reading Copy. An unedited, uncorrected proof of the book, usually in a cheaper binding. Intended for review copies and to create buzz. ARCs are not to be sold as they are merely intended for review purposes.

ART FACT SHEET: The author is oftentimes asked to suggest scenes for the cover and to describe the hero, heroine, clothing, setting, etc. in order to help the Art Department produce the cover.

CATEGORY BOOKS: Generally mass market paperbacks that are part of a line, put up on the shelves for a month and then replaced with the next month’s offerings. Many imprints from Harlequin and Silhouette are category books.

COPY-EDITS: The manuscript with the copyeditor’s marks.

COVER FLATS: The cover for the book before it is bound to the book. Cover flats are sent to the authors and industry professionals to help create buzz for a book.

EARN OUT: What’s left after deducting the advance from the royalties. If enough copies of the book have sold to cover the advance (and then some) the book has earned out.

GALLEYS: Also known as Page Proofs. The pages printed in the way that they will appear. An author will get one final chance to make minor revisions (FYI — I first wrote under the name Caridad Scordato because that’s what appeared on the galley and it was impossible to change it on so many pages!)

GMC: An abbreviation used for Goal, Motivation and Conflict.

GUIDELINES: Guidelines are the details of what a publisher wants to see for a particular imprint. For example, check out this section at Eharlequin.com where Harlequin provides the requirements, editor names and submission requirements for all their different lines.

HARDCOVER: The print format where the book is bound with a hard cover and generally sold for a higher price.

HEA: An abbreviation commonly used in the romance genre which is an abbreviation for HAPPILY EVER AFTER.

JOINT or BASKET ACCOUNTING: When the royalties for two books are lumped together. So, if Book #1 doesn’t EARN OUT, the sales of Book #2 will be applied toward the advance paid on Book #1. Definitely not a good thing and to be avoided at all costs.

MASS MARKET PAPERBACK: A smaller format book with a soft cover (see Trade Paperback below also).

OPTION: The clause in an author’s contract that grants the publisher the right of first refusal on the author’s next work. Publishers will like to get as broad an option clause as possible, while authors will like to limit the option to the next similar work, or the next women’s fiction book, etc.

PRINT RUN: Number of books being printed.

PROPOSAL: The work that you are submitting to an editor or agent for consideration. A proposal will generally consist of a synopsis and the first three chapters.

QUERY/QUERY LETTER: A letter introducing yourself and your work to an editor or agent. Look for a future article on the Dos and Don’ts of query letters.

REVISIONS: The editor’s requested changes to your proposal or manuscript.

SELL-THROUGH: Percentage of the shipped books that actually sell. Sell-through is really important. There is some disagreement, but in general, sell-throughs of about 50% are good, although some say publishers are looking for sell-throughs of 70% or higher.

STRIPPED BOOKS: When booksellers do not sell a book, they pull off the front cover and send it back to the publisher. Books sold without covers are “stripped books” and are the equivalent of stolen as they have been reported as unsold to the publisher.

SYNOPSIS: A short summary of your novel detailing the basic elements. Synopses can be anywhere from 2 pages to about 10 as a max. It all depends on the publisher and the genre.

TRADE PAPERBACK: A larger format with a soft cover, generally sold at a higher price than a mass market paperback, but at about half the price of a hard cover.

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Rushing to Somewhere . . . subtitled – The Writer’s Powers of Observation

Friday night as I rushed to catch the train home, I noticed others scurrying about more madly than me.  The short, but cute, stubble-faced guy heading to the Amtrak ticket window as the speakers overhead crackled an “All aboard.”  The little old lady, barely 4’8”, dodging and weaving between the people in the crowd, her bob of silver hair bouncing beneath her shocking pink beret.  A quick swerve around the corner by the Krispy Kreme and she was almost gone, but the sweet smells of just fried dough lingered in her place while visions of sugar glazed donuts tempted me as they glimmered beneath the lights in the display case.

As the last bit of pink beret faded from sight, I thought, “It’s Friday night.  Maybe she has a hot date.”

But in New York City, where an escalator just means you can walk up the stairs even faster, rushing to somewhere is just a way of life.  Not that NYC is so different from many other places.  As a whole, our way of life seems to be rush, rush, rush.

We’re so busy rushing to somewhere that we’ve lost our to ability to experience the where we are, much less remember the where we’ve been sometimes.

It’s the old stop and smell the roses adage.

As a writer, you almost have to stop and smell the roses a great deal of the time because one of the greatest tools a writer can have is her power of observation.  The ability to remember the details of people, places and things.  It’s those little details that breathe life into our characters and stories.

Next time, stop and think about the scene that you are going to write.  Think about the smells in the air.  The feel of the location and the noises  (or lack of noises) that surround you.  What do you see as you stand there, experiencing the where you are?  Do you taste anything as you stand there?  Where had you been before and was it different?

The five senses, or as many of them as you can possibly include, need to be present in that scene to bring it alive for readers.  When you enhance the descriptions by infusing them with your personal observations, it brings a scene to life in a way that can’t be accomplished just by research.

If you’re a writer, stop rushing to somewhere and take the time to experience what’s around you.

For everyone else, stop and smell the roses anyway!  Time is too short to always be rushing to somewhere without savoring the here and now.

P.S. – Do you think that little old lady in the pink beret will ever make into a story?

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Say Mojito for a South Beach Kind of Mood!

This blog is especially for Melissa, who asked if I’d ever had a mojito and if they were good.

Yep, I’ve had a mojito or two.  I’m not much of a drinker, but mojitos are delicious.  They taste like a sweet lime-ade and because of that, they are deceptive.  It’s easy to have one too many because you don’t really taste the alcohol.

With winter upon so many of us, thinking of a sultry sexy South Beach night might be the thing to do to chase away the icy chill.  Maybe if you make yourselves a mojito, it will put you in a South Beach kind of mood!

Is South Beach as sexy and exciting as I make it seem in SEX AND THE SOUTH BEACH CHICAS? A big yeah!! I’ve been there about 4 or 5 times and am dying to go back.

Why? I remember a perfect night in South Beach many years ago. My husband, daughter and I were sitting in chairs on the veranda of the Park Central Hotel (a landmark by the way.) The Hale-Bopp comet was visible in the night sky and a balmy breeze was coming off the beach, rustling the palm trees. In front of us, all kinds of beautiful bodies ready for a night of partying passed by.

And I mean beautiful!! Of course, a rather interesting six foot transvestite also sashayed before us as well.

But those weren’t the most interesting sites. A full lunar eclipse was on its way. As we sat there, the moon went from its milky white to a dark maroon-grey color as the eclipse developed. It stopped everyone along the Ocean Drive strip — not an easy thing to do.

So, imagine the palms, sexy bodies and warmth when you make yourself one of these mojitos. FYI — if you don’t drink you can still skip the rum and it’s tasty and refreshing.

MojitoMojitos!
(pronounce it ‘mo-hee-toe,’ and savor the flavor of  a night in South Beach!)

An easy mojito recipe to share with your friends:

1.5 oz white Rum
12 fresh spearmint leaves
1/2 lime
7 oz club soda
2 tbsp. simple sugar syrup
(or 4 tsp. sugar)

  • Gently crush (muddle) the mint leaves in the bottom of a tall glass.
  • Lightly squeeze lime into the glass.
  • Pour sweet syrup to cover the mint leaves and lime.
  • Fill glass with ice. Add Rum, club soda, and stir your mojito.
  • Garnish with a lime wedge and a few sprigs of mint.

    • If you don’t have simple sugar syrup, place granulated sugar lime juice, rum and mint in cocktail shaker and shake until the sugar is dissolved.  Then add the club soda and garnish.

    For flavor variants, try spiced and mango rums! I prefer the original though because the taste is refreshing and light.

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    A treat to myself! SEX AND THE SOUTH BEACH CHICAS trailer

    Nope, I’m not procrastinating!  I did a lot of revisions and needed a break (especially since hubby refuses to say a word while the 24 premiere is on!)

    So here it is!  Let me know what you think.

    [wmv width=”320″ height=”240″]http://home.att.net/~rtsmedicalsystems/ssbc.wmv[/wmv]

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