Language is power, and to that end we at The Editorial Department have come up with a glossary of commonly-used terms and abbreviations in the book publishing industry. This is a quick, handy guide (in no particular order) to many of the terms that writers will come across during all stages of editing and publishing. Enjoy and learn!

– Ross, Jane, and Morgana

Really? Did I really write that first post without mentioning how good fiction editors are first and foremost enthusiastic readers?

Indeed I did, but only because I can’t imagine anyone seriously considering a career as a book editor who’s not an avid reader and hasn’t logged more than a few all-nighters with a book they’ve been unable to put down. So let’s assume that as a given.

When you write with the goal of publication, you're writing something you hope people will pay money for in the future. Whether it's an inexpensive ebook or a hefty collectible hardbound edition is up to you (or your publisher) but one thing remains the same: If you want people to pay for your writing, you need to make sure they're getting their money's worth.

Think of your writing as a meal at a restaurant. Most hardback books cost $20 and up, so you're looking at a decent steak dinner or at the least a fancy hamburger and appetizer combo. If you ask people to pay that $20 and then serve up a dollar menu item what will your readers think?

Like many little kids, I went through a fierce Egyptology phase. It culminated with me building a miniature City of the Dead in my backyard (okay, so maybe most kids don't go that far), and died a quick, painful death involving a book about embalming and a bowl of beef stew. I had, up until that point, enjoyed a thoroughly satisfactory relationship with beef stew: it wasn't my favorite food by any stretch of the imagination, but unless my parents forced the issue of carrots, I ate it without complaint. When the Incident (as I later came to think of it) happened, I was fourteen and had already developed the extremely rude habit of reading during dinner; on that particular day, I was plowing my way through a new book about the life and withered remains of Tutankhamen. It never occurred to me that eating and reading might not always be compatible until I got to the part where the author described removing the brain by poking an instrument up through the nostrils and then pulling bits out.

I looked at the description.

And then I looked at my food.

And then I put the book down, shoved the plate away, and spent the next decade or so dodging beef stew.

If you're like me, you're not doing NaNoWriMo. I know, isn't this a sin for someone who claims to be in the world of aspiring writers? But this is how it works for me: doing NaNoWriMo would be like going outside and shooting 1,667 freethrows a day on the basketball court. I would have to shoot so fast and quick that even after a month of having shot 50,000 freethrows, I wouldn't be any better at it. In fact, in order to shoot the freethrows, I would have to ignore every impulse on how to shoot freethrows better and instead focus on how to shoot them faster.

That's not how I like to do things. That might work for an NBA player who doesn't need to reevaluate how he shoots the ball, but for me, I need to figure out the best way before I go for volume. I'd rather push myself for quantity after I've worked out many of the quality kinks.

So instead, I'm writing daily with another goal in mind--practicing not the quantity of my writing, but the quality.

Let me first say that I'm not typically an early adopter. I got my N64 after Gamecube was already out. I still use my scroll-wheel iPod and I have never had an iPhone. I usually wait for something to be cheaper or refurbished or 2nd generation before I jump on board. I'm not afraid of the early experience, I just don't mind waiting and enjoying what I have at the moment.

Ah, not so with iPad. And I'm not sure why. When it was first announced I thought it was a giant iPhone that couldn't make calls. But then I played around with one. And my kid played around with one. And I was hooked. I told myself I didn't need anything, just the dirt cheap 16GB Wi-fi only one. And maybe I could figure out how to make it work for me.

As the week winds to a close, I'd like to leave you with some horror writing resources. Also, don't forget that we're giving away a free Introductory Critique. Find the details in the first post of this series (linked below). Big thanks to RJ Cavender and Jane Ryder for their guest posts, and also to the many communities like shocklinesforum.yuku.com, horrorworld.org, merchantskeep.com who have carried on the conversation beyond this blog.

If you're looking for information on the nuts and bolts of horror writing, horror.org and fictionfactor.com house two of the internet's best compilations of horror-themed writing craft articles. I've selected a few to highlight here, but please browse their listings and find the ones that work best for your writing style and interest.

For the past couple of months I have been a frequent participant in the twitter-based Scribe Chat. During one of our discussions of writing craft, we hit upon the idea of creating a book club  which would focus on memoirs of the writing life and books on craft and technique. Lia Keyes, author and creator of Scribe Chat, and I selected Betsy Lerner's The Forest for the Trees as our first title and we'll be discussing it during this week's Scribe Chat on twitter.You're welcome to participate whether you've read the book or not. Topics will include the author-editor relationship, and the many types of writers.

If you've never participated in a twitter chat before, I recommend reading Twitter Chats for Writers: A Quick Guide to brush up on the basics. It's simple to participate, but chats tend of move quickly and it can be difficult for a first-timer to keep up. Luckily, the chat is recorded, so you can read the transcript later at your leisure. You do not need a twitter account to follow the chat, but you do need one if you wish to contribute to the conversation.

In the past few weeks, there has been a surge of interest in the topic of building a platform. Agent and industry blogs are buzzing about the importance of having a platform, but few are pointing to resources for authors. To help fill the gap, I'm starting a short series on platform building. I'll begin with a round-up of helpful links, then share tips on maintaining your platform, and focus on a few authors who are doing it right.

First off, what is an author platform? In its simplest sense, a platform is a public presence. This means you have, at the very least, a web site and an account on any of the major social networking sites. It used to be that book publishers would handle a fair bit of a book's marketing and the author's publicity, but these days the publishers expect you to do the lion's share yourself. In fact, most expect you to have a presence before you approach them with your manuscript. Yes, you need to have a platform before you have a book to promote.

It's more than the numbers

It is fairly easy to create a Twitter account and amass hundreds of followers, but publishers don't care about the numbers.

When I heard that Leah Griesmann had been awarded the Steinbeck Fellowship, a residence fellowship for fiction authors, I immediately wanted to know more about her thoughts as an author than on the program itself. Fellowships are a fantastic way for aspiring authors to pay the bills and keep a roof over their heads while allowing a dedicated block of time for writing. They also present a unique opportunity to immerse yourself in the writing process, and surround yourself with like-minded individuals. Fellowships aren't often mentioned outside an academic setting, so I wanted to dedicate a second blog post to the topic and hopefully inspire some of our readers to look into the possibility of a fellowship for their own writing. A quick internet search reveals several pages of writing fellowships available, and I encourage everyone to see if one out there might be a fit for your writing. Afterall, why would you pass up an opportunity to be paid to write before you have an agent or a book deal in hand? Here are Leah's thoughts on the Steinbeck Fellowship: