Glossary of Publishing Terms-Part Seven

by Laura Fabiani @ NouveauWriter

Still wondering what’s a short-short or a sidebar? Find out now!

ROYALTIES, STANDARD MASS-MARKET PAPERBACK BOOK: 4-8 percent of the retail price on the first 150,000 copies sold.

ROYALTIES, STANDARD TRADE PAPERBACK BOOK: No less than 6 percent of list price on the first 20,000 copies; 7 1/2 percent thereafter.

SASE: Self-addressed, stamped envelope; should be included with all professional correspondence.

SELF-PUBLISHING: In this arrangement, the author pays for manufacturing, production, and marketing of his book and keeps all income derived from the book sales.

SEMIMONTHLY: Twice per month.

SEMIWEEKLY: Twice per week.

SERIAL: Published periodically, such as a newspaper or magazine. Serial fiction. Fiction published in a magazine in installments, often broken off at a suspenseful spot.

SERIAL RIGHTS: The right for a newspaper or magazine to publish sections of a manuscript.

SHORT-SHORT: A complete short story of 1,500 words or less.

SIDEBAR: A feature presented as a companion to a straight news report (or main magazine article) giving sidelights on human-interest aspects or sometimes elucidating just one aspect of the story.

SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS: Sending the same article, story, or poem to several publishers at the same time. Some publishers refuse to consider such submissions; check individual writers’ guidelines.

SLANT: The approach or style of a story or article that will appeal to readers of a specific magazine.

SLICE-OF-LIFE VIGNETTE: A short-fiction piece intended to realistically depict an interesting moment of everyday living.

SLUSH PILE: The stack of unsolicited or misdirected manuscripts received by an editor, agent, or book publisher.