---
title: "Publishing glossary — book design, typesetting and self-publishing terms"
description: "Plain definitions of the publishing terms novelists actually trip over: trim size, gutter, folio, recto and verso, dinkus, widow and orphan, standard manuscript format, ISBN and more."
source: https://usegalley.com/glossary
---
# Publishing *glossary*

Common terms you'll encounter when writing and publishing a novel. The [blog](https://usegalley.com/blog) is another excellent resource for a few more deep dives into similar topics.

## The page

How type sits on a printed page.

### Baseline grid [#](#baseline-grid)

A baseline grid is the fixed set of horizontal lines a book is set to, so that every line of text sits at the same height on every page.

It is why a well made book feels calm. When the text is locked to the grid, the
lines on the left-hand page line up with the lines on the right, and a reader
holding the book open sees one rhythm instead of two. Headings and images break
it, because they rarely stand a whole number of lines tall. Size their spacing
in multiples of the leading and the grid holds.

See also [Leading](#leading), [Recto](#recto), [Verso](#verso). [Book typography basics for novelists](https://usegalley.com/blog/book-typography-basics)

### Bleed [#](#bleed)

Bleed is the extra artwork extended beyond the trim line so that ink still reaches the edge of the page after the printer cuts it.

Printers cut through stacks with a tolerance of a millimetre or two, so anything
that stops exactly at the page edge will show a white sliver on some copies. An
element meant to touch the edge has to overshoot it, usually by about an eighth
of an inch. Novel interiors rarely need bleed at all, since the text sits well
inside the margins. It matters for covers, and for the occasional full page
image or map.

See also [Trim size](#trim-size), [Margins](#margins).

### Block paragraph [#](#block-paragraph)

A block paragraph is a paragraph set flush left with a space between it and the next one, and no first-line indent.

It is the style of letters, reports and the web. Novels do not use it, because
over three hundred pages the spaces add up to a lot of extra paper and the page
loses its texture. The place it does turn up in fiction is an epistolary passage
where a letter is set apart from the prose around it.

See also [First-line indent](#first-line-indent), [Leading](#leading), [Text block](#text-block). [Book typography basics for novelists](https://usegalley.com/blog/book-typography-basics)

### Chapter opener [#](#chapter-opener)

A chapter opener is the first page of a chapter, together with the conventions that distinguish it: a fresh page, a sunk head, a chapter title and often a drop cap or small caps first line.

Chapters conventionally start a third of the way down the page rather than at
the top, and the space above the title is what signals a beginning, without
needing a rule or an ornament. The first paragraph of a
chapter is also not indented, because there is nothing above it to separate it
from. Indenting it is the single most common tell of a book set by somebody
working from a word processor.

See also [Drop cap](#drop-cap), [Recto](#recto), [Folio](#folio).

### Dinkus [#](#dinkus)

A dinkus is the small ornament marking a scene break inside a chapter, usually three spaced asterisks or a single centred glyph.

Also called Asterism, Scene break ornament.

A blank line on its own is not enough, because the moment the break falls at the
foot of a page it vanishes and the reader has no idea the scene changed. The
usual fix is to drop the ornament when a break lands on a page boundary and let
the white space do the work there instead. Three asterisks is the safe choice.
Anything more decorative starts competing with the prose for attention.

See also [Scene break](#scene-break).

### Drop cap [#](#drop-cap)

A drop cap is an oversized opening letter set into the first paragraph of a chapter, occupying two or more lines of text depth.

Also called Initial, Dropped initial.

It is decoration with a job: it tells the eye where the chapter starts. Two or
three lines deep is normal, and the letter should sit on the baseline of the
last line it occupies rather than floating. The two details that give away an
amateur setting are a drop cap that leaves an awkward gap next to a letter like
A or W, and a quotation mark left dangling outside it when the chapter opens on
dialogue.

See also [Chapter opener](#chapter-opener), [Kerning](#kerning). [The typography that makes a book look professional](https://usegalley.com/blog/book-typography-basics)

### Drop folio [#](#drop-folio)

A drop folio is a page number printed at the foot of the page rather than in the running head, used on pages where the running head is suppressed.

Also called Dropped folio.

A chapter opening has no running head, so the page number has nowhere to sit at
the top. Dropping it to the foot keeps the page numbered without putting a
header on a page meant to look clean. Most novels do this on chapter openings
and use full running heads everywhere else.

See also [Folio](#folio), [Running head](#running-head), [Chapter opener](#chapter-opener). [Book typography basics for novelists](https://usegalley.com/blog/book-typography-basics)

### Em dash [#](#em-dash)

An em dash is a long dash, roughly the width of a capital M, used to break a sentence or set off an aside.

Also called Em rule.

British and American house styles disagree about spaces around it. Pick one and
hold it for the whole book. It is longer than a hyphen and longer than an en
dash, and a manuscript that types a hyphen where it means an em dash hands a
copy editor several hours of tedious work. Most editors convert a double hyphen
for you. Check yours does before you rely on it.

See also [En dash](#en-dash), [Style sheet](#style-sheet), [Copyedit](#copyedit). [Dashes, hyphens and ellipses](https://usegalley.com/resources/dashes-hyphens-and-ellipses)

### En dash [#](#en-dash)

An en dash is a dash the width of a capital N, used for ranges such as page numbers and dates, and for a span between two things.

Also called En rule.

This is the one people miss, because on a keyboard it passes for a hyphen.
Ranges are the common case, so page and chapter references take one. A hyphen
there is not a disaster, but a proofreader will mark every occurrence, and
finding them all at that stage is slow.

See also [Em dash](#em-dash), [Proofread](#proofread), [Style sheet](#style-sheet). [Dashes, hyphens and ellipses](https://usegalley.com/resources/dashes-hyphens-and-ellipses)

### First-line indent [#](#first-line-indent)

A first-line indent is the small horizontal space at the start of a paragraph that marks it as a new paragraph.

Also called Paragraph indent.

A novel indents and puts no space between paragraphs. A business document does
the opposite. Doing both is the clearest sign a manuscript was typeset by
someone who typesets documents. The first paragraph after a chapter opening or
a scene break goes flush left, since there is nothing above it to separate
from.

See also [Block paragraph](#block-paragraph), [Scene break](#scene-break), [Chapter opener](#chapter-opener). [Book typography basics for novelists](https://usegalley.com/blog/book-typography-basics)

### Folio [#](#folio)

A folio is the page number as printed on the page, and by extension the position and styling it is given.

Also called Page number.

Conventions worth knowing: odd folios belong on recto, even on verso, and the
two must never disagree with the actual side of the sheet. Pages that carry no
folio at all, such as a chapter opener or a blank, are called blind folios and
still count in the numbering. Front matter is traditionally numbered in roman
numerals, restarting at arabic 1 with the first page of the text.

See also [Running head](#running-head), [Recto](#recto), [Verso](#verso). [Anatomy of a book page](https://usegalley.com/resources/anatomy-of-a-book-page)

### Gutter [#](#gutter)

The gutter is the inner margin of a page, the part that disappears into the spine when the book is bound.

It has to grow with page count, because a 500 page paperback swallows far more
of the inner edge than a 200 page one does. Print on demand services publish a
table for this and it is worth obeying rather than estimating. Get it wrong and
the text runs into the fold, which no reader forgives, and which no printer will
catch for you because from their side nothing is wrong.

See also [Margins](#margins), [Spine width](#spine-width), [Trim size](#trim-size). [Formatting a paperback for KDP](https://usegalley.com/blog/format-a-paperback-for-kdp)

### Hanging punctuation [#](#hanging-punctuation)

Hanging punctuation is the practice of letting quotation marks, hyphens and other small marks sit slightly outside the text edge so the edge reads as straight.

Also called Optical margin alignment.

A line beginning with an opening quotation mark looks indented if the mark sits
inside the margin, because the mark is mostly white space. Pushing it out fixes
the optical gap. In a novel it shows up most in dialogue, where several lines in
a row start with a quotation mark and the left edge starts to look ragged.

See also [Justified](#justified), [Margins](#margins), [Text block](#text-block). [Book typography basics for novelists](https://usegalley.com/blog/book-typography-basics)

### Hyphenation [#](#hyphenation)

Hyphenation is the breaking of a word across a line ending with a hyphen, so that justified text can keep even spacing between words.

Justification and hyphenation are a pair: turn hyphenation off in justified text
and you get rivers of white running down the page, because the spaces have to
absorb everything. The rules typesetters hold to are no more than two or three
hyphenated lines in a row, never hyphenate the last word of a paragraph, and
never break a word across a page turn. Ragged right can do without it, which is
part of why large print settings use it.

See also [Justified](#justified), [Ragged right](#ragged-right).

### Justified [#](#justified)

Justified text is set flush to both the left and right margins, with the space between words varied on each line to make them align.

It is the default for novels and it is what a book looks like, but it only works
with hyphenation switched on. Without it the spaces do all the absorbing and you
get rivers, those pale channels wandering down a paragraph that you cannot stop
seeing once somebody points them out. Narrow columns make it worse, which is why
justification on a phone screen often looks so much uglier than it does in
print.

See also [Ragged right](#ragged-right), [Hyphenation](#hyphenation).

### Kerning [#](#kerning)

Kerning is the adjustment of space between two specific letters, so that pairs like AV or To sit together evenly.

It is a pair by pair correction, not a global one, and that is what separates it
from tracking, which opens or closes a whole run of text. Good text faces carry
thousands of kerning pairs already, so at body size the work is mostly done for
you. Where it becomes visible is at display size: a chapter title or a drop cap
with an unkerned pair sitting in a gap is one of the most obvious tells in
amateur book design.

See also [Leading](#leading), [Drop cap](#drop-cap). [The typography that makes a book look professional](https://usegalley.com/blog/book-typography-basics)

### Leading [#](#leading)

Leading is the vertical distance between baselines of consecutive lines of text, usually stated in points or as a multiple of the type size.

Also called Line spacing.

It is pronounced like the metal, because it once was: strips of lead placed
between lines of type. As a rule of thumb, book text wants roughly 120 to 140
per cent of the type size, and longer lines want more of it than short ones do.
Too tight and the paragraph turns into a grey slab; too loose and the lines stop
reading as a single block. It affects how a page feels far more than the choice
of typeface does.

See also [Kerning](#kerning), [Justified](#justified). [Anatomy of a book page](https://usegalley.com/resources/anatomy-of-a-book-page)

### Ligature [#](#ligature)

A ligature is a single glyph that replaces two or more letters whose shapes would otherwise collide, most commonly fi and fl.

Book faces ship them and good typesetting leaves them on, or the dot of an i
crashes into the hood of an f on every other line. Standard ligatures are safe.
Discretionary ones like ct and st are period costume in a contemporary novel.
Check they survive export, because some pipelines drop them quietly.

See also [Kerning](#kerning), [Tracking](#tracking). [Book typography basics for novelists](https://usegalley.com/blog/book-typography-basics)

### Margins [#](#margins)

Margins are the areas of blank space around the text block on a page: inner, outer, top and bottom.

They are not wasted paper, they are where your thumbs go, and a book with mean
margins is genuinely harder to hold and read. The traditional proportions are
unequal on purpose: the outer margin larger than the inner, and the bottom
larger than the top, so the text block sits slightly high and towards the spine.
Setting all four equal is the fastest way to make a page look like a document
rather than a book.

See also [Gutter](#gutter), [Bleed](#bleed), [Trim size](#trim-size).

### Measure [#](#measure)

The measure is the width of a line of text, quoted either as a length or as the number of characters that fit on a line.

Also called Line length, Line width.

Somewhere around sixty to seventy characters is the range most book pages
settle in. Go much wider and the eye loses the start of the next line on the way
back. Go much narrower and you hyphenate constantly and open rivers in justified
text. This is what you are setting when you set the margins on a page.

See also [Margins](#margins), [Text block](#text-block), [River](#river), [Hyphenation](#hyphenation). [Book typography basics for novelists](https://usegalley.com/blog/book-typography-basics)

### Old-style figures [#](#old-style-figures)

Old-style figures are numerals drawn at the height of lowercase letters with ascenders and descenders, so they sit inside a line of text rather than above it.

Also called Text figures, Lining figures.

They belong in prose, where a date or an age set in full-height numerals shouts
at the reader. Lining figures, which are all the same height, belong in tables
and anywhere numbers have to align in a column. Most book faces carry both. Which
one you get by default depends on the face.

See also [Small caps](#small-caps), [Kerning](#kerning). [Book typography basics for novelists](https://usegalley.com/blog/book-typography-basics)

### Orphan [#](#orphan)

An orphan is the first line of a paragraph left stranded alone at the bottom of a page, with the rest of the paragraph carrying over.

Like a widow it is a typesetting fault rather than a writing one, and the same
remedy fixes both: never leave fewer than two lines of a paragraph together at a
page break. The names get swapped constantly, including by people who set type
for a living, so it is worth saying which one you mean rather than trusting the
label to carry it.

See also [Widow](#widow).

### Point size [#](#point-size)

Point size is the size of type, measured in points, where a point is a seventy-second of an inch.

Also called Point, Type size.

A novel usually sits somewhere between ten and twelve points, though the number
means less than it looks, because two faces at the same point size can look very
different. What matters is how big the lowercase looks and how many characters
fit on a line. Set a page, print it, and read it at arm’s length before deciding.

See also [Leading](#leading), [Measure](#measure), [Large print edition](#large-print-edition). [Book typography basics for novelists](https://usegalley.com/blog/book-typography-basics)

### Ragged right [#](#ragged-right)

Ragged right text is set flush to the left margin only, leaving line endings uneven on the right.

Also called Unjustified, Flush left.

Because the word spacing stays constant, it never produces rivers, and it works
without hyphenation. That combination makes it the standard choice for large
print and a defensible one for narrow measures. In a conventional novel it reads
as informal, closer to a manuscript than a printed book, which is either wrong
for you or exactly the effect you want.

See also [Justified](#justified), [Hyphenation](#hyphenation), [Large print edition](#large-print-edition).

### Recto [#](#recto)

The recto is the right hand page of an open book, and always carries an odd page number.

Recto is the page the eye lands on first, so it is where anything that matters
belongs: the half title, the title page, the first page of the text, and
conventionally the opening of each chapter. Insisting that every chapter opens
recto is what produces the occasional blank left hand page in a printed novel.
That blank is deliberate, and it is not an error in the file.

See also [Verso](#verso), [Folio](#folio), [Chapter opener](#chapter-opener). [Anatomy of a book page](https://usegalley.com/resources/anatomy-of-a-book-page)

### River [#](#river)

A river is a vertical band of white space that appears to run down a paragraph when word spaces on consecutive lines happen to line up.

Also called Rivers of white.

They come from justification, which stretches the word spaces to fill the line
until several stretched spaces stack up. Narrow columns make it worse, because
there are fewer spaces to absorb the stretch. Hyphenation helps, a wider
measure helps, and ragged right removes the problem. You will see them
everywhere once you have seen one in your own book.

See also [Justified](#justified), [Ragged right](#ragged-right), [Hyphenation](#hyphenation), [Measure](#measure). [Book typography basics for novelists](https://usegalley.com/blog/book-typography-basics)

### Running foot [#](#running-foot)

A running foot is the repeated line at the bottom of a page carrying the book or chapter title, used instead of a running head.

Whether the title sits at the head or the foot is a design decision, not a
rule. Putting it at the foot leaves the top of the page clear, and it then
competes with the page number for the same strip of space, so the two have to be
laid out together. Most novels use a running head with a drop folio instead.

See also [Running head](#running-head), [Folio](#folio), [Drop folio](#drop-folio). [Book typography basics for novelists](https://usegalley.com/blog/book-typography-basics)

### Running head [#](#running-head)

A running head is the line of text repeated at the top of each page, typically carrying the author name on one side and the book or chapter title on the other.

Also called Running header.

The usual arrangement is author on verso and title on recto, though chapter
titles on the recto are just as standard and more useful in non-fiction. They
are suppressed on chapter openers and on blank pages, which is a detail that
often gets missed. A running foot is the same thing at the bottom of the page,
and is worth considering when the folio sits down there too.

See also [Folio](#folio), [Standard manuscript format](#standard-manuscript-format). [Anatomy of a book page](https://usegalley.com/resources/anatomy-of-a-book-page)

### Scene break [#](#scene-break)

A scene break is a transition within a chapter marking a shift in time, place or point of view, shown by white space or a small ornament.

The break itself is the white space; the ornament is only insurance for when the
white space is invisible, which is any time the break falls at the top or bottom
of a page. In a manuscript going to an editor the convention is a hash or a
centred asterisk, because a blank line will not survive being pasted between
programs. Whatever you choose, use the same mark throughout.

See also [Dinkus](#dinkus). [Standard manuscript format](https://usegalley.com/resources/standard-manuscript-format)

### Small caps [#](#small-caps)

Small caps are capital letters drawn at roughly the height of a lowercase letter, used for emphasis that should not shout.

You see them in the first few words of a chapter, carrying the reader out of
the drop cap and into the prose. Check whether your face has real small caps or
whether the software is shrinking full capitals to fake them. Faked ones have
the wrong stroke weight and sit thin against the text. Most readers notice
without being able to say why.

See also [Chapter opener](#chapter-opener), [Drop cap](#drop-cap), [Kerning](#kerning). [Book typography basics for novelists](https://usegalley.com/blog/book-typography-basics)

### Text block [#](#text-block)

The text block is the rectangle of type on a page, everything inside the margins and excluding the running head and the folio.

Setting margins is really choosing this rectangle. Its width fixes how many
characters fit on a line, its height fixes how many lines fit on a page, and
together they fix the page count. Page count sets the spine width and the print
cost. Too wide is the usual fault in a self-typeset novel, because the page
looks efficient and reads badly.

See also [Margins](#margins), [Measure](#measure), [Trim size](#trim-size), [Spine width](#spine-width). [Book typography basics for novelists](https://usegalley.com/blog/book-typography-basics)

### Tracking [#](#tracking)

Tracking is the uniform spacing added to or removed from a run of text, applied to every letter in it rather than between one specific pair.

Also called Letter spacing, Letterspacing.

Kerning fixes one pair. Tracking moves the whole line. A touch of negative
tracking can pull a stubborn widow back onto the previous page, and a touch of
positive tracking opens up a line of capitals, which need more air than
lowercase. Use it to force a justified line to fit and the reader sees a patch
of text greyer or darker than the page around it.

See also [Kerning](#kerning), [Justified](#justified), [Widow](#widow). [Book typography basics for novelists](https://usegalley.com/blog/book-typography-basics)

### Trim size [#](#trim-size)

A trim size is the finished dimensions of a printed book, measured width by height, after the pages have been cut.

It is the first decision because everything downstream depends on it: margins,
page count, spine width and unit cost all move when it changes. Genres have
strong conventions, and readers notice a book that is the wrong shape for its
shelf even if they could not tell you why. Decide it before you set a single
page, because changing it later reflows the entire book.

See also [Margins](#margins), [Gutter](#gutter), [Spine width](#spine-width), [Bleed](#bleed). [How to choose a trim size for your novel](https://usegalley.com/blog/choosing-a-trim-size)

### Verso [#](#verso)

The verso is the left hand page of an open book, and always carries an even page number.

By convention the verso holds what supports the text rather than what leads it:
the copyright page sits there, behind the title, and the author name usually
occupies the verso running head. Blank versos are normal and deliberate, since
insisting a chapter open on a recto will occasionally leave the preceding left
hand page empty. That blank is a decision, not a mistake.

See also [Recto](#recto), [Folio](#folio), [Copyright page](#copyright-page).

### Widow [#](#widow)

A widow is the last line of a paragraph left stranded alone at the top of a page.

It reads as a mistake because it is one, and it is the kind of thing you stop
being able to see in your own book somewhere around the fortieth read. The
standard remedy is keeping at least two lines of a paragraph together at every
page break. A single short word alone on the last line of a paragraph is a
related nuisance, sometimes called a runt, and pulling the previous word down
fixes it.

See also [Orphan](#orphan), [Proofread](#proofread). [Anatomy of a book page](https://usegalley.com/resources/anatomy-of-a-book-page)

## The book's parts

Everything that is not the story.

### Acknowledgements [#](#acknowledgements)

Acknowledgements are the section thanking the people who helped make the book, usually printed in the back matter.

Also called Acknowledgments.

Novels put them at the back. Non-fiction often puts them at the front. Check
every name twice, because this is the page where a typo is personal.

See also [Back matter](#back-matter), [Dedication](#dedication). [What goes in front matter, and in what order](https://usegalley.com/blog/book-front-matter-order)

### Afterword [#](#afterword)

An afterword is a closing section written after the story ends, usually by the author, saying something about how the book came to be.

It goes in the back matter, after the last chapter and usually before the
acknowledgements. A note on sources, on the real history behind the novel, or
on a decision a reader might query. If the story needs it to make sense, the
problem is further upstream.

See also [Back matter](#back-matter), [Acknowledgements](#acknowledgements), [Foreword](#foreword). [What goes in front matter, and in what order](https://usegalley.com/blog/book-front-matter-order)

### Appendix [#](#appendix)

An appendix is supporting material placed in the back matter, such as a timeline, a family tree or a note on sources.

Also called Appendices.

Fantasy and historical fiction use them most. The risk is always the same. If a
reader has to go to the appendix to follow the story, the story is not carrying
itself. As a reward for the reader who wants more, they work.

See also [Back matter](#back-matter), [Story bible](#story-bible), [Afterword](#afterword).

### Back matter [#](#back-matter)

Back matter is everything printed after the last chapter of a book, such as an afterword, acknowledgements, an author biography, a glossary or an appendix.

That is
where the author note and the first chapter of the next book belong. Ordering is
looser than in front matter, but two conventions hold: acknowledgements before
the author biography, and anything that refers to the text before anything that
sells something else.

See also [Front matter](#front-matter), [Colophon](#colophon). [Front matter and back matter, in the right order](https://usegalley.com/blog/book-front-matter-order)

### Colophon [#](#colophon)

A colophon is a short note, usually on the final page, recording how the book was made: the typeface, the paper, the printer, sometimes the designer.

It is optional and almost nobody reads it, which is precisely why it is worth
including. A colophon is a small signal that somebody made deliberate decisions
about the object rather than accepting whatever the defaults were. Traditionally
it names the type and says something about who cut it and when. Two sentences is
enough. The one way to get it wrong is to imply the book was letterpressed when
it came off a digital press.

See also [Back matter](#back-matter), [Imprint](#imprint).

### Copyright page [#](#copyright-page)

The copyright page is the front matter page carrying the copyright notice, edition and printing history, publisher imprint, ISBN and any legal disclaimers.

It sits on the verso directly behind the title page, set small, and it is the
page self publishers most often get subtly wrong. The notice itself is three
parts: the symbol, the year of first publication, and the name of the rights
holder. The “any resemblance to actual persons” disclaimer is convention rather
than a requirement, and it will not protect you from anything if you have in
fact libelled someone.

See also [Front matter](#front-matter), [Imprint](#imprint), [ISBN](#isbn), [Verso](#verso). [Front matter and back matter, in the right order](https://usegalley.com/blog/book-front-matter-order)

### Dedication [#](#dedication)

A dedication is a short line near the front of a book naming the person it is offered to, printed on its own page.

It goes after the copyright page, before the contents, on a right-hand page,
and it gets that page to itself. Keep it to a line or two. Once it runs to a
paragraph you have written an acknowledgement and put it in the wrong place.

See also [Front matter](#front-matter), [Acknowledgements](#acknowledgements), [Recto](#recto). [What goes in front matter, and in what order](https://usegalley.com/blog/book-front-matter-order)

### Epigraph [#](#epigraph)

An epigraph is a short quotation placed at the start of a book or a chapter, set apart from the text and attributed to its source.

The hard part is rights, not layout. Those words usually belong to someone else,
and a few lines of a living poet or a song lyric is what a publisher will ask
you to clear. Song lyrics are the expensive one. Nobody thinks of four words as
a quotation until the invoice arrives. Sort the permission before you get
attached to it.

See also [Front matter](#front-matter), [Permissions](#permissions), [Fair use](#fair-use), [Public domain](#public-domain). [What goes in front matter, and in what order](https://usegalley.com/blog/book-front-matter-order)

### Foreword [#](#foreword)

A foreword is a short introductory piece written by somebody other than the author, usually a name whose endorsement carries weight.

It is the one part of the front matter that is not yours, which is the point of
having one. It is signed, and it goes before the preface if the book has both.
Novels rarely carry one outside a reissue or an anniversary edition, where the
interest is in who is doing the introducing.

See also [Preface](#preface), [Introduction](#introduction), [Front matter](#front-matter), [Afterword](#afterword). [What goes in front matter, and in what order](https://usegalley.com/blog/book-front-matter-order)

### Front matter [#](#front-matter)

Front matter is everything printed before the first chapter, including the half title, title page, copyright page, dedication, epigraph and table of contents.

The order is more settled than most writers expect, and getting it wrong is one
of the quiet signals that a book was not made by someone who has done it before.
Half title, then title, then copyright, then dedication. Front matter is
traditionally numbered in roman numerals so that chapter one can begin on arabic
page 1. Keep it short. Nobody has ever bought a novel because of its front
matter, and a long run of it delays the only page that matters.

See also [Back matter](#back-matter), [Half title](#half-title), [Copyright page](#copyright-page), [Folio](#folio). [Front matter and back matter, in the right order](https://usegalley.com/blog/book-front-matter-order)

### Frontispiece [#](#frontispiece)

A frontispiece is an illustration on the left-hand page facing the title page, near the very front of a book.

It is an old convention that survives mostly in illustrated editions and
reissues. Because it faces the title page, it has to be on a verso, which fixes
where it sits and can shift the pagination of everything after it. A map often
ends up here in fantasy, though a map is usually better placed where the reader
will look for it again.

See also [Front matter](#front-matter), [Half title](#half-title), [Verso](#verso). [What goes in front matter, and in what order](https://usegalley.com/blog/book-front-matter-order)

### Half title [#](#half-title)

The half title is the first printed page of a book, carrying only the title, with no author name, subtitle or publisher.

Also called Bastard title.

It is a survival from when books were sold unbound and the top sheet protected
the title page underneath. It has no function now beyond convention, and
convention is reason enough: its absence is one of the things that makes a self
published book feel thin at the front. It is always a recto, and the page behind
it is normally blank.

See also [Front matter](#front-matter).

### Introduction [#](#introduction)

An introduction is the opening section that forms part of the book itself, setting up material the reader needs rather than commenting on the book from outside.

That is what separates it from a preface and a foreword, and it is why an
introduction is usually paginated with the main text rather than with the front
matter. Skip a preface and you lose nothing. Skip an introduction and you may
have missed something the rest of the book assumes. Novels seldom have one.

See also [Preface](#preface), [Foreword](#foreword), [Front matter](#front-matter). [What goes in front matter, and in what order](https://usegalley.com/blog/book-front-matter-order)

### Preface [#](#preface)

A preface is a short piece by the author about how the book came to be written, placed in the front matter before the story begins.

The distinction people trip over is that a preface is about the book and an
introduction is part of it. Skip a preface and you have lost nothing from the
story. A reissue often gains one, which is how the second edition of a novel
ends up opening with the author explaining what they now think of it.

See also [Foreword](#foreword), [Introduction](#introduction), [Front matter](#front-matter). [What goes in front matter, and in what order](https://usegalley.com/blog/book-front-matter-order)

## Files and formats

What you hand over to an editor or retailer, vs. what you need to self-publish.

### Alt text [#](#alt-text)

Alt text is a short written description of an image, read aloud by a screen reader in place of the picture.

Also called Alternative text.

Every meaningful image in an ebook needs it, and a purely decorative one should
be marked decorative so a screen reader skips it instead of describing an
ornament. Several markets now require this. Write what the image tells the
reader. A map’s alt text is the places on it and how they sit together, not the
word map.

See also [EPUB accessibility metadata](#epub-accessibility-metadata), [EPUB](#epub), [Semantic markup](#semantic-markup). [Accessible ebooks and the European Accessibility Act](https://usegalley.com/blog/accessible-ebooks-and-the-eaa)

### DOCX [#](#docx)

DOCX is the Microsoft Word file format, and the format almost every editor, agent and proofreader in publishing expects to work in.

It survives because of track changes and margin comments, which is the whole
working vocabulary of an edit and which no other format handles as well in
practice. A DOCX going out for editing should be plain: one typeface, no fancy
layout, nothing that will explode when somebody opens it in a different version
of Word. Save the design for the file you publish.

See also [Standard manuscript format](#standard-manuscript-format), [EPUB](#epub), [Print PDF](#print-pdf).

### DRM [#](#drm)

DRM is digital rights management, the technology that locks an ebook to a store or an account to stop it being copied.

Also called Digital rights management.

The retailer applies it at sale time, so it is a checkbox at upload rather than
something you produce. It does not stop determined copying, because stripping
it is trivial for anyone who wants to. It does stop a reader who bought the
book moving it to another device. A good number of publishers have decided that
trade is not worth making.

See also [Social DRM](#social-drm), [EPUB](#epub).

### EPUB [#](#epub)

EPUB is the open standard ebook format used by nearly every retailer and reading device, in which text reflows to fit the screen.

Underneath it is a zip archive of HTML and CSS, which is why an EPUB is closer
to a small website than to a document. The consequence writers keep running into
is that you do not control the page: font, size, margins and line length all
belong to the reader, and any design that depends on a line breaking in a
particular place will not survive contact with a real device.

See also [Reflowable](#reflowable), [Fixed layout](#fixed-layout), [EPUB accessibility metadata](#epub-accessibility-metadata). [EPUB, print PDF, or both?](https://usegalley.com/blog/epub-vs-print-pdf)

### EPUB accessibility metadata [#](#epub-accessibility-metadata)

EPUB accessibility metadata is a set of declarations inside an ebook stating how it can be read, including its access modes, its accessibility features and any known hazards.

These are the schema.org fields that say, in machine readable terms, that a book
is all text, that it has a logical reading order, and that nothing in it flashes.
Retailers increasingly surface this on the product page, and European rules have
covered ebooks as a consumer product since June 2025. It costs nothing to
declare accurately and it is one of the few compliance details a solo publisher
can simply get right.

See also [EPUB](#epub), [Large print edition](#large-print-edition). [Accessible ebooks and the European Accessibility Act](https://usegalley.com/blog/accessible-ebooks-and-the-eaa)

### EPUB spine [#](#epub-spine)

The spine in an EPUB is the list that sets the order the files are read in, which has nothing to do with the printed spine of a book.

Also called Reading order.

The name collides with the printed spine and the two have nothing to do with
each other, which catches people out the first time an error mentions it. When
an ebook opens on the wrong page, skips a chapter, or puts the copyright page
after chapter one, this list is where the order actually lives. The visible
contents page can be perfectly correct while this is wrong.

See also [OPF](#opf), [Nav document](#nav-document), [Spine width](#spine-width), [EPUB](#epub).

### EPUBCheck [#](#epubcheck)

EPUBCheck is the standard validation tool for EPUB files, run by retailers to decide whether a file is well formed enough to accept.

Stores run it whether or not you do, so running it first turns a rejection into
a message you can act on. Errors are hard failures. Warnings are usually fine
and occasionally the reason a book behaves oddly on one device. A file that
passes can still be badly typeset, because validation checks structure and not
craft.

See also [EPUB](#epub), [OPF](#opf), [Nav document](#nav-document), [EPUB accessibility metadata](#epub-accessibility-metadata). [EPUB or print PDF, and which files you actually need](https://usegalley.com/blog/epub-vs-print-pdf)

### Fixed layout [#](#fixed-layout)

A fixed layout ebook preserves an exact page design, with text and images pinned in place, rather than reflowing to fit the reader's screen.

It exists for books where the page is the content: picture books, cookbooks,
comics, anything with text sitting on an image. For a novel it is close to
always the wrong choice. It disables the reader’s control over type size, it
behaves badly on small screens, and it produces enormous files. If your book is
words in a row, reflowable is what you want.

See also [Reflowable](#reflowable), [EPUB](#epub).

### Font embedding [#](#font-embedding)

Font embedding is including a typeface inside a book file so the text displays in that face on a device that does not have it installed.

A print PDF has to embed every face it uses or the printer substitutes
something else, and the book arrives set in a font nobody chose. Ebooks are
different, because most devices let the reader override the font anyway and
many EPUBs name no font at all. Check the licence as well as the mechanics,
since not every typeface may be embedded and distributed.

See also [Print PDF](#print-pdf), [EPUB](#epub), [Reflowable](#reflowable).

### MOBI [#](#mobi)

MOBI is a retired Amazon ebook format, replaced by EPUB and by newer Kindle formats, and no longer accepted for new uploads.

Also called AZW3, KF8.

The advice online has not caught up. Guides written a few years ago still tell
you to convert to MOBI before uploading, and Amazon stopped taking it. Send a
valid EPUB and let the store convert. A service still offering you a MOBI file
has not been updated in a while.

See also [EPUB](#epub), [ASIN](#asin), [Reflowable](#reflowable). [EPUB or print PDF, and which files you actually need](https://usegalley.com/blog/epub-vs-print-pdf)

### Nav document [#](#nav-document)

The nav document is the file inside an EPUB that holds the table of contents a reading device shows in its own navigation menu.

Also called NCX, Table of contents file.

It is separate from any contents page printed inside the book, and the two can
disagree. That is how an ebook ends up with a visible contents page that is
right and a device menu missing half the chapters. Older files carried an NCX
for the same job and some stores still want one alongside. When chapter
navigation is broken on a device, look here first.

See also [EPUB](#epub), [OPF](#opf), [EPUBCheck](#epubcheck).

### OPF [#](#opf)

The OPF is the file inside an EPUB that lists everything the book contains and the order it is read in.

Also called Package document, content.opf.

It holds the metadata, a manifest of every file in the package, and the reading
order. Most validation errors about a missing or unreferenced file are really
about this one. You will not edit it by hand unless something has gone wrong,
and knowing it exists turns an opaque error into a specific place to look.

See also [EPUB](#epub), [EPUBCheck](#epubcheck), [Nav document](#nav-document), [EPUB spine](#epub-spine).

### Page list [#](#page-list)

A page list is the part of an ebook that maps its text to the page numbers of a printed edition, so a reader can cite a page.

Also called Page-list navigation.

It matters in education and in book groups, where somebody says which page a
passage is on and everyone else has to find it. Several markets treat it as an
accessibility requirement. It needs a print edition to map to, so it only
becomes possible once the paperback is set.

See also [EPUB accessibility metadata](#epub-accessibility-metadata), [Nav document](#nav-document), [Folio](#folio). [Accessible ebooks and the European Accessibility Act](https://usegalley.com/blog/accessible-ebooks-and-the-eaa)

### Print PDF [#](#print-pdf)

A print PDF is the press-ready file sent to a printer, containing the book's interior laid out at final trim size with fonts embedded.

It is the opposite of an ebook in the way that matters: every line break, page
break and hyphen is already decided and will never move. That is why the page
setup has to be right before the file is made rather than after. Fonts must be
embedded, or the printer’s machine will substitute something and you will not
find out until the proof arrives.

See also [EPUB](#epub), [Trim size](#trim-size), [Bleed](#bleed), [Margins](#margins). [EPUB, print PDF, or both?](https://usegalley.com/blog/epub-vs-print-pdf)

### Reflowable [#](#reflowable)

A reflowable ebook lets the reading device decide where lines and pages break, adapting the text to the screen size and the reader's chosen type size.

This is the correct format for a novel and it requires giving up control you may
not want to give up. You do not own the page: the reader picks the typeface, the
size and sometimes the margins, and your careful line break is a fiction on
their device. Design in terms of structure and hierarchy rather than position,
and anything that depends on where a line lands will break.

See also [Fixed layout](#fixed-layout), [EPUB](#epub).

### Semantic markup [#](#semantic-markup)

Semantic markup is labelling each part of an ebook by what it is, such as a chapter, an epigraph or a footnote, rather than only by how it looks.

A screen reader uses those labels to say you have reached a new chapter, or to
skip a block of front matter you do not want read aloud. Without them an ebook
is one long stream that happens to have bigger text in places. It costs nothing
while you are producing the book and cannot be added convincingly afterwards.

See also [EPUB accessibility metadata](#epub-accessibility-metadata), [Alt text](#alt-text), [EPUB](#epub). [Accessible ebooks and the European Accessibility Act](https://usegalley.com/blog/accessible-ebooks-and-the-eaa)

### Social DRM [#](#social-drm)

Social DRM is watermarking each copy of an ebook with the buyer or reader it went to, instead of locking the file.

Also called Watermarking.

This is what review copies and beta reads use. The file stays a normal readable
file on any device and carries something identifying who it went to, so a copy
that turns up in public can be traced back. It discourages sharing instead of
preventing it, which for a manuscript in front of a handful of readers is
enough.

See also [DRM](#drm), [Advance reader copy](#advance-reader-copy), [Beta reader](#beta-reader). [Sending your novel to beta readers](https://usegalley.com/blog/sending-your-novel-to-beta-readers)

### Standard manuscript format [#](#standard-manuscript-format)

Standard manuscript format is the plain, uniform layout expected for a fiction submission: 12 point Times New Roman, double spaced, one inch margins, half inch first line indents, and a running head carrying surname, title and page number.

Also called Shunn format, SMF.

It is deliberately ugly, and that is the point. It is built to be easy to mark
up and easy to estimate length from, not to look like a book. A submission that
arrives typeset like a finished paperback reads as somebody who has not done
this before, and it makes an editor’s job harder rather than easier. Italics
where you mean italics is fine now; the underlining convention belonged to
typewriters. To put an existing file into the format, the
[Shunn manuscript format generator](https://usegalley.com/resources/shunn-manuscript-format-generator)
does it in the browser.

See also [DOCX](#docx), [Running head](#running-head), [Scene break](#scene-break). [Standard manuscript format, and what agents check](https://usegalley.com/blog/standard-manuscript-format)

## Printing and binding

Terms around physically printed novels.

### Author copies [#](#author-copies)

Author copies are copies of your own book bought at printing cost, for signings, review copies and giving away.

You pay the print price and the shipping rather than the retail price, and you
earn no royalty on them. They are how you get physical copies for a signing, a
review, or a shelf. Ordering them is not a sale and does nothing to a ranking,
whatever anyone tells you.

See also [Proof copy](#proof-copy), [Print on demand](#print-on-demand), [Advance reader copy](#advance-reader-copy).

### Barcode [#](#barcode)

A book barcode is the machine-readable version of the ISBN printed on the back cover, usually with the price encoded beside it.

Also called EAN, Bookland EAN.

Print on demand usually adds one for you in a reserved patch of the back cover,
which is why cover templates keep that corner clear. Supply your own and it has
to encode the ISBN of that exact edition, since the paperback and the hardback
are different books here. Leaving artwork under the reserved patch is the usual
mistake and it comes back as a rejected cover.

See also [ISBN](#isbn), [Wrap cover](#wrap-cover), [Live area](#live-area). [How to format a paperback for KDP](https://usegalley.com/blog/format-a-paperback-for-kdp)

### Case binding [#](#case-binding)

Case binding is the hardback binding method where sewn or glued pages are attached to rigid boards covered in cloth or printed paper.

Also called Hardback, Hardcover.

It opens flatter than a paperback and lasts longer, and it costs more per copy
however you print it. In print on demand you are usually choosing between a
case laminate hardback, with the artwork printed straight onto the boards, and
a jacketed one. Each needs its own cover file with its own spine width, because
the boards add thickness a paperback does not have.

See also [Perfect binding](#perfect-binding), [Wrap cover](#wrap-cover), [Spine width](#spine-width), [Lamination](#lamination).

### Lamination [#](#lamination)

Lamination is the thin protective film applied to a printed cover, supplied either matte or gloss.

Also called Matte finish, Gloss finish.

Gloss is brighter and makes colour pop, and it shows every fingerprint. Matte
is softer and hides handling, and it can leave a dark cover looking slightly
washed out. Look at what your genre does before you decide, because a reader
scanning a shelf reads the finish before they read the title.

See also [Wrap cover](#wrap-cover), [Case binding](#case-binding).

### Large print edition [#](#large-print-edition)

A large print edition is a separate edition of a book set at a substantially bigger type size, conventionally 16 point or above, with looser line spacing.

It is not simply the same file with the font size raised. Bigger type means
fewer words per line, so the line breaks change, the page count grows
considerably, and justification usually has to give way to ragged right because
there is no longer room to distribute space evenly. It also gets its own ISBN,
since it is a distinct edition. Libraries buy it, which is a market most self
publishers never think about.

See also [Leading](#leading), [Ragged right](#ragged-right), [EPUB accessibility metadata](#epub-accessibility-metadata). [Accessible ebooks and the European Accessibility Act](https://usegalley.com/blog/accessible-ebooks-and-the-eaa)

### Live area [#](#live-area)

The live area is the part of a cover or page that is safe to put text and important artwork in, set far enough from the trim edge to survive cutting.

Also called Safe area, Safety margin.

Printing and cutting both have tolerance, so anything near the edge might be
trimmed off. Background art runs past the edge into the bleed. Text stays
inside the live area. On a cover there is a reserved patch for the barcode as
well. Rejected cover files are almost always art that stops short of the bleed
or text that strays outside the live area.

See also [Bleed](#bleed), [Wrap cover](#wrap-cover), [Barcode](#barcode), [Margins](#margins). [How to format a paperback for KDP](https://usegalley.com/blog/format-a-paperback-for-kdp)

### Offset printing [#](#offset-printing)

Offset printing is the traditional method that prints from plates in large runs, giving a lower cost per copy than digital printing once the quantity is high enough.

Also called Digital printing, Litho printing.

Digital printing, which is what print on demand uses, has no plate cost, so one
copy and a thousand copies cost about the same each. Offset spreads a large
setup cost across the run, so the price per book falls as the run grows. The
crossover is usually somewhere in the high hundreds. Below it, offset means
paying for a garage full of books.

See also [Print on demand](#print-on-demand), [Author copies](#author-copies).

### Paper stock [#](#paper-stock)

Paper stock is the paper a book is printed on, chosen by colour and weight, most often cream or white for a novel.

Also called Cream paper, White paper.

Cream is warmer and easier on the eye over a long read, which is why most
fiction uses it. White is brighter and suits books with images. The two are not
the same thickness, so switching after you have made the cover changes the
spine width and the cover has to be remade. Print on demand offers a short
list, and the list differs per printer.

See also [Paper weight](#paper-weight), [Spine width](#spine-width), [Print on demand](#print-on-demand), [Wrap cover](#wrap-cover). [How to format a paperback for KDP](https://usegalley.com/blog/format-a-paperback-for-kdp)

### Paper weight [#](#paper-weight)

Paper weight is the thickness and heft of the paper a book is printed on, quoted in grams per square metre or in pounds.

Also called GSM, Paper thickness.

Heavier paper feels more substantial and shows less of the printing on the
reverse. It also makes a thicker book, which widens the spine and raises the
unit cost. Print on demand gives you two or three options, not a number you
pick.

See also [Paper stock](#paper-stock), [Spine width](#spine-width), [Print on demand](#print-on-demand).

### Perfect binding [#](#perfect-binding)

Perfect binding is the paperback binding method where the pages are glued at the spine and trimmed flush on the other three sides.

Nearly every print on demand paperback is perfect bound. The pages do not open
flat, so the inner margin has to be wider than the outer one or the text curves
into the fold and gets hard to read. That extra inner margin is the gutter.
Underestimating it is the most common fault in a self-typeset paperback.

See also [Gutter](#gutter), [Margins](#margins), [Print on demand](#print-on-demand), [Case binding](#case-binding).

### Print on demand [#](#print-on-demand)

Print on demand is a printing model in which a copy is manufactured only after it has been ordered, rather than printed in advance and warehoused.

Also called POD.

It removed the part of self publishing that used to ruin people, which was
paying up front for a thousand copies that then lived in a garage. The
trade-offs are a higher unit cost, a smaller range of trim sizes and papers, and
no say over which machine in which country prints your book. For a first novel
it is almost always the right answer anyway.

See also [Proof copy](#proof-copy), [Spine width](#spine-width), [Trim size](#trim-size).

### Proof copy [#](#proof-copy)

A proof copy is a single printed copy of a finished book ordered for checking before it goes on sale.

Order one. Screens lie about books in every direction: margins that looked
generous turn out cramped, the type you chose at 11 point reads small on cream
paper, and the cover is a different colour in your hand than it was on your
monitor. It costs the price of one book and a week of waiting, and it catches
things no amount of zooming in on a PDF ever will.

See also [Galley](#galley), [Advance reader copy](#advance-reader-copy), [Print on demand](#print-on-demand).

### Signature [#](#signature)

A signature is a large sheet printed with multiple pages and folded down to make a section of a book, traditionally in multiples of sixteen or thirty-two pages.

Also called Printing signature.

It is why a printed page count often rounds up, and why some novels end with
blank pages. Print on demand is digital and does not fold sheets the same way,
so the constraint is looser than it was. Page count can still move in steps
depending on the printer, and it still changes the price. Find out before you
fight to lose two pages.

See also [Print on demand](#print-on-demand), [Spine width](#spine-width), [Back matter](#back-matter).

### Spine width [#](#spine-width)

Spine width is the thickness of a finished book's spine, calculated from its page count and the bulk of the chosen paper stock.

It is derived, not chosen, and it cannot be settled until the interior is final,
because adding two pages changes it. That is the ordering trap in cover design:
a spine laid out against an estimated page count will be wrong, and the text on
it will sit off centre in a way that is obvious on a shelf. Finish the interior,
then get the exact figure from your printer’s calculator.

See also [Print on demand](#print-on-demand), [Gutter](#gutter), [Trim size](#trim-size). [Spine width calculator](https://usegalley.com/resources/book-spine-width-calculator)

### Wrap cover [#](#wrap-cover)

A wrap cover is the single flat artwork file for a printed book, containing the back cover, the spine and the front cover side by side.

Also called Full cover, Cover spread.

It is one image, not three. Its width depends on the spine, the spine depends
on the page count, and the page count depends on the interior. Change the trim,
the font size or the paper after the cover is made and the spine moves, so the
text on it drifts off centre. Finish the interior, take the final page count,
then make the cover.

See also [Spine width](#spine-width), [Live area](#live-area), [Bleed](#bleed), [Paper stock](#paper-stock). [How to format a paperback for KDP](https://usegalley.com/blog/format-a-paperback-for-kdp)

## Publishing and rights

Numbers, listings, and who is allowed to do what.

### A+ content [#](#a-plus-content)

A+ content is the extra module of images and formatted text that a publisher can add below the description on an Amazon product page.

It sits under the description rather than replacing it, and it suits comparison
points, series order, or review quotes that would be unwieldy as plain text. It
is not indexed the way the description and the keywords are, so it works on a
reader who has already arrived. Whether you can use it depends on the account,
not the book.

See also [Blurb](#blurb), [Book metadata](#book-metadata), [KDP keywords](#kdp-keywords).

### ASIN [#](#asin)

An ASIN is Amazon's own ten character product identifier, assigned automatically to everything it lists, including books.

Also called Amazon Standard Identification Number.

Kindle editions get an ASIN whether or not you supply an ISBN, which is why
plenty of self published ebooks have no ISBN at all. That is fine on Amazon and
awkward everywhere else, because most other retailers and every library system
still expect one. A print book keeps its ISBN and picks up an ASIN as well, so
the two are not alternatives so much as separate filing systems that happen to
overlap.

See also [ISBN](#isbn), [Book metadata](#book-metadata). [Do you need an ISBN to self-publish?](https://usegalley.com/blog/do-you-need-an-isbn)

### BISAC category [#](#bisac-category)

A BISAC code is a standard subject classification used by retailers and distributors to file a book, such as FIC022000 for crime fiction.

Also called BISAC code, Subject category.

You normally pick two or three, and they decide which shelf your book sits on in
every store that uses the standard. The temptation is to choose the largest
category you can plausibly claim. The better move is usually the most specific
one that is honestly accurate, because a small category is one you can actually
rank inside, and a reader browsing it is already looking for the thing you
wrote.

See also [Book metadata](#book-metadata).

### Blurb [#](#blurb)

A blurb is the short promotional description of a book shown on the back cover and on retailer product pages.

Also called Cover copy, Book description.

It is not a synopsis and it is not a summary. It is the situation, the hook and
the stakes, stopping before the answer. The most common mistake is explaining
the plot, which quietly removes the reason to read the book. The second most
common is writing it last, exhausted, the night before publication, which is how
a decent book ends up sold by bad copy.

See also [Book metadata](#book-metadata). [Amazon book description formatter](https://usegalley.com/resources/amazon-book-description-formatter)

### Book metadata [#](#book-metadata)

Book metadata is the structured information describing a book to retailers and catalogues, including title, subtitle, author, description, categories, keywords, price and publication date.

It is the least romantic work in publishing and it does most of the selling.
Nobody finds a book they have never heard of by browsing; they find it because
the metadata put it in front of them. It also propagates slowly and unevenly, so
correcting a typo can take days to show up everywhere, and some aggregators will
keep serving the old version for considerably longer than that.

See also [BISAC category](#bisac-category), [ISBN](#isbn), [Blurb](#blurb).

### CIP data [#](#cip-data)

CIP data is the cataloguing block some national libraries prepare for a forthcoming book, printed on the copyright page to help libraries shelve it.

Also called Cataloguing in Publication, PCN.

Programmes vary by country and most are limited to publishers above a certain
size, so a self-published novel usually cannot get one. Commercial services
sell a similar looking block under a different name. If you cannot get the real
thing, leave the space empty rather than print something that imitates a
national library record.

See also [Copyright page](#copyright-page), [Legal deposit](#legal-deposit), [ISBN](#isbn).

### Copyright registration [#](#copyright-registration)

Copyright registration is recording a work with a national copyright office, which is optional in most countries because copyright exists automatically on creation.

You own the copyright the moment you write the book. No registration creates
that. What it can do, in some countries and notably in the United States, is
strengthen what you can claim in court. Elsewhere it usually buys very little.
Nothing on your copyright page depends on it.

See also [Copyright page](#copyright-page), [Public domain](#public-domain), [Moral rights](#moral-rights).

### Expanded distribution [#](#expanded-distribution)

Expanded distribution is the option that lists a print book with wholesalers so bookshops and libraries can order it, in exchange for a lower royalty.

It makes the book orderable, which is not the same as a shop stocking it. The
royalty drops meaningfully, because the wholesale discount comes out of your
share, and some channels expect the book to be returnable too. Take it for
reach. Do not take it expecting revenue.

See also [Wholesale discount](#wholesale-discount), [Returns](#returns), [ISBN](#isbn), [Print on demand](#print-on-demand). [KDP royalty calculator](https://usegalley.com/resources/kdp-royalty-calculator)

### Fair use [#](#fair-use)

Fair use is a doctrine in United States copyright law permitting limited unlicensed quotation of a protected work, judged case by case against four statutory factors.

Two things about it are worth holding onto. It is a defence rather than a
permission, which means you find out whether you were right in the room where it
is disputed. And it is jurisdictional: the United Kingdom has fair dealing,
which is narrower and enumerated, and other countries differ again. There is no
word count that makes quotation safe, whatever you have read. Song lyrics in
particular are where confident writers get expensive letters.

See also [Permissions](#permissions), [Public domain](#public-domain).

### Imprint [#](#imprint)

An imprint is the publishing name a book appears under, printed on the title and copyright pages, which may or may not be a separate legal entity.

Self publishers frequently invent one, and there is nothing improper about that
as long as it is not pretending to be somebody else’s. It looks tidier in a
catalogue than your own name repeated three times, and it gives you something to
put on the spine. Be aware that in some countries a trading name carries
registration or disclosure obligations, so it is worth ten minutes of checking
before it is printed on several hundred copies.

See also [Copyright page](#copyright-page), [Colophon](#colophon).

### ISBN [#](#isbn)

An ISBN is the thirteen digit number identifying one edition of one book, which means a paperback, a hardback and an ebook each need their own.

Also called International Standard Book Number.

Worth knowing before you buy a pack of ten: some countries hand them out free
through a national agency, and others let a commercial registrar charge you
properly for a single one, so which applies depends entirely on where you are
publishing from. The other thing that catches people is that the ISBN belongs to
whoever registered it, and a free one from a retailer usually names that
retailer as publisher of record.

See also [ASIN](#asin), [Book metadata](#book-metadata), [Copyright page](#copyright-page). [Do you need an ISBN to self-publish?](https://usegalley.com/blog/do-you-need-an-isbn)

### KDP keywords [#](#kdp-keywords)

KDP keywords are the small set of search phrases you attach to a book listing to tell Amazon what it should surface for.

Also called Amazon keywords.

They are phrases, not single words, and repeating what is already in your title
and subtitle wastes them, since those are indexed anyway. The ones that work
describe what a reader looking for a book like yours would actually type, which
is usually a mood, a setting or a trope. You can change them after publication,
so do not agonise.

See also [BISAC category](#bisac-category), [Book metadata](#book-metadata), [ASIN](#asin). [Amazon book description formatter](https://usegalley.com/resources/amazon-book-description-formatter)

### Legal deposit [#](#legal-deposit)

Legal deposit is the legal requirement in many countries to send copies of a published book to a national library.

It applies to self-published books in plenty of countries, including ones where
writers assume it does not, and it usually means sending a small number of
copies within a set period of publication. There is no payment. The rules are
national, so the only source worth trusting is the national library of wherever
you publish from.

See also [ISBN](#isbn), [Imprint](#imprint), [Copyright registration](#copyright-registration).

### Moral rights [#](#moral-rights)

Moral rights are an author’s rights to be identified as the author of a work and to object to derogatory treatment of it, separate from copyright.

They are strong across much of Europe and narrower elsewhere, notably in the
United States. In some countries they have to be asserted, which is why so many
copyright pages carry a sentence doing exactly that. They generally cannot be
sold, only waived, so they behave differently from the rights a publishing
contract transfers.

See also [Copyright page](#copyright-page), [Subsidiary rights](#subsidiary-rights), [Permissions](#permissions).

### Permissions [#](#permissions)

Permissions are the licences obtained from rights holders to reproduce copyrighted material inside a book, such as song lyrics, poetry or extended quotation.

The trap everyone hits is song lyrics. Music publishers are organised, they
charge per territory and per format, and a single line of a well known song can
cost more than the book will make. Poetry is nearly as bad. Clearing takes weeks
or months, so it belongs at the start of a project rather than the week before
you publish, and the answer is sometimes just no.

See also [Fair use](#fair-use), [Public domain](#public-domain).

### Pre-order [#](#pre-order)

A pre-order is a listing that lets readers buy a book before its release date, with delivery on the day it publishes.

Stores want the final file well before the release date, and missing that
deadline can cost you the ability to run pre-orders for a while. Sales pile up
to release day instead of landing when they happen, which concentrates the
ranking. For a first novel with no audience, a long pre-order window is mostly
a long wait with a deadline attached.

See also [Book metadata](#book-metadata), [ASIN](#asin), [Blurb](#blurb).

### Public domain [#](#public-domain)

A work is in the public domain when its copyright has expired or was never held, so it can be reproduced without permission.

The rule of thumb most people carry is wrong somewhere, because terms vary by
country and by when the author died, and there are separate rights sitting on
top. A specific translation, a critical edition or a particular typographic
setting can each be in copyright even where the underlying text is not. Sound
recordings follow their own clock entirely. Check the edition you are quoting,
not the work.

See also [Fair use](#fair-use), [Permissions](#permissions).

### Returns [#](#returns)

Returns are unsold copies a bookshop can send back for credit, a long-standing trade practice that shifts the risk of stocking a book onto the publisher.

Also called Returnability.

For a print on demand title, allowing returns can be a condition of being
orderable by shops, and the cost of a returned copy lands on you. Plenty of
writers leave it off and accept that shops order less often. A returned book
you have already been paid for turns into a charge later, so decide with that
in view.

See also [Expanded distribution](#expanded-distribution), [Wholesale discount](#wholesale-discount).

### Subsidiary rights [#](#subsidiary-rights)

Subsidiary rights are the rights to exploit a book in forms other than the main edition, such as translation, audio, film and serialisation.

Also called Sub rights.

In a traditional deal these are negotiated separately and a publisher may take
some and leave others. Self-publish and you keep all of them by default, which
matters less than it sounds, since holding a right and being able to exercise
it are different problems. Audio comes up first for most writers, translation
second.

See also [Territorial rights](#territorial-rights), [Moral rights](#moral-rights), [Permissions](#permissions).

### Territorial rights [#](#territorial-rights)

Territorial rights are the geographic limits on where a book may be sold, defining which markets an edition covers.

Also called World rights.

A traditional contract carves the world into territories and a publisher buys
some of them. Self-publishing through a global store usually means selecting
worldwide rights, which is right unless you have licensed a territory to
somebody else. The mistake to avoid is claiming worldwide rights you have
already sold, and it is easy to make when a foreign edition gets signed years
later.

See also [Subsidiary rights](#subsidiary-rights), [Book metadata](#book-metadata), [Expanded distribution](#expanded-distribution).

### Wholesale discount [#](#wholesale-discount)

The wholesale discount is the percentage off the list price that a retailer or wholesaler takes, deducted before the author is paid.

The trade expects a substantial discount, and print on demand platforms
generally fix it rather than letting you choose. It is why a print royalty
looks so much smaller than an ebook one. When you set a list price, the number
that matters is what is left after the discount and the print cost.

See also [Expanded distribution](#expanded-distribution), [Returns](#returns), [Print on demand](#print-on-demand).

## Editing and submission

The passes a manuscript goes through and with whom.

### Advance reader copy [#](#advance-reader-copy)

An advance reader copy, or ARC, is a free pre-publication copy of a book sent to reviewers, booksellers and early readers in the hope of reviews timed to launch.

Also called ARC, Review copy.

ARCs go out weeks or months before release, usually before the final proofread,
which is why they carry a line saying so. The point is timing rather than
generosity: a review that lands on publication day is worth several that arrive
a month later. Expect a low response rate. Sending fifty copies and getting
eight reviews back is a normal outcome rather than a failure.

See also [Galley](#galley), [Proof copy](#proof-copy). [Beta readers and ARC readers, and the difference](https://usegalley.com/blog/sending-your-novel-to-beta-readers)

### Beta reader [#](#beta-reader)

A beta reader is a non-professional reader who reads a complete draft and reports how it felt to read, usually before the manuscript goes to a paid editor.

The useful brief for a beta reader is three questions: where you got bored,
where you got confused, and where you stopped believing someone. What they are
not for is line editing, and a beta reader who hands your draft back with the
commas moved has misunderstood the job, usually because nobody told them what it
was. Three or four is plenty. Past that you get contradictory notes and start
writing by committee.

See also [Copyedit](#copyedit), [Line edit](#line-edit). [Sending your novel to beta readers](https://usegalley.com/blog/sending-your-novel-to-beta-readers)

### Copyedit [#](#copyedit)

A copyedit is an editing pass for correctness and consistency, covering grammar, spelling, punctuation, tense, continuity and adherence to a style sheet.

It comes after the structural work is done, because there is no sense perfecting
a sentence you are about to cut. A copyeditor queries rather than rewrites, and
the good ones leave your voice alone even where they disagree with it. This is
also the pass that catches your protagonist changing eye colour in chapter nine,
which is exactly the sort of thing no amount of rereading your own book will
ever surface.

See also [Line edit](#line-edit), [Proofread](#proofread), [Style sheet](#style-sheet).

### Developmental edit [#](#developmental-edit)

A developmental edit is the first and largest editorial pass, working on structure, plot, character and pacing rather than on sentences.

Also called Structural edit, Content edit.

It comes before the line edit. Doing it the other way round means paying to
polish chapters that later get cut. The output is usually an editorial letter
rather than marks on the page. It is the most expensive pass, it changes a book
most, and it is the one most self-publishing writers skip.

See also [Line edit](#line-edit), [Copyedit](#copyedit), [Proofread](#proofread), [Editorial letter](#editorial-letter).

### Editorial letter [#](#editorial-letter)

An editorial letter is the written report an editor delivers after a developmental edit, covering the book as a whole rather than marking the manuscript.

It runs to several pages and it deals with structure, character, pacing and
what the book is trying to do. Read it twice and leave it a week before you start
cutting. The first read is the one where you argue with it, and most of what you
argue with turns out to be right.

See also [Developmental edit](#developmental-edit), [Line edit](#line-edit), [Beta reader](#beta-reader).

### Endnote [#](#endnote)

An endnote is a note collected at the end of a chapter or the end of the book, referenced by a marker in the text.

Endnotes keep the page clean, which is why fiction and trade non-fiction prefer
them. The cost is real though: a reader has to leave the page to collect the
note, and most simply will not. So an endnote is the right home for a citation
or a source, and the wrong home for anything you actually want read. If it
matters to the sentence, put it in the sentence.

See also [Footnote](#footnote), [Back matter](#back-matter).

### Endorsement [#](#endorsement)

An endorsement is a short quote of praise from another author or a review, printed on the cover or in the front matter.

Also called Cover quote, Puff.

You ask for these months ahead, with a finished manuscript, and most requests
go unanswered. The ones that work come from writers in your own genre whose
readers overlap with yours. A quote from a name nobody in your category
recognises takes up cover space and does no work.

See also [Blurb](#blurb), [Advance reader copy](#advance-reader-copy), [Front matter](#front-matter).

### Footnote [#](#footnote)

A footnote is a note printed at the bottom of the same page as the marker that refers to it.

The advantage over an endnote is that it gets read, because the reader’s eye can
reach it without losing their place. The cost is that footnotes have to be
paginated: the note must land on the page carrying its marker, which constrains
where the text can break and is why they are more work to typeset. In fiction
they are rare enough to read as a deliberate device, which some novels use
extremely well and most should avoid.

See also [Endnote](#endnote).

### Galley [#](#galley)

A galley is an early, unbound proof of a book, printed for proofreading and for circulation to reviewers before publication.

Also called Galley proof.

The name comes from the long metal trays that held set type before it was made
up into pages, so a galley proof was literally a print pulled from the tray,
running continuously with no page breaks yet. Galley proofs are still called
that although nothing metal is involved any more. In current usage it overlaps
heavily with the advance reader copy, the difference being that a galley is for
correcting and an ARC is for reviewing.

See also [Proof copy](#proof-copy), [Advance reader copy](#advance-reader-copy).

### Line edit [#](#line-edit)

A line edit is an editing pass working sentence by sentence on rhythm, clarity, word choice and voice, rather than on correctness.

It is the most expensive edit and the one most likely to change your book. A
line editor is not looking for errors, they are asking whether the sentence is
doing what you wanted, and the notes tend to be uncomfortable in a useful way.
It also happens before the copyedit, which surprises people. There is no point
regularising the punctuation of sentences that are about to be rewritten.

See also [Copyedit](#copyedit), [Proofread](#proofread).

### Novella [#](#novella)

A novella is a work of fiction longer than a short story and shorter than a novel, usually somewhere between seventeen and forty thousand words.

Also called Novelette.

The boundaries are conventions rather than rules, and they move by genre and by
who is counting. What is fixed is that the length affects how the book can be
sold. A novella is a hard sell to a traditional publisher on its own and it is
awkward to price in print, since the spine is thin and the unit cost does not
fall much.

See also [Word count](#word-count), [Spine width](#spine-width). [How long should a novel be](https://usegalley.com/blog/how-long-should-a-novel-be)

### Proofread [#](#proofread)

A proofread is the final check of a typeset book for errors introduced or missed earlier, including typos, bad breaks, wrong running heads and pagination faults.

It happens on the laid out pages rather than in the manuscript, which is the
whole point: a proofreader is checking the book as an object, not the text as a
document. That is why it catches a chapter title in the wrong running head, or a
page that opens on a scene break ornament. Do not use this pass to rewrite. Any
change here moves every line after it, and a fresh error will follow.

See also [Copyedit](#copyedit), [Line edit](#line-edit), [Widow](#widow), [Orphan](#orphan). [Proofreading marks and what they mean](https://usegalley.com/resources/proofreading-marks)

### Sensitivity read [#](#sensitivity-read)

A sensitivity read is a review by someone with lived experience of a group depicted in the book, checking how that depiction lands.

Also called Authenticity read.

It reads as a craft note, not a legal check. The reader tells you where
something is inaccurate, dated, or doing something you did not intend, and what
you do with that is yours. It works best after the developmental edit, when the
book is structurally settled but before the prose is polished.

See also [Developmental edit](#developmental-edit), [Beta reader](#beta-reader), [Editorial letter](#editorial-letter).

### Story bible [#](#story-bible)

A story bible is the reference document a writer keeps alongside a manuscript, recording characters, places, timelines, invented terms and the rules of the world.

Also called Series bible, Continuity bible.

Its value is not planning, it is continuity, and it compounds with length. One
novel you can mostly hold in your head; three books in, you cannot remember
which brother was the older one or what year you said the fire happened. The
version that gets used is the one kept beside the manuscript rather than in a
separate program, because a reference you have to go and open is a reference you
stop updating.

See also [Style sheet](#style-sheet). [What is a story bible, and do you need one?](https://usegalley.com/blog/what-is-a-story-bible)

### Style sheet [#](#style-sheet)

A style sheet is the per-book record of the spelling, punctuation and formatting decisions a manuscript follows, kept so that they stay consistent throughout.

Every copyeditor builds one whether you give them one or not, and it covers the
decisions no dictionary settles: whether it is grey or gray, toward or towards,
serial commas, how numbers are handled, which invented words are capitalised.
The one rule that matters is that it records decisions rather than enforcing
rules. A character who says “towards” while the narration says “toward” is
characterisation, and a style sheet that cannot hold that is worse than none.

See also [Copyedit](#copyedit), [Story bible](#story-bible).

### Synopsis [#](#synopsis)

A synopsis is a short prose summary of a novel including its ending, written for an agent or publisher rather than for a reader.

It is not a blurb. A blurb withholds the ending to sell the book; a synopsis
gives everything away so somebody can see whether the plot works. Present
tense, in the order the book tells it. One page is the usual ask and two is the
usual reality. The hard part is that it has to make the story sound like it
makes sense, which you would rather find out now than after submitting.

See also [Blurb](#blurb), [Word count](#word-count), [Standard manuscript format](#standard-manuscript-format).

### Word count [#](#word-count)

Word count is the number of words in a manuscript, the figure agents, publishers and readers use to judge whether a book is the expected length for its category.

Also called Novel length.

Categories have real ranges and readers have real expectations inside them,
which is why the number goes near the top of a query letter. It counts the
manuscript, not the printed pages, and the two do not track each other once the
design is set. Software counts vary slightly, so a borderline number really is
borderline.

See also [Novella](#novella), [Standard manuscript format](#standard-manuscript-format), [Synopsis](#synopsis). [How long should a novel be](https://usegalley.com/blog/how-long-should-a-novel-be)