Descriptionary

Golden Spur an award presented by the Western Writers of America for best western novel of the year.

gothic horror a horror novel that takes place in an old mansion or castle.

gothic romance a romance novel that centers on a naive girl or woman victimized by an evil man and courted by a heroic man, all taking place in or around an old mansion or castle.

hack a writer who churns out books quickly and is concerned more with making a buck than producing fine art.

hardcover a book printed with a hardback cover as opposed to a paper one.

hard SF hard science fiction; a science fiction novel emphasizing technology.

historical romance a romance novel featuring a story that takes places in the past.

imprint a division with its own distinctive line of books, that may be only one of many different imprints of a publishing company.

index a directory located at the back of a book of terms, names, etc., arranged alphabetically with page numbers, for quick location in the text.

instant book a book published quickly in order to take advantage of some timely event. Also known as a quickie.

interactive fiction a novel, usually for children, that offers several plot alternatives for the reader to choose.

International Standard Book Number (ISBN) an

internationally recognized identification number printed on the back of a book. The ISBN includes an item number and a code identifying the country of origin and publisher.

literary agent one who represents authors in the sale of rights to their books.

literary book an avant-garde, experimental, or highly styled novel that usually has limited sales; a noncommercial book featuring a high degree of writ­ing skill.

literati those with great knowledge concerning lit­erature.

magnum opus an author's masterpiece.

managed text a textbook whose writing is super­vised by a professor.

manuscript a book in typewritten form, as submit­ted by an author to a publisher.

mass-market paperback a rack-size, commer­cial paperback sold in magazine outlets as well as bookstores.

midlist books expected to have only moderate sales appeal.

monograph a small, scholarly book on a single subject.

Nebula an award presented by the Science Fiction Writers of America for best science fiction novel or story of the year.

New Age collective term for a category of books that includes metaphysical, spiritual, holistic, astrol­ogy, mysticism, and faith healing interests.

Nobel Prize in literature prestigious annual award composed of a gold medal and a large cash prize given to the author of an outstanding body of work, as originally endowed by Alfred Nobel.

novelization the writing of a novel based on a movie or TV script.

novella a short novel, from 7,000 to 15,000 words. Also known as a novelette.

omnibus a collection of works by a single author or on the same theme.

option the right retained by a publisher to publish an author's next book.

O.S.S. obligatory sex scene, as found in many com­mercial novels.

out of print referring to a book that is no longer published or sold.

overrun a surplus of printed books. A printing of books that exceeds the demand.

over the transom of an unsolicited manuscript, sent to a publisher by a freelance writer or a freelance writer's agent.

pen name a fictitious name used by an author who wishes to remain anonymous. A pseudonym; nom de plume.

piracy the illegal use or republishing of another's copyrighted material without permission.

plagiarism using the writing of another author and trying to pass it off as one's own.

point of view the perspective a story is written from, as from a single lead character, or several char­acters, or from the author.

police procedural a mystery or crime drama featur­ing methods of police investigation.

preface an introductory text preceding the main body of a book.

prequel a novel that details a preceding storyline to a novel previously published.

proofreader a freelance or staff reader who checks manuscripts or typeset pages for errors.

proposal an author's presentation of a new book idea to a publisher, usually composed of three sample chapters, and other sales material.

pseudonym a pen name.

public domain material that has no copyright protection and can be freely reprinted without per­mission.

publicist on the staff of a publisher, one who publicizes a newly released book to various media outlets.