UC Press Blog

Navigating the world of publishing often means decoding the jargon that you may have heard your UC Press team or other publishing folks use. What is "frontlist" vs. "backlist"? What does your marketing manager mean by "metadata"? As with any industry, publishing comes with its own vocabulary and acronyms—and they’re not always intuitive. 

We’ve put together a glossary of common publishing terms that will hopefully help demystify each stage of the publishing process. Most of these are industry-wide terms, while some are specific to academic publishing or UC Press’s process. Whether you’re going through manuscript edits or prepping for book launch, we hope this glossary brings a little more clarity to the world—and language—of publishing.

Common Book Publishing Terms

• Advance: An upfront, guaranteed payment made by a publisher to an author before a book is released, paid against future royalties.
• Academic Trade: A publication for which the publisher expects primarily an academic audience with crossover appeal to a wider easily identifiable audience beyond the academy.
• ARC (also known as Advanced Reading Copy): See “Galley.”
• Audience: The specific group of readers whom an author or publisher intends to reach with a book. Rather than meaning "everyone," a book audience represents the people who share a particular interest, emotional desire, demographic profile, or problem that the book addresses.
• Author: The person who creates and writes a published book. See also “Coauthor.”
• Author Bio (also known as Author Biography): A short, professional text that introduces a writer, highlights their credentials, and explains their connection to their work.
• Author Platform: The author’s overall reach, public visibility, and ability to sell books directly to an audience. This can include an author’s professional connections/network, social media engagement, and whether they have a history of public writing and speaking engagements. 
• Back Cover: The outer rear panel that protects the book’s pages and acts as a key marketing tool to persuade readers to buy or open the book. The back cover typically includes a description of the book, author bio, and blurbs. See also “Copy.”
• Backlist: A publisher’s list of books that are not published in the current year but that are still in print and available for sale.
• BISAC (also known as Book Industry Standards and Communications): A standardized system of 9-character alphanumeric codes used to categorize books by topic across the North American publishing industry. BISAC codes are a key tool for booksellers to organize their collections and for online discoverability.
• Blurb: A short promotional endorsement of a book from an influential reader whose praise can raise the profile and marketability of a book. Blurbs appear on the book’s back cover and online. 
• Byline: Name of the author(s) or editor(s) as they appear on a book’s cover.
• Coauthor: One of two or more people who jointly write and create a book, article, or literary work together.
• Composition (also known as Typesetting): The stage during which the typesetter “pours” the text of the final, clean manuscript and inserts the art files in the selected interior design to create the first proof. See also “Page Proofs.”
• Contract: A legally binding agreement between an author and a publishing company that sets the terms for releasing, distributing, and monetizing original work.
• Contributor: Any person or organization that helps create the content, design, or structure of a book without being the primary author. This could include: illustrators, photographers, translators, foreword or introduction writers, or chapter authors, who write a specific section, essay, or chapter in an edited or multi-authored collection. Usually contributors are not in the contract agreement, and the primary author manages their participation in the project. 
• Copublication: An arrangement where two or more parties—such as publishing houses, organizations, or an author and a publisher—jointly produce, fund, and release a single work. 
• Copy: An umbrella term for any descriptive and/or promotional text that appears on a book’s catalog page, web page, or cover. Copy may include descriptive “about the book” text, tag lines, keywords or subject headings, cover design credits, author bios, and blurbs.
• Coursebook: A textbook that students and teachers use as the primary structural guide for a specific course of study.
• eBook (also known as Electronic Book): A digital version of a traditional printed book that contains text, images, or both, and is read on an electronic screen. Often these are provided as a static PDF or as a more dynamic EPUB that can adapt to different interfaces and screen technologies.
• Editorial Committee (also known as Faculty Editorial Board): A standing group of university professors tasked with overseeing the quality, integrity, and final approval of academic publications—such as university press books or scholarly journals. At UC Press, members review all manuscripts, as well as associated documents related to the quality and significance of material proposed for publication, like the peer reviews and author response. The committee’s work helps to ensure that publications are rigorously researched, effectively peer reviewed, and warrant the press’s imprint.
• Edited Volume (also known as an Edited Collection): A book consisting of individual chapters or essays written by different authors, all organized around a common central theme, research area, or question. See also “Volume Editor” and “Contributor.”
• Fair Use: A legal doctrine under United States copyright law (Section 107 of the Copyright Act) that permits the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances. Check out our blog post for further details.
• Front Cover: The exterior front panel of a book’s binding that displays the title, author's name, and primary artwork. The front cover also appears online, in book catalogs, and is an important tool to market the book.
• Frontlist: A publisher’s list of books that are published in the current year.
• Galley/Advanced Reading Copy (ARC): A book-sized, printed and bound “preview” of the book for media contacts and booksellers, generally including the uncorrected page proofs, the final cover, descriptive copy, blurbs, and the book publicist’s contact information.
• Grant: Money awarded to an author to help cover the costs of publication that is not tied to royalty earnings
• Honorarium: A token payment, often offered by a publisher for peer review or services rendered.
• Index: An alphabetical list of important terms, topics, names, and places discussed in the text, paired with the specific page numbers where they appear. It is found in the back matter of a nonfiction or reference book to help readers quickly find targeted information. Often, authors are responsible for preparing an index themselves or hiring a professional indexer. 
• Journal: A serial publication that may be composed of articles, essays, book reviews, and other short-form writing, usually academic in nature, that is peer reviewed and associated with a professional organization or a major topic. 
• List: Refers to the publications in a given topic or discipline that is built and developed by an acquisitions editor.
• Metadata: All the descriptive, administrative, and structural information that defines, categorizes, and identifies a book so readers, libraries, and online retailers can find it. This includes the title and subtitle of the book; the names of the author, illustrator, editor, or translator; ISBNs for each format; descriptive copy and blurbs; BISAC codes; keywords; format; page count; trim size; publication date; price; publisher and imprint; territorial rights; and availability status.
• Monograph: A book that focuses extensively on a scholarly subject, often written for specialists and peers in the field.
• Open Access: A book whose ebook form is hosted on a platform where anyone with access to the Web can read or download it for free. Authors or their institutions usually subsidize the cost of publication.
• Page Proofs: The first set of PDF pages with set pagination, which look like a book rather than a Microsoft Word document, to be reviewed by authors, and production staff. Page proofs also form the foundation for the index. No major changes to the text should be introduced at page proofs.
• Peer Review: The evaluation of scholarly work, research, or ideas by independent experts in the same field before it is published. Peer review acts as a quality control checkpoint to verify validity, accuracy, originality, and methodology.
• Print-On-Demand / POD: The ability to print small numbers of books, as few as one at a time, and usually implemented only after initial print runs have sold through. Because warehousing is not necessary, this printing technology enables books to stay in print longer than they would otherwise be able to.  
• Production: A catch-all term to describe the processes and transformations that manuscript materials undergo between final draft and published book. This word can have different meanings depending on context. In an editorial context, production means the project management and editorial work that finalize book files for the printer. In a printing context, production means the literal manufacturing of the printed book.
• Profit-and-Loss Statement / P&L: A financial tool used by publishers to estimate costs and profitability of publishing plans for a book.
• Proposal: A comprehensive publishing and marketing plan for a book project, used by authors to pitch book ideas to editors for publishing consideration. The proposal is an important way to establish an author’s vision for the book and set out their goals for what they want the book to achieve and what audience they wish to reach. For sample proposal guidelines, check out UC Press’s guidelines here. 
• Publication Date / Pub Date / On-Sale Date / OSD: The official date that the book becomes available for sale in bookstores and with online vendors. At UC Press this date is announced seasonally in the UC Press catalog and to distribution partner websites.
• Royalty: The percentage-based compensation a publisher pays an author in exchange for the rights to publish and sell their book. 
• Review copy: A copy of a book sent to reviewers and other media contacts so they can read and consider it for a review or feature. It may be a finished book or an ARC/galley.
• Season: The organization of book publication schedules into distinct cycles to coordinate marketing, sales, catalogs, bookstore distributions, and media campaigns. 
• Series: A curated, ongoing collection of stand-alone books or monographs united by a shared theme, discipline, methodology, geographic focus, or historical period. See also “Series Editor.”
• Series Editor: An external faculty scholar or specialist who collaborates with a publisher to guide and curate a specific collection of books united by a common theme, discipline, or methodology. Unlike acquisitions editors, they are not full-time staff employees of the publishing house. Often they recruit authors, evaluate submissions, advise on peer review, and give developmental feedback for books in their series.
• Subrights: The secondary publishing and licensing rights to a book that go beyond the primary print and e-book formats. Instead of selling the book itself, the author licenses out specific ways the intellectual property can be adapted, translated, or distributed. This can include: Foreign Language Translation Rights, Audiobook Rights, Film and Television Rights, Dramatic or Stage Right, Serial Rights, Book Club & Large Print Rights, and Merchandising.
• Subtitle: A secondary or explanatory line placed after the main title to clarify the subject, expand on the concept, or promise what the reader will gain.
• Subvention: A sum of money supplied by an author via their institution or professional organization to help offset costs associated with publishing.
• Title: The primary name chosen by the author and publisher to identify the work, convey its core theme or content, and capture the reader's interest. See also “Subtitle.”
• Trade Books: A publication that targets a broader/more general audience or set of audiences.
• Transmittal: The step when final book manuscript materials are sent from the acquisitions department to the production department.
• Volume Editor: A person who compiles, organizes, and oversees a book made up of chapters or articles written by different authors. They are the primary point person  with the publisher. See also “Edited Volume.”

 Parts of the Book

• Afterword: A short concluding section placed at the very end of a book, written by the author, volume editor, or a guest contributor.
• Alt-Text (also known as Alternative Text Image Descriptions): A very brief description attached to an image or table in an eBook that informs a blind or visually impaired reader what the image or table conveys and how it connects to the text or argument. Alt text makes the work accessible to unsighted readers who rely on screen-reading software to engage with the images and tables in the book.
• Back Matter (sometimes “backmatter”): Any terminal material in a book that follows and supports the body text such as acknowledgements, appendices, notes, references/bibliography, and an index.
• Backnotes: Notes appearing at the end of the book in one large section in the back matter, usually divided and numbered by chapter. At UC Press these are the preferred (and most common) type of notes.
• Bibliography: A collected list of sources that supply the facts and/or inform the arguments in the book. Bibliographies are typically straightforward lists of sources consulted by the author that may or may not be cited directly in the body text, arranged alphabetically by author last name and including the details of the source (e.g., title, publisher, URL, etc.). There are many flavors of bibliographies (comprehensive, selected, essay, etc.) and it’s important to think of the book’s intended audience when deciding what kind of bibliography is appropriate for the book.
• Blurb: A promotional endorsement of a book from an influential early reader whose praise can raise the profile and marketability of a book. 
• Body (or “core”) text: The substantive part of the book that includes book chapters, and may also include an introduction and conclusion.
• Callouts: Placement instructions inserted by the author into the manuscript and appearing between paragraphs to signal to the typesetter where a figure, table, or other special element should be placed in the typeset pages. Callouts are not part of the formal text and are removed during typesetting once the called-out element has been placed. 
• Captions: A short, explanatory or descriptive text that accompanies a visual element and gives credit to the original source—such as a photograph, illustration, map, chart, graph, or table.
• Cataloging-in-Publication Data / CIP Data : A bibliographic record about a book created by the Library of Congress prior to publication. CIP data includes basic bibliographic information (author, title, pub date, etc.) as well as subject categories to help libraries classify and organize newly published books. Production editors apply for CIP data during production.
• Citations: A formal acknowledgment appearing within the text (including tables and figure captions) to attribute an idea or quotation to another source. Citations can appear in many forms; in UC Press books, citations most commonly appear as (1) notes or (2) parenthetical author-date mentions. Notes are usually signaled in the running text by a superscript number that directs the reader to a corresponding footnote, endnote, or backnote.
• Conclusion: A final section in the body text that summarizes the core ideas, reinforces the primary thesis, and gives the reader a sense of closure or a clear call to action.
• Endnotes: Notes appearing at the end of the chapter in which the numbered note signal appears. Endnotes are rare in UC Press books; they usually appear only in edited collections, where each chapter is authored by a separate person, and in textbooks.
• Epilogue: A final, concluding section that may be shorter in length than a conclusion and may assume a different register in writing tone or style.
• Figure: A term for a visual element within the book that may refer to an illustration, photograph, table, graph, music example, etc. Figures must contribute to the author’s argument or analysis, and they may be scattered throughout the text or gathered in the center.
• Folio: The bookmaking term for a page number.
• Footnotes: Notes appearing at the bottom of the same page on which the numbered note signal appears. Footnotes add complexity to the typesetting of books. At UC Press they are used rarely, except in ancient studies texts and some translations.
• Foreword: A short introductory section placed at the beginning of a book, written by someone other than the author.
• Front Matter (sometimes “frontmatter”): Any prefatory material in a book that precedes the body (or “core”) text. Front matter appears on roman-numbered pages (body text, in contrast, begins on Arabic-numbered page 1). This can include the title page, copyright page, dedication, epigraph page, table of contents, list of illustrations, foreword, and preface. 
• Incipit Notes: Notes that are not signaled in running text and instead appear in the backmatter with a page number and a quoted phrase from the text. This note style is used occasionally in trade publications to avoid superscripts on the page. They are not appropriate for any text with a primary audience for whom documentation is important.
• International Standard Book Number / ISBN: A unique 13-digit ID number for a book, usually assigned according to format, that allows for better inventory tracking and fulfillment.
• In-text References: Directs the reader’s attention to a figure, illustration, table, or other special element that appears in the typeset pages. In-text references are an inseparable part of the text and are grammatically assimilated into a sentence so that readers know when to turn their attention to supplementary material.
• Introduction: An opening section written by the author that presents the core subject matter, major themes, central arguments, and a roadmap of what the book will cover.
• List of Illustrations: A dedicated directory found in the front matter that catalogs all the photographs, maps, diagrams, charts, or drawings included in the text, along with their page numbers.
• Preface: A short introductory section at the beginning of a book written by the author to explain why and how the book came to be.
• References: A collected list of the sources that are actually cited in the text. References are paired with parenthetical author-date citations and must contain only the same sources that are cited in the running text. Like a bibliography, a reference list is arranged alphabetically by author last name; it is secondarily arranged by date, which receives more prominent placement in an entry than it does in a bibliography.
• Style Guide: A cohesive system of editorial and stylistic guidelines used to ensure consistency and best practices both within an individual book and across a catalog of books more broadly. Style guides address everything from the overall structure of a book’s parts to nitpicky style and grammar questions. UC Press follows The Chicago Manual of Style, but authors sometimes request alternate style guides for their documentation (such as the style guide of their discipline’s professional association). 
• Style Sheet: A record of individual style choices made for a particular book, usually created by the author and copyeditor to ensure they (and the author, PE, and proofreader) are applying rules and choices consistently within the manuscript. Style sheets often focus on exceptions being made to the general rules of the selected style guide.
• Recto: The right-hand page in a book spread. Most new elements within a book (especially in front matter and back matter) begin on a recto. In bookmaking, blank rectos (that is, right-hand pages with no content) are usually avoided. (Note: In many books, chapters can begin on a recto or verso.)
• Running Heads: Orienting copy set at the top or bottom of a page as a signpost to the reader about where the reader is in the larger work; usually includes the page number and the part/section/chapter number or title. 
• Subheadings: A smaller secondary or tertiary title or line of text that breaks up content within a chapter or major section to organize ideas and guide the reader.
• Table of Contents: A list found in the front matter of a book that shows chapter titles, section names, and their corresponding page numbers in the order they appear.
• Title Page: An introductory page located near the front of a book that displays the work's primary identifying and publishing details: usually the title and subtitle of the book, and the author’s name.
• Verso: The left-hand page in a book spread. Much less fussy than a recto.

Book Publishing Departments

• Acquisitions (also known as Editorial Acquisitions Team): The team responsible for discovering, developing, evaluating, and signing new books, authors, and content for a publisher They act as the primary bridge between the creative world (writers and literary agents) and the business side of the press.
• Editing, Design, and Production / EDP: Three teams of specialists (E/D/P) that work together as a department (EDP) to turn a final-draft Microsoft Word document and art files into a printed book and ebook that have been editorially polished and pleasingly designed.
• Marketing: The team responsible for promoting books, building reader awareness, and driving sales by connecting titles with their target audiences. They focus on paid advertising, in-store merchandising, creating sales catalogs, overseeing publisher social media channels, newsletters, and optimizing book metadata.
• Publicity: The team responsible for securing earned media—unpaid coverage like book reviews, interviews, op-eds, features, and podcast appearances—to generate public awareness and buzz for books and authors
• Sales: The team responsible for getting books and publications onto shelves, into digital stores, and into the hands of readers by selling them to wholesale distributors, bookstores, online retailers, libraries, and special accounts.
• Operations and Accounting: The team that manages and updates internal databases and records; maintains publisher websites and ordering; works with human resources; and handles royalties, advances, grants, vendor payments, etc. 
• Rights & Permissions: The team that manages contracts, licensing of translation and subsidiary rights , and copyright permissions for books, journals, and other published works.

Book Publishing Personnel

• Acquisitions Editor (also known as Sponsoring Editor): A publishing professional responsible for finding, developing, evaluating, and signing new books for a publishing house. At UC Press, the acquisitions editors also advocate for a shared vision of the author’s work from development through to contracting, production, marketing, and beyond. 
• Developmental Editor (DE): A professional hired by an author or publisher who helps to shape a manuscript for a particular audience.
• Editorial Assistant (EA): An entry-level professional who provides administrative, organizational, and foundational content support to a publishing house. They draft contracts, solicit peer review and blurbs, and help authors prepare their manuscripts for production.
• Managing Editor (ME): The head of the Editing team and the person who oversees the overall flow of projects from Acquisitions into EDP. The ME receives all transmittals, checks them for production readiness, and then assigns individual projects to production editors. The ME supports PEs in their work and also monitors overall quality and standards.
• Production Editor (PE): A member of the Editing team and the person who manages book production for an individual project. A PE liaises with the copyeditor, compositor / typesetter, and author. After the ME has assigned a project to a PE, the PE is the primary point of contact for the author throughout production until the arrival of the advance printed copy of the book.
• Copyeditor: A professional hired by the press who reviews and polishes written material to ensure it is clear, accurate, and free of grammatical or stylistic errors before it is published.
• Indexer: A professional hired by the author or the press who reads a finalized, typeset non-fiction manuscript and creates an alphabetized list of key terms, names, concepts, and subjects with their corresponding page numbers or locators.
• Compositor / Typesetter: The person who sets the final text (after it has been written by the author and produced/edited by the PE and copyeditor) into the interior design (which is created and managed by a designer). 
• Production Coordinator: A member of the Production team and the person who manages manufacturing for an individual project by (1) ensuring files get to the printer and then (2) tracking the book’s progress and shipments.
• Designer: A member of the Design team and the person responsible for the aesthetic tone and appearance of a book, both the interior and the cover. Designers are also experts in everything graphic and visual that is part of a book.
• Publicist: A public relations professional who secures earned media coverage, builds public awareness, and connects authors with readers through press, podcasts, and events.
• Marketing Manager: A publishing professional who plans, launches, and manages promotional campaigns, listservs, and paid advertisements to drive book sales and connect titles with their target audience. 
• Sales Manager: A professional who guides the sales process, manages inventory, and serves as a bridge between the publisher, sales representatives, and customers. 
• Rights Manager: A professional who manages, licenses, and protects a publishing company's intellectual property. This person often attends international book fairs and licenses subsidiary rights to help maximize the reach and impact of a book.