In this “Indie Author Minute” video, BookBaby Publishing Specialist Maddi Callaghan clears up the confusion with some common publishing jargon you’ll encounter on your journey as an independent author.
Publishing
You will hear this word thrown around a lot. The standard implication, and what we mean here at BookBaby, is that a published book is available for sale to the public. If you didn’t know already, BookBaby’s eBook and print-on-demand distribution services are simple and affordable ways to make that happen.
Book production
Before a book can be published, it needs to be produced — as a printed, physical book or as a digital eBook. There are many steps that go into book production, two major steps being manuscript editing and interior formatting, which are often confused.
Manuscript editing
During the editing phase, a professional editor will correct and finalize the text of your manuscript so that it is error-free, consistent, and turns your good writing into a great read. There are different types of editing, from line editing to copy editing, proofreading to developmental editing. We have videos and lots of info on our website and the BookBaby Blog so you can learn more.
Interior formatting
Once your manuscript is edited and approved, a book designer will format it as a book. Interior text formatting covers technical requirements such as trim size or full bleed, and visual elements like fonts, chapter headers, and page numbers. BookBaby’s expert design team is excited to help you create a beautiful, professional-looking book. Check out the before-and-after formatting examples on our website. The results are amazing!
Trim size
The trim size is basically the size of the printed book you’re producing. There are standard trim sizes, but there’s a range to choose from. A lot of it comes down to what you want your final product to look and feel like, but there are genre and industry expectations to consider as well. From a six-by-nine inch trade book to an eight-by-ten inch portrait, from pocket books to large square books, you can pick the trim size that’s right for your project.
Full bleed
Full bleed is a graphics term used to describe the way your images are cropped. For projects like cookbooks, photography books, and children’s books, using full bleed will bring your images right to the edge of the page and avoid a white border.
Distribution
Distribution is all about getting your books to retailers and making it available for purchase. When you work with BookBaby, once your book’s files are approved, we will list your book for sale via the retail and wholesale partners in our eBook and print-on-demand distribution networks — like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Walmart, and dozens more.
Print-on-demand (POD) distribution
With print-on-demand distribution, POD for short, BookBaby will print your book when the retailer contacts us to let us know they need it — so, at the demand of the retailers, wholesalers, or individual readers. The idea is, rather than printing thousands of books and storing them in a warehouse, we’re able to print books as they’re ordered, keeping initial costs way down and doing away with large inventories gathering dust in warehouses.
eBook conversion
eBooks have their own processes and terminology, so let’s start with the first step of eBook production, which is file conversion. This is purely a technical service and does not involve design. Conversion takes your formatted manuscript — typically a Microsoft Word document — and turns it into a file that is compatible with eReader devices, including Kindles, iPads, Nooks, and smartphones.
Dynamic and fixed layout eBooks
BookBaby offers conversion of both dynamic and fixed layout eBooks. Dynamic eBooks are typical for standard, text-based novels, which allows readers to change the font and font size and keeps the flow of your text no matter the size the screen or length of your copy.
For image-heavy manuscripts like children’s books, graphic novels, or cookbooks, we highly recommend a fixed layout eBook. This format fixes the text and images in place, so the reading experience mirrors the printed version, page by page.
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BookBaby can help you make sense of all this publishing jargon and the entire self-publishing process. We’ve got some great resources on our website, blog, and YouTube channel.
See all our Indie Author Minute videos!
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Awesome information. Not too pleased with my first publishing experience with another company.
Useful explanation.
Excellent summary of practical terms. Separate from publishers attitudes.