Publishing Glossary UK 2022

Today I am sharing an updated Publishing Glossary UK 2022. I shared a Publishing Glossary in November 2021, and today I’m adding a few more acronyms and words for you to understand.

To see the original post on words and phrases, you can visit the #WorkInPublishing page or the Publishing Hopeful’s Toolkit.

Publishing Glossary UK | Part Two

Auction = What happens when multiple publishers want to publish the same book

I used to think a publishing auction meant everyone had to get into a room and bid it out, like an antique auction. It’s not like that at all. If multiple publishers want the same book, they send their pitches to the agent and/or author – sometimes re-negotiating their ‘bid’ i.e. their advance, depending on the number of offers on the table. The author and agent review these deals, sometimes going into publishing offices to meet the team. If they do the latter, the publisher(s) will put on a show with presentations and meet and greets. Finally, though, the author and agent decide on the best deal and sign a contract.

B2B = Business to Business Publishing

The publishing of books and materials that helps other businesses.

Backlist = Titles published by a company more than 1 year ago.

Established publishers have a frontlist (recently published titles) and a backlist (titles published 12 months or more ago). The aim of the backlist is to constantly sell year on year to provide a backbone of budget for the publisher to afford to purchase further frontlist titles.

Boilerplate = A standardized contract

This is a blanket contract that doesn’t need to be reviewed and again, it just needs to be signed and the signatures reviewed. Having a boilerplate contract or press release says a publisher a lot of time.

D2C = Direct to Consumer

In publishing, we typically talk about D2C websites, as these are websites where readers can purchase products directly from the publisher.

eCRM = Electronic Customer Relationship Management

In publishing an eCRM strategy typically focuses on email marketing, i.e. newsletters.

TRAD = Traditional publishing

When something is described as ‘TRAD’ in publishing, they mean traditional publishing. For example, outdoor advertising is TRAD publishing as it was what marketers have traditionally to promote books for years. Digital marketing is less TRAD as it’s a more recent development of marketing.

Out-of-home OR Outdoor marketing = Print/Radio/TV advertising

Out-of-home or outdoor advertising is advertising where you typically use a media agency to book advertising space in print, on digital platforms, on radio, and others. If you see a poster promoting a book on the Underground, in your railway station, in your magazine, or on TV that is out-of-home/outdoor marketing.

USP = Unique Selling Point

In publishing, we’re always asking ‘what’s the USP of the book’. What’s the unique thing about this book that makes it exciting to sell/read.

VOD = Video on demand

These are usually trailers created for advertising purposes on YouTube. BVOD = broadcast video on demand, which is the same thing, but this video advertising is shown on TV and in the cinema.

What publishing words have you heard that have confused or baffled yet? Let me know in the comments below and I’ll see about adding them to the next Publishing Glossary.

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