How to Get a Job in Publishing Part 16

serif; sans serif A 'serif' typeface has 'handles' on the letters, like the typeface used in this book; sans serif is the opposite.

showthrough How much ink on one side of a printed sheet of paper can be seen through on the other side. The type of clothing that may be worn by a 'character' (see character).

spam unsolicited or unwanted electronic advertising messages sent in bulk and received as e-mails.

specs 1. Short for type specifications. Designers may refer to 'doing the spec' by which they mean laying down the parameters of text design choosing a typeface and size. 2. The specifications for printing a job are all the production details (format, extent, ill.u.s.trations, print run etc) sent to printers for a quote.

spine What a book has that your boss doesn't.

subscribe 1. In magazine terminology, to buy a series of magazines in advance. Publishers love it because it means a guaranteed sale (you only print one copy to sell one copy), with cash up front. Newsagents are not so keen, since it takes them out of the loop. 2. In book publishing terminology, to secure orders from bookshops and wholesalers before publication date, either by phone or through a rep visiting. The results are recorded by the publishing house as dues.

tag line (or strap line) A line of copy that sums up the product or the general philosophy of the company. Often displayed on the front cover of magazines or books.

telemarketing (or teleselling) Using the telephone to sell. Often thought of as referring to the making of calls to promote products, effective telemarketing also means considering the way incoming calls are handled as well as the way outgoing calls are made.

terms The discount and credit conditions on which a publisher supplies stock to a bookseller or wholesaler. Terms will vary according to the amount of stock taken, the status under which it is accepted, what the compet.i.tion are doing and how much the customers want the book. (See see safe, firm sale and sale or return.) they, them In this book we use 'them' as a non-gender-specific singular. If someone tells you that's wrong, ask them [ahem] what you should say instead. Saying 'he stroke she' is ridiculous, not to mention potentially suggestive.

tint A pattern of dots that when printed reproduces as a tone. Using tints is a good way to get value from your printing inks. For example, even if you have only one printing colour, try putting the text in solid, and using a 10% tint of the same colour to fill in and highlight certain boxes around copy. Further variations can be achieved if you are using more printed colours.

trade discount The discount given by publishers to booksellers and wholesalers on the price at which they will subsequently sell. The amount of discount given usually varies according to the amount of stock taken or the amount of promotion promised. 'Short discounts' are low-scale discounts on products that are either very expensive (often those that are extensively promoted by the publisher directly to the end-user) or those that are sold in sets (eg school textbooks).

trim Short for 'trimmed size' of a printed piece of paper, ie its final or guillotined size.

turnover The total of invoice value over a specified period for a particular company's sales.

type area The area of the final page size that will be occupied by type and ill.u.s.trations, allowing for the blank border that will normally surround text.

typeface The style of type, eg Garamond, Helvetica.

typescript The hard copy (usually a printout) of the ma.n.u.script or copy to be reproduced and printed.

typo Short for typographical error, a mistake in the setting introduced by the typesetter. Authors do not make mistakes.

unjustified type 1. Lines of type set so that the right-hand margin does not align vertically and thus appears ragged. This can also be described as 'ranged left' or 'ragged right'. 2. Text that has not been approved by the company lawyer.

upper and lower case Upper case characters are CAPITALS, as opposed to lower case.

verso The left-hand side of a double page spread (even page numbers). The opposite of recto.

viral marketing and viral advertising Marketing techniques which use social networks that already exist to produce an increase in awareness. Because they use pre-existing (and usually online) social networks, and encourage the spread of word of mouth as a personal communication, they can be a very useful and effective means of reaching a large number of people quickly.

visual (or mock-up or rough layout) A layout of planned printed work showing the position of all the key elements: headlines, ill.u.s.trations, bullet points, body copy and so on. Blank 'dummy' books (and, less commonly, magazines) are created for promotional photographs before finished copies are available.

website A website (or web site) is a collection of Web pages, videos and other digital a.s.sets and hosted on a particular domain or subdomain on the World Wide Web. A Web page is a doc.u.ment, typically written in HTML, that is almost always accessible via HTTP, a protocol that transfers information from the website's server to display in the user's Web browser. All publicly accessible websites are seen collectively as const.i.tuting the 'World Wide Web' (see www).

weight of paper Paper is sold in varying weights defined in gsm or g/m2: grams per square metre. Printers can offer you samples of various papers in different weights.

wholesaler An organisation that stores books in bulk, in order to supply other retail outlets quickly and efficiently, often securing higher than usual discounts in return for the large quant.i.ties taken. The national bookshop chains, and outlets with large designated markets (eg library suppliers and school suppliers) will similarly demand substantial discounts from the publisher for large quant.i.ties of stock taken.

www An abbreviation that takes longer to say than the thing for which it is an abbreviation.

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