Don’t you hate it when someone uses terminology you just don’t understand? How about that time someone said to you: “Man, today I ran my MS through the meatgrinder and when I uploaded it to KDP I changed my mind about SW and decided to go Select. I was thinking about going with LS for POD but went with CS instead. I’m going to hop on over to IU and read the tutorial about making a ToC, then I’m going to grab my MOBI and sideload it.”
Allrighty then.
As part of our continued effort to provide authors of all levels with helpful resources, without further ado, here is a Glossary for Authors. We will continue to add to it as we come across more terms, and we know we will.
| ABNA | Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards | |
| ACX | Acronym for Audiobook Creation Exchange (and/or Audible), an Amazon Subsidiary which produces audio books | |
| ARC | Acryonym for Advanced Review Copy, a final proof which goes to reviewers before a book is published | |
| ASIN | Amazon Standard Identification Number | |
| azw | A proprietary format developed by Amazon specifically for the Kindle eBook reader | |
| Beta Reader | Someone who “test” reads a book, generally before going to editing, to find errors and evaluate the manuscript | |
| camel case | Or CamelCase is a compound word or phrase that has the first letter of each word capitalized | |
| CMoS | Chicago Manual of Style – important reference book providing key elements and guidance to authors http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/ | |
| Coat-tailing | Riding on (or trying to attach to) the good fortune of more successful authors | |
| Comma splice | The use of a comma to join two sentences which could stand on their own (i.e. It was cold outside, we had a fire going.) | |
| CS | Createspace, an Amazon company which produces print books (print on demand) | |
| doc (also .doc) | Microsoft Word Document | |
| docx (also .docx) | Microsoft Word Document versions 2007 and newer, *not* supported by Smashwords. | |
| elevator pitch | A succinct and grabbing summary in PEOPLE SPEAK, generally 50 words or less, that you would use to sell someone your book in an elevator | |
| epub | Stands for “electronic publication.” ePub is the “open standard” format for eBooks, used across the widest number of devices (Nook, iBooks, and more), but not supported by Amazon’s Kindle | |
| FB | ||
| Freeloads | Free downloads of a book, usually through the Kindle Select program | |
| Head-hopping | When multiple points-of-view are used in a manner that is confusing | |
| Indie | An indie author or artist, generally self-published or with a small, independent publisher | |
| ISBN | International Standard Book Number which is a 10 or 13 digit number used to identify a book | |
| IU | Indies Unlimited! | |
| JPG (also .jpg, JPEG, or .jpeg) | Joint Photographic Experts Group – an image which is of a fairly condensed nature, commonly used on the internet | |
| justified (also justification) | Originally used by typesetters, justification can be left, right, (when the text aligns to one of those aforementioned margins) or full, which means the text aligns at both the right and left margins | |
| KDP | Kindle Direct Publishing, the Amazon platform for self-publishing eBooks | |
| LI | ||
| LS | Lightning Source, a platform for self-publishing print books | |
| Lulu | A platform for self-publishing print books | |
| Meatgrinder | The sometimes dreaded process that converts a manuscript into many different eBook formats on Smashwords | |
| Misplaced modifier | Also known as dangling participle, when a word or phrase describing the subject is misplaced, describing something else instead. Excellent examples here. | |
| mobi (also .mobi) | An eBook file format, originally created by Mobipocket SA, purchased by Amazon in 2005 and now used with Kindles | |
| MS | Manuscript | |
| odt (also .odt) | Open Document Text file created by the Open Office program. MS Word does not support this program, so Open Office users should save the file as a .doc. | |
| Portable Document Format – a file generated by Adobe Acrobat which is generally non-tamperable | ||
| PNG (also .png) | Portable Network Graphics – similar to a .jpg, but a PNG enables a clear background and better clarity at the same resolution. | |
| POD | Print-on-Demand, a method of print book publishing which produces a book ONLY when it is ordered. | |
| POV | Point of View – the PoV from which your story is told. For examples, see PoV for Dummies by Chris James. | |
| prc | Palm Resource Code – is a MobiPocket eBook file which can be read on a Kindle device. | |
| Price pulsing | Alternating standard list price and sale price at different intervals resembling a pulse to gain sales on your book and to hopefully raise it in the rankings to garner more interest | |
| Run-on sentence | A sentence that a) is too long, and b) contains two or more sections that can stand on their own. | |
| Sales bump | Also known as a sales spike, this generally happens after a book comes off of its promotion sales price or free listing. | |
| sans serif | A simple font more appealing to online reading such as Arial or Tahoma which does not have the doohickeys or “tails” at the edges of the lettering or strokes | |
| Select | Select, or KDP Select, is a program through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing wherein you grant Kindle exclusive rights to publish your eBook in return for certain benefits including 5 free book days, Kindle Countdown program, and Prime book borrows. | |
| Serif | A more traditional font normally associated with print publishing with a decorative flourish at the end of each stroke such as Times New Roman or Georgia | |
| Sideload | The transfer of a file to or from a computer to a mobile device or eReader by using a USB cable or other method | |
| sock puppet | A fake identity or account set up to promote one’s own work, most commonly referenced in “sock puppet reviews” | |
| SW | Smashwords, an ebook publication and distribution site | |
| T&C | Terms and Conditions | |
| TBR | To be read list | |
| TIFF (also .tif) | Tag Image File Format is a high resolution image file accepted by Createspace for cover artwork | |
| title case | The capitalization used in titles or headlines wherein the first letter of each “significant” word is capitalized | |
| TOC | Table of Contents | |
| Track Changes | A feature in Microsoft Word that allows you to label all edits and changes made in a document. See this article. | |
| trolls | A troll is someone who purposely posts inflammatory comments or reviews, just to cause trouble. | |
| Verified Purchase | A verified purchase label is attached to reviews by people who have actually purchased an item or book on Amazon.com | |
| WIP | Work in process (or progress) | |
Suggestions for additions? Let us know in the comments below. The permanent resource page will be updated as needed. You can find that at https://indiesunlimited.com/glossary-for-authors/
Excellent start, altho I can see this thing growing into a behemoth. How about MC for Main Character?
What a great idea, and a wonderful list. Not sure it applies anymore as I think KDP changed the way they showed no sales, but a lot of people use BBOS for Brown Bar of Shame, that dreaded brown bar that appears at the beginning of the month when KDP resets the monthly sales (and you start with zero sales again). More optimistic people called it the BBOP (Brown Bar of Possibilities)
I wish I had had this when I first started following those threads on LI. Pinning.
Actually Lightning Source is generally called LSI.
png files also enable transparency.
HTML not just the HyperTextMarkupLanguage of internet viewing itself, but as a file suffix is a kind of ebook file. mobi and prc files are must prioritized HTML files.
Premium is a special status of a SmashWords ebook that enables it to be available on Nook, Sony, iTunes and many other eTail stores.
I can see this growing as the industry changes but this is a wonderful start. There were several i didn’t know. 🙂
Great start! Although I expect it will become a monster eventually. 😀
I am always amazed at the generosity revealed by such offerings…thanks!
Great stuff, another one of those things … I wish I had when ….
Brilliant! I’ve been sideloading my Kindle ever since I bought it but had no idea what the process was called. Thank you, thank you!
Great, now you are going to want to add under Cs Countdown for Kindle Countdown.