RD Glossary
Galley
A galley is simply a collection of unbound signature pages. A bound galley is a galley that has been bound into book form. Bound galleys are generally produced after a manuscript has been typeset but before proofreading, and are used by publicists to send to book reviewers, distributors and book clubs that like to see a copy of the book three or four months before its official publication date.

What information should be included in a galley?

Make sure the galley or bound manuscript includes information
essential to the book reviewer either on the cover or first page:

  • title
  • author
  • publication date
  • ISBN
  • publisher name and contact information
  • price
  • number of pages
  • number of illustrations
  • trim size
  • distributor and contact
  • contact name and information for the publicist
  • "Uncorrected proof: do not quote without prior permission from the publisher."

What's the difference between a bound galley and an advance reading copy?

For all intents and purposes they are the same, but some reviewers classify books with full color covers as ARCs, and those with plain cardstock covers as galleys.

When should I send out bound galleys?

Most publications require galleys three or four months before the publication date.

--publishingcentral.com

 

Gutter
The gutter is the line where two pages come together in a two-page spread.
Imposition

Imposition is a term used in the printing industry. Print operators will print books using large sheets of paper which will be folded later. This allows for faster printing, simplified binding and lower production costs. Imposition is the process of arranging pages correctly prior to printing so that they fold in the correct order. To someone unfamiliar with the imposition process, the pages may seem to be arranged randomly; but after printing, the paper is folded, bound and trimmed. If correctly imposed, the pages should all appear in the correct orientation and readable sequence.

--wikipedia.com

ISBN Number

The International Standard Book Number, or ISBN (sometimes pronounced "is-ben"), is a unique identifier for books, intended to be used commercially. There is another quite similar system, the International Standard Serial Number (ISSN), for periodical publications such as magazines. The ISBN system was created in the United Kingdom in 1966 by the booksellers and stationers W H Smith and originally called Standard Book Numbering or SBN. It was adopted as international standard ISO 2108 in 1970.

--Wikipedia.com

Letterpress
Letterpress printing is the oldest printing technique, in which a raised surface is inked and then pressed against a smooth substance to obtain an image in reverse.
Offset Printing

Offset printing is a widely used printing technique where the inked image is transferred (or "offset") from a plate first to a rubber blanket, then to the printing surface.

When used in combination with the lithographic process, which is based on the repulsion of oil and water, the offset technique employs a flat (planographic) image carrier on which the image to be printed obtains ink from ink rollers, while the non-printing area attracts a film of water, keeping the nonprinting areas ink-free.

The advantages of offset printing include:

  • Consistent high image quality — sharper and cleaner than letterpress printing because the rubber blanket conforms to the texture of the printing surface
  • Usability on a wide range of printing surfaces in addition to smooth paper (e.g., wood, cloth, metal, leather, rough paper)
  • Quick and easy production of printing plates Longer plate life than on direct litho presses — because there is no direct contact between the plate and the printing surface. -

-wikipedia.com

Pagination
  1. The system by which pages are numbered.
  2. The arrangement and number of pages in a book, as noted in a catalog or bibliography.

--dictionary.com

Pagination is the system by which pages of a book, play, manuscript, or otherwise handwritten or printed document are marked with consecutive Arabic Numbers to indicate the proper order of the pages. Pagination is very rarely found in documents pre-dating 1500, and only became common practice circa 1500, when it replaced foliation, which numbered only the front sides of folio. -

-wikipedia.com

Royalties
An advance is a non-refundable sum paid in expectation of the royalties a book will earn, royalties being your percentage payment from each book sale. As you have already been paid ‘in advance', the royalties from your book sales will need to exceed the amount of your advance before you are due further monies, ie the advance needs to have been ‘earned out'.

Advances or alternatively one-off payments are also payable on rights sales; your contract will specify the author/publisher splits (if subagents are involved there may be deductions at source). Your contract will also specify whether such monies are to be offset against your main advance (as royalties are), or whether there is 'flow-through'.

Royalty rates vary according to the publisher involved and the type of book. (For example, integrated illustrated books will typically have lower royalties due to the higher production costs.) Two key concepts in calculating royalties are:

  • ‘escalators' and
  • the basis on which royalties are calculated.

An escalator simply means that the royalty rate rises after an agreed sales threshold has been reached. The two alternate ways of calculating royalties are 'published price' (ie the cover price) or 'price received' (the price it is sold to the bookshop or other sales outlet at).

However, the 'published price' formula also involves several exceptions where the calculation method either switches to pr or to a percentage of pp.

Although an article of faith for many of the literary establishment, this calculation method only really made sense in the days of the now-defunct Net Book Agreement, when prices were fixed and discounts to booksellers significantly lower. The way to square the circle, of course, is to have all royalties based on price received but with a higher starting rate.

--www.publishing-services.co.uk
Self Publishing

Self-publishing is the publishing of books and other media by the authors of those works, rather than by established, independent publishers. Although it represents a small percentage of the publishing industry in terms of sales, it has been present in one form or another for centuries, and has seen an increase in activity with the advancement of publishing technology, including xerography, desktop publishing systems, print on demand, and the World Wide Web. Cultural phenomena such as the punk/DIY movement, the proliferation of media channels, and blogging have contributed to the advancement of self-publishing.

- Source: www.wikipedia.org

Outskirts Press Self Publishing Book Company