18 TERMS EVERY SELF PUBLISHING AUTHOR MUST KNOW

1) Barcode: Barcode mainly houses your ISBN. It is a machine readable image often found at the back of books. It is required when you are printing your books to guarantee your ownership.

2) Copyright: Copyright gives you an exclusive right to your intellectual property. It shows that you are the original owner of the work.

3) E–book: E-book simply means electronic book. It is often called the soft copy of the book and allows easy transfer of the digital copy of your book.

4) Book description: Book description isn’t the same as your synopsis. Your book description is a marketable information about your book to ensure your audience are attracted to the book.

5) PDF: PDF means Portable document format. This format allows a file to remain unmodified and still shareable. It allows printing such document easy because it captures all the elements of a ready to be printed document.

6) Formatting: Formatting talks about how a document or your manuscript as the case may be is arranged on a page. Things like alignment, margin, font size, heading, indentation, column, etc, is maintained in a document.

7) Editing: Editing is one of the processes of getting your book ready for publication. It checked for grammar, structure, etc. All books need to be edited to ensure a great read.

8) Subtitle: Subtitle is a title explaining a book title. A subtitle makes your title clearer to your audience. A book title is SHIFT and the Subtitle is A simple practical guide to take you from employee to successful CEO in 30 days.

9) EPUB: E-pub is an e-book file format and a short form for electronic publication. It allows you read a book on your digital devices.

10) Publisher: A publisher is a person or company that prepares and issues a book or document for publication. So, he is simply the person responsible for publishing.

11) Print On Demand: Print on demand is a publishing concept where a book is only printed when ordered. We do this at Print Doctor Africa and you can print as little as 50 copies at once.

12) Manuscript: A manuscript is a yet to be published typed texts or document. A copy of your work that you have not published either edited or not is a manuscript.

13) ISBN: ISBN is offered by your publisher. ISBN is the short form for International Standard Book Number. It is a unique book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to book editions and variation of your publication.

14) Page size/book size: The book size talks about the standard size for a book. Different books have different sizes. Book sizes come in dimension. It is an important decision you have to make for book. It is the final product people will be interacting with.

There are common sizes (in inches) you can consider.

Non-fiction (6×9, 5.5 x 8.5, 7 x10)

Novel (5 x 8)

Fiction (4 x 7, 5 x 8, 5.25 x 8, 5.5 x 8.5, 6 x 9)

Children books (7×10, 5 x 8, 11 x 8.5, 8.5 x 8.5)

Art books can be trimmed according to your preference.

15) Page count: Page count talks about the number your book has, including the blank pages.

16) Word Count: Word count is the number of words in your book.

17) Page layout: A book page layout is simply about making your book visually appealing for readers to read. It focus on the breaks (Page and section breaks), images in the book (interior design, etc.

18) Spine: Spine is the outside edge of the book where the pages are gathered and bound. The spine allows easy opening of the book and can even serve as a place to write your book title.

Now, that you know these publishing terms! Ensure you pay attention to them in your next book. Get your quote here.