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Have you thought about
making an audio book?
Follow the process of publishing
that is described in over 90 articles
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"Dictionaries are like watches: The worst is better than
none, and the best cannot be expected to go quite right." Dr
Johnson
 | A series; A system of paper sizes |
| AA AC; author's alteration /correction |
| A/W; abbreviation for artwork |
| Accordion fold; parallel folds which open like an accordion (aka
concertina fold) |
| Acetate; transparent plastic sheet with images, sometimes in layers
or placed over artwork to protect and allow designer to write instructions
|
| Acknowledgements; part of the prelim
pages where thanks and special permissions are recognised |
| Acid-free; paper resists yellowing from age, made from pulp
containing little or no acid |
| Addendum; additional material normally printed at the start of main
text |
| Additive Colour; adds the primary colours red, blue and green |
| Advance; Money paid to the writer to allow them to live while the
book is written and published but offset against the royalties the book will
earn |
| Advanced copies; books sent by printer or publisher before
publication date |
| ADSL the domestic, high-speed data link |
| Against the grain; at right angles to the grain of the paper |
| Agent, Agency; person or organisation representing authors and
selling their work |
| Airbrush; paint is applied in a fine mist with compressed air |
| Align; to line up type or graphics |
| All up; a term to denote that all text has been set |
| Alteration; Change in copy or specifications implying it is after
production has begun |
| Ampersand; is the & sign |
| Angle brackets; are the <> characters |
| Annotate; Provide additional comments or explanations to a text |
| Apostrophe; In English it has two main functions- 1: marks
omissions 2: assists in marking the possessives of all nouns and many pronouns |
| App; Small Application or programme, normally on a portable device
like a phone |
| Appendix, appendices; Supplementary material to a text which is
inserted as a section at the end of the main text |
| Aqueous; any water-based product |
| Arabic numerals; 0123456789 (ie not Roman numerals i,ii etc) |
| Art paper; smooth, coated paper |
| Artwork; original photos and illustrations including copy |
| Ascender; part of lower case letter above the upper half of the
vertical in letters such as b or d |
| ASCII; American Standard Code for Information Interchange - the
digital representations of letters and symbols - with numerous national
variations so this is a non-standard standard |
| Autobiography; A person's life story written by the person themself |
| Author's Alterations (AA) |
| Author's copies; Complimentary copies given to an author on
publication - normally 6! |
| Authors corrections (AC); at
proofing stage |
| B series; set of paper sizes for
chart and posters |
| Back lining; A strip of paper, linen or gauze glued to the spine of
a traditionally bound book to
give strength |
| Backing up; to print the second side of printed sheet possibly
aligned back-to-back |
| Backlist; Books in a publisher's catalogue that are not being
actively promoted but are still in print and available |
| Balloon; a circle or bubble enclosing copy in an illustration |
| Banding; packaging using rubber or paper bands to bind |
| Banner; title extending across page width |
| Bar code; Machine readable code printed
on products |
| Base artwork; requires additions such as halftones before printing
|
| Baseline; for the bases of letters |
| Basis/Basic Size/Weight; (mainly North America) in pounds of a ream
of paper cut to the basic size. Europe uses ISO paper sizes |
| Bed; the base on which the paper is held in a press |
| Bind/Binding; join leafs or signatures with stitching, glue etc
|
| Bleed; layout that extends beyond the trim marks on a page;
pictures ‘bleed’if they go to the edge of the page which is often
intentional |
| Blind Folio; an unprinted page |
| Block; bound pages of a book |
| Block out; Mask part of a picture |
| Blog: Diary-style personal website |
| Blow up; an enlargement |
| Blueline; marks with special pencil on proof that do not show up on
printing plates |
| Blurb; a short description of a book/author on a book jacket |
| Board; paper generally more than 200gsm |
| Body size; the height of the type normally measures in points |
| Body; or body text; main text not including the headlines |
| BOGOFF; Buy One Get One For Free |
| Boiler Plate; repetitive type similar to a template |
| Bond paper; durable high-quality paper grade used for letters and
legal forms |
| Bookland; A mythical land that allows a 10 bit
isbn to be transformed into on with the European
Article Numbering (EAN) 13 digits. The 'national' prefix is 978 + ISBN |
| Bookplate; A label pasted inside the cover possibly with the
owner's name |
| Book Block; trimmed pages before a cover is added |
| Border; design surrounding printing on a page |
| Bounce; repeating registration problem |
| Breve; a curved phonetic mark
˘ to indicate a
short vowel |
| Bristol board; a board for drawing |
| Broadside; printed on one side of a large sheet of paper |
| Bromide; a photographic print normally part of plate making |
| Bulk; measure of thickness of paper in thousandths of an inch or
number of pages per inch |
| Bullet; a large dot preceding text |
| Burn; make a permanent copy of a digital file on CD |
| By-line; the name of the writer or photographer printed with a
magazine or newspaper article |
| C1S and C2S; coated one side and coated two sides |
| Calender /Calendered; roll paper surface smooth by pressing during
manufacture |
| Calligraphy; Fine or ornamental handwriting |
| Calliper; paper thickness |
| Camera ready copy or CRC; artwork pasted up ready for reproduction
|
| Cap line; an imaginary line across the top of capital letters |
| Caps; an abbreviation for capital letters |
| Caption; text identifying a picture or illustration |
| Caret marks; mark-up
pointer for the printer indicating an omission
awaiting an insertion or correction |
| Cartridge; a thick paper used for printing, drawing or wrapping
|
| Case Bind; also cloth bind or hard cover Bind using glue to a board
cover |
| Cast off; a typographic calculation to work out the space copy will
take |
| Catch line; a temporary headline to identify proof |
| Centred point; a dot that is raised from the line and used for
currency |
| Chalking; deterioration of a printed image caused if ink absorbs
into paper too fast or has long exposure to sun making image look dusty.
Also called crocking |
| Character count; the number of characters; i.e. letters, figures,
signs or spaces in a piece of copy |
| Chase; a metal frame in which metal type and engraved blocks are
locked to make a page |
| Chrome; a term to measure colour transparency or saturation |
| Chromalin; colour photo used to check accuracy of colours by
printers |
| CIP; Catalogue in Publication data operated by British Library and
Library of Congress. |
| Close up; a proof correction mark to reduce the amount of space
between characters or words indicated as (') |
| Cloud computing; Very close to another term for the Internet |
| CMYK; abbreviation for cyan, magenta, yellow and key (black), the
four process colours |
| Coated paper; printing papers surface coated with clay for a
smoother finish |
| Co-Edition; Co-publishing; A work published simultaneously
by separate publishers in different formats or language markets |
| Collate; organize printed matter in the order specified |
| Colour Balance; amounts of the colours required |
| Colour bar or guide; quality control spots of ink on the edge of a
sheet |
| Colour Blanks; sheets with photos or illustrations, but without
type |
| Colour Cast; unwanted colour in an image |
| Colour Correct; adjust the process colours to achieve desirable
colours |
| Colour Separation; process to divide continuous-tone colour images
into four half-tone negatives |
| Colour Sequence; order in which inks are printed, also called
rotation |
| Column inch; a column inch is one column wide by one inch deep and
used to measure area in newspapers (to calculate the cost of display
advertising) |
| Column rule; a light vertical line used to separate columns of type
|
| Comb bind; bind by inserting the teeth of a flexible plastic comb
through holes punched along the edge of a stack of paper |
| Commercial A; the @ sign (aka the at-each cost) |
| Compose; to set copy into type |
| Composite film; Combining two or more images on one or more pieces
of film |
| Compositor; person who sets type
(typographer in US) |
| Concertina fold; a method of folding giving a concertina or pleated
effect |
| Condensed; a style of typeface in which the characters have an
elongated appearance |
| Condition; storing paper to allow moisture content and temperature
to reach that of the production area |
| Consignment; Payment when item is sold |
| Continuous-tone; photographs and illustrations with shades rather
than dots |
| Contrast; a measure of tones in an image ranging from light to dark
|
| Copy; all material used in the production of a printed product |
| Copyright; protection to the originator of material to prevent use
without their permission |
| Corner marks; marks printed on a sheet to indicate the trim or
register marks |
| Cover Paper; thick paper used for products such as posters and
covers of paperbacks |
| Cover Parts; 1-outside front, 2-inside front, 3-inside back,
4-outside back |
| Coverage; extent to which ink covers usually expressed as light,
medium or heavy |
| CPI; Characters per inch |
| CPL; Characters per line |
| CPS; Characters per second as a measure of a line printer |
| CRC; camera ready copy |
| Creep; unwelcome habit of middle pages to stick out or margins to move.
Shingling is the solution |
| Crimping; punctures holding business forms together |
| Crop marks; printed lines showing where to trim a printed sheet
|
| Crop; cut off parts of a picture or image |
| Cropping; cut parts of an image not required |
| Cross head; like a headline but set in the body of the text |
| Crossover; artwork that continues from one page of a book or
magazine across the gutter |
| Crowd sourcing; Developing an idea or piece of work from the
contributions of many individuals. |
| Cure; dry inks or coatings after printing sometimes with heat |
| Cursive; a typefaces that resembles hand writing |
| Cut flush; a method of trimming a book after the cover has been
attached |
| Cutting Die; trims or marks paper |
| Cyan; blue - one of four standard process colours |
| Dagger and double dagger; symbols used as reference marks for
footnotes |
| Data Compression; technique of reducing the amount of storage
required to hold a digital file to reduce the disk space the file requires
and allows work to be processed or transmitted more quickly |
| Deckle Edge; of paper left ragged as it comes from the papermaking
machine. Also called feather edge. |
| Defamation; (also called vilification, slander, and libel) starts
with the communication of a statement that makes a false claim ...read on |
| Depository; Use now to mean a web-based location for material.
Often called a Subject Depository as they tend to be based around certain
disciplines. (See self-archiving) |
| Descender; the part of a lower case letter that extends below the
line |
| Desk Copy; a copy requested by an education institution with a view
to adopting the title for a course - The desk copy is the copy used by the
department. |
| Diacritic; small sign added to a letter to alter pronunciation |
| Diazo; light sensitive diazonium coating used for making printing
plates |
| Die; a device for cutting, scoring and embossing |
| Display type; larger type normally 18 point or larger |
| DOI; digital object identifier - actionable id part of metadata |
| Dot Gain, Growth or Spread; halftone dots spread on the paper
reducing detail and contrast |
| Dot; the basic element of halftones |
| Dots-per-inch; measure of resolution Abbreviated DPI |
| Double Bump; print twice to give two layers of ink |
| Double page spread or DPS; textual material on the left hand side
continues across to the right hand side |
| DPI; dots per square inch, a measure of resolution for monitors,
printers and scanners, typically 60, 300 and 1200 respectively |
| DRM; Digital Rights Management provides the software locks put on
information distributed digitally to prevent unauthorised distribution |
| Drop cap; a large initial letter at the start of the text that
drops into the line or lines of text below |
| Drop-out; part of artwork that does not print |
| Dummy; A mock-up of the layout at finished size |
| EAN; European Article Number - ISBNs have been harmonised with EAN
but instead of having a national identifier at the start, books from a
fictional place called 'Bookland'. |
| Earning out; Enough copies of the book are sold so that the agreed
royalties cover the amount of the publishers advance |
| Em; a square unit with edges equal to the chosen point size, named
from the letter M which was the widest letter |
| Emboss; an image pressed into paper to create a relief |
| Encapsulated; PostScript computer file with images and PostScript
commands - EPS format |
| End pages; material after the main text |
| End papers/sheets; the four pages at the front and back of a book
pasted to the cover boards |
| Engraving; printing method using a plate, also called a die, with
an image cut into its surface |
| EP; abbreviation for envelope |
| E pub; the standard agreed for ebooks |
| Escalators; Bonuses paid to the author based on the work meeting
certain goals set out in the writer's contract |
| Etch; an image cut into metal, glass or film by abrasive chemicals
|
| Eurobind; A patented method of binding perfect bound books so they
will stay open |
| Extent; page count in a book
|
| Face; an abbreviation for typeface |
| Fast Colour; inks that resist fading |
| Fine Screen; ruling of 150 lines per inch or more |
| Flats; diagram showing imposition and colours for plate making |
| Flood; To cover a printed page with ink, varnish, or plastic
coating |
| Flop; The reverse side of an image |
| Flush left; copy aligned to left margin |
| Flush right; copy aligned to right margin |
| Flyer; cheaply produced circular for promotional distribution |
| Flyleaf Leaf; side of the end paper not glued to the case at the
front and back of a casebound book |
| Foil blocking/emboss/stamping; a process for stamping a design on a
book cover without ink by using a coloured foil with pressure from a heated
die or block |
| Foldout/Gatefold; sheet bound into a publication, often used for a
map or chart |
| Folio (page number); actual page number in a publication |
| Font (or fount); a set of characters in a typeface |
| Form letter; a letter template in which the address and other
details can be semi-automatically inserted by a word processor |
| Form; type and blocks assembled in pages in a metal chase for
printing |
| Format fee; payable as a part of an option if the idea or concept
of a work is re-used |
| Four colour process; printing in full colour using four colour
separation negatives; yellow, magenta, cyan and black |
| Foxed; book pages discoloured with brownish marks |
| 'Fremium'; a combination of Free and Premium to describe quality,
but free magazines |
| French fold; two folds at right angles to each other fold to form a
four page uncut section |
| Full measure; a line set to the entire line length |
| Full point; a full stop |
| Galley proof; copy of text for checking before it is finally
assembled for print run |
| Galleys; the long metal trays used to hold type after it has been
set and before the press run |
| Glossary; A word list. The etymology from the Greek means 'to make stand
out'. |
| Gatefold; fold-ins for oversize pages such as maps in a book |
| Gathering; the operation of inserting the printed pages, sections
or signatures of a book in the correct order for binding |
| GEM; Digital Research's Graphics Environment Manager |
| General Publishing, also referred to as trade publishing;
publishing intended for the general consumer market |
| Generation; first generation of original copy should yield the best
quality |
| Ghosting; Image appears too light because of ink starvation or a
faint printed image that appears where it was not |
| Ghost-writing; writing a book, often an 'autobiography' for someone
else |
| Gilding; gold leaf on the page edges |
| Gloss; A shiny look reflecting light which is achieved with ink
that dries without penetration |
| Glyph; A symbol or stylised figure, such as an arrow, that imparts
information nonverbally |
| Golden ratio; proportion of height to width thought to produce the
most pleasing result 1;1618 |
| Gothic; typefaces with no serifs and broad even strokes |
| Grain Direction; direction of fibres in paper |
| Granularity; a property of data which allows it to be incorporated
in a way determined by the user |
| Grammage; weight of paper in grams per square meter (gsm) |
| Graphic Arts Film; emulsion which yields high contrast images (also
litho film and repro film) |
| Gravure; a rotary printing process using an etched metal plate |
| Grey Balance; Printed cyan, magenta and yellow halftone dots that
reproduce a neutral grey |
| Green box; Returned stock for restocking (see red box) |
| Green ink; an expression for complainants or critics whose views
might be described as eccentric |
| Grey scale; range of luminance values from white to black |
| Grind off; approximately 3 mm of spine ground off before perfect
binding |
| Gripper Edge; of a sheet held by grippers on a sheet-fed press |
| Grippers; metal pins on a printing press that move the paper
through the press |
| GSM; Grams per square metre |
| Gutter; in newsprint, central blank area between left and right
pages. With books, the inside margins toward the binding edge |
| Hairline; A very thin line or gap |
| Half-tone Screen; piece of film or glass covered in parallel
lines. Two screens placed approximately at right angles break the image
below into dots |
| Half-tone; technique of breaking original tone into a pattern of
dots of varying size. Light areas have small dots and dark areas have large
dots |
| Halo Effect; faint shadow around half-tone dots printed. Also
called halation or fringe |
| Hanging punctuation; punctuation outside the margins of the text
|
| Hard copy; output of a computer printer as compared to digital data
on a disk |
| Head(er); the margin at the top of a page |
| Helvetica; a sans serif typeface |
| Hickey; unplanned spots that appear during printing due to dust
|
| Highlight; lightest areas in a picture compared to midtones and
shadows |
| HLS; abbreviation for hue, lightness, saturation in graphic
software |
| House style; copy editing rules for spelling, punctuation, etc used
in a publishing house or publication |
| Hue; specific colour such as yellow or green |
| Icons; pictorial images used on screen to indicate function in
software |
| Image area; part of paper which can be printed |
| Imposition; positioning of pages so they will be in order when page
is folded and cut |
| Impression; another word for printing but colour images take
multiple impressions |
| Impression; putting an image on paper |
| Imprint; (noun) the name and place of the publisher and printer
normally required by law (verb) add print on a previously printed sheet |
| Ink Balance; relationship of the densities and dot gains of process
inks to each other and to a standard density of neutral grey |
| Ink Jet; printing by spraying droplets of ink |
| Intaglio; printing method with two levels- gravure and engraving
are examples of intaglio |
| International paper sizes; ISO paper sizes based on A, B and C
series A is for printing and stationery, B for posters and C for envelopes
|
| ISBN; International Standard Book Number |
| ISTC; International Standard Text Code |
| Italic; type with sloping letters |
| Ivory board; a smooth board used for business cards |
| Job Lot; discounted paper possibly not of first quality |
| Jogger; vibration machine to stack printed materials evenly |
| Justify; alignment of text with both margins |
| K (Kilobyte); 1024 bytes, a binary 1,000 Abbreviation for black in
four-colour process printing in CMYK |
| Kerning; adjustment of spacing between certain letter pairs |
| Keyline; an outline drawn on artwork showing position of an
illustration |
| Kill fee; payment due to a writer if they do not get the right to
adapt their work as a script |
| Knock out; mask out an image |
| Kraft paper; a tough brown paper used for wrapping and packing |
| Laid finish; implies simulating the surface of handmade paper |
| Laid; paper with a watermark pattern showing the wire marks used in
paper making |
| Laminate; a thin transparent plastic coating applied to paper
providing protection or accent colour |
| Landscape; format in which width is greater than height. Portrait
is opposite |
| Lap Register; ink colours overlap slightly compared with butt
register |
| Laser printer; high quality image printing using a laser beam to
transfer dry powder to paper |
| Lateral reversal; image transposed left to right as a reflection of
the original |
| Lay Edge; the edge of a sheet of paper feeding into a press |
| Lay Flat Bind; perfect binding that allows a publication to lie
fully open |
| Layout; a sketch of a page with instructions |
| Lead or Leading; originally strips of lead inserted between lines
of metal type added between lines of type to space them |
| Leaf; sheet of paper |
| Legend; caption below an illustration or directions about a how to
position an illustration |
| Letraset; a proprietary name for dry transfer lettering used in
artwork |
| Letter fold; two folds creating three panels. Also called barrel
fold |
| Letterpress; uses raised image to produce an impression by pressing
paper against the inked surface |
| Library picture; picture not specially commissioned, available
normally for a fee |
| Ligature; letters joined to a single bit of type; connecting stroke
in handwriting |
| Line copy; high contrast copy i.e. not half-tone |
| Linen Finish; cloth pattern visible on paper surface |
| Lines per inch; rows of dots per inch (in a halftone) |
| Linotype; manufacturer of phototypesetting machines |
| Literary Agent, Literary Agency; person or organisation
representing authors and selling their work |
| Lithography; printing process where printing area will accept oil
based inks while rest is water coated |
| Loose leaf; method of binding which allows the insertion and
removal of pages |
| Loupe; A magnifying glass |
| Low Key; details in shadow |
| Lower case; small letters |
| M Weight; weight of 1,000 sheets of paper in any specific size |
| Magenta; Process red, one of the 4 process colours |
| Magnetic ink; machine readable, still used on cheques |
| Manilla; tough brown paper |
| Manuscript (ms); the original handwritten or typewritten work |
| Margins; non printing areas |
| Mark up; copy prepared with typesetting instructions |
| Mask; Block light from parts of a printing plate |
| Masthead; details of publisher |
| Matt art; a coated printing paper with a dull surface |
| Matt finish; non-glossy paper or ink finish |
| Mechanical Bind; using a wire or plastic comb or coil through holes
drilled in the bound edge |
| Mechanical separation; overlays for each colour |
| Mechanical tint; a pre-printed sheet of dots, lines or patterns
|
| Mechanical; camera ready art |
| Metadata; Information attached to digital data to enhance its
searchability, but not normally displayed |
| MG (machine glaze); high gloss finish on one side |
| Middle/mid-tones; in a photograph that are approximately half as
dark as the shadow area |
| Midlist; term used in publishing to denote books which are neither
lead titles nor genre fiction |
| Mnemonic; can never remember what this means |
| Mock-up; the rough visual for a design |
| Modern; type styles dating from end of the 19th century such as
Times Roman |
| Moiré pattern; normally undesirable pattern when halftones are
made with inappropriately aligned screens |
| Monospace; a font where all characters occupy the same width |
| Montage; an assemblage of several images |
| MS (Manuscript); original written or typewritten work |
| Multicolour Printing; colour printing that is not the four-colour
process |
| Neutral; Greys without a colour hue |
| News Print; low quality, absorbent paper used for newspapers |
| Newton Ring; flaw caused by dust that produce rainbow rings |
| Nipping; a stage in book binding where sheets are pressed to expel
air at the sewing stage |
| Non-impact Printing; uses lasers or ink jet to transfer images to
paper |
| Non-reproducing blue; a blue colour that can be filtered from the
camera & used to mark up artwork and in TV to superimpose images |
| OCR (Optical Character Recognition); converts a scanned image into
the digital codes that can be edited in a computer |
| Offprint; a reprint of an article previously published in a
magazine |
| Opacity; amount of show-through on a printed sheet |
| Opaque; to cover flaws in negative |
| Oprah effect; boost to sales from exposure on a high profile TV
show |
| Option; the negotiated right of assignment for plot, characters or
place in a book |
| Orphan; part of a paragraph on its own at the top or bottom of a
page |
| Orthography; method of representing a language, or the sounds of
language, in written symbols; also study of spelling |
| Ostracon (pl Ostraca); inscribed pottery |
| Over Run; additional print run beyond order |
| Overlay; acetate overlays with separate colours and type |
| Overprint; print one image over a previously printed image |
| Overs; additional printing to compensate for spoilage |
| Ozalid; a trade name describes a method of copying page proofs from
paper or film |
| Page Count; total number of pages including blank pages |
| Page Printer; produce a complete page rather than a line |
| Page Proof; stage following galley proofs where type and sometimes
graphics are laid out as they will look on the finished page |
| Pagination; the numbering of pages in a book |
| Pantone; a registered name for an ink colour matching system |
| Papyrus; Writing
material made from layers, beaten stem of the plant |
| Parallel fold; two parallel folds to produce six panels |
| Paste up; elements mounted as camera-ready artwork |
| Pattern carbon; special carbon paper incorporated in multi-part
business forms to transfer only certain areas of impact printing |
| PDF (Page Description Format); popular format for Adobe Acrobat
reader for text and graphic material |
| PDL (Page Description Language); a programming language which
enables text and graphics to be described in mathematical statements such as
PostScript and DDL |
| PE; proof reader mark meaning printer error, compared to an error
by the customer |
| Perfect Bind; bind sheets and cover with glue, common for paperback
books |
| Pica; Unit of measure in typesetting One pica = 1/6 inch |
| Pin Register; used to align film to plates to press and ensures
proper registration |
| Pinholing; unwanted holes in printed areas |
| Plate; paper, plastic or metal carrying an image to printing press
|
| Point; a unit of thickness for paper, (1/1000 inch); for
typesetting a unit of type height (1/72 inch or 1/12 pica) |
| Portrait; an upright image or page where the height is greater than
the width and the opposite of Landscape layout |
| Pre-print; The stage between an article or books acceptance and its
publication |
| PostScript; a page description language developed by Adobe Systems
|
| Primary colours; cyan, magenta and yellow which mix to produce
black or other colours |
| Process blue; blue or cyan colour in process printing |
| Process colours; cyan (blue), magenta (red), yellow and black |
| Proof correction marks; a standard set of signs and symbols in the
margin to indicate any corrections on proofs |
| Proof; a copy to check printing |
| Proportional spacing; each character has varying width |
| Pulp; the raw wood chips, rags or other fibres used for paper
making |
| Quarto; sheet folded twice making an 8-page signature traditionally
measuring about 9x12 inches |
| Quire; 1/20th of a ream (25 sheets) |
| QSOS; methodology for assessing open source software |
| Rag paper; quality stationery made from cotton rags |
| Ragged left; type justified to the right margin with line lengths
varying on the left |
| Ragged right; type justified to left margin |
| Ranged left/right; type aligned to left or right margin |
| Ream; 500 sheets of paper |
| Recto; right-hand page of an open book - The normal side to start a
story or chapter |
| Red box; Book returns designed for recycling (see green box) |
| Reference marks; symbols in text linked to a footnote |
| Register marks; cross-hairs used to position film, plates or paper
correctly |
| Register; correct positioning of an image |
| Resolution; measurement used to express image quality. Measured in
dots per inch |
| Reithian; describing high is rather stuffy and formal standards of
content and quality |
| Retouching; altering artwork to correct or improve an image |
| Reverse out; reproduce as white on solid background |
| Review copy; sent to the media and people with the hope that they
will publish a review or promote the book (see also Desk copy) |
| Revise; as in first revise, second revise indicates the stages of
corrections |
| RGB; red, green, blue - the additive colour primaries |
| RIP (Rest in Proportion); artwork to be enlarged or reduced in
proportion to an image or text |
| Rip film; method of making print negatives from PostScript files
from DTP |
| Roman; type-face |
| Rough; preliminary sketch |
| Royal; printing paper 20in x 25in (508 x 635mm) and also popular
book size |
| RRP; Recommended Retail Price |
| Rule Line; used to separate or organize copy |
| Run; time taken to produce a given quantity of books and often
taken to mean the quantity |
| Run on; copies printed beyond the specified number, perhaps to be
sold at a much lower price |
| Running head or footer; a line of type at the top of a page which repeats a
heading |
| S/S; (Same size) |
| Saddle Stitch; bind by stapling sheets together in the seam where
it folds |
| Sans serif; a typeface that has no small strokes at the end of main
stroke of the character |
| SC (Super calendered) paper; paper with a polished appearance |
| Scaling; calculating enlargement or reduction to accommodate an
image in a design |
| Self-archive; is a deposit for digital documents |
| Semantic web; is being developed to all different data sets to
relate to each other |
| Semiotic; relating to signs and symbols |
| SEO; (Search Engine Optimisations) or the theory of how to
raise your profile with search
engines |
| Social networking; Uses special sites to allow users to create a
profile and form communities. examples are
Facebook, MySpace,
Delicious |
| Social DRM; Using social pressure to inhibit the abuse of
copyright. In place of an embedded Digital Rights Managements system, the ID
of the owner is watermarked on the file so that they can be traced if the item
finds its way to a free-download site |
| Score; crease paper along a straight line to fold accurately |
| SCORM; sharable content object reference model is a standard for
tagging training material to allow users to access it in their own way |
| Screen Printing; method of forcing ink through mesh of fabric to
print an image |
| Script; the dialogue and instructions for a play or film |
| Section mark ( ); a character used at the beginning of a new
section |
| Section; a printed sheet folded to make a multiple of pages |
| Security paper; paper incorporating watermarks etc |
| Self Mailer; printed item which can be mailed without envelope |
| Separations; separate films with images for each print colour |
| Serif; a small cross stroke at the end of the main stroke of the
letter |
| Set off; unintentional transfer of wet ink image to the back of
next sheet |
| Shade; is made darker by the addition of black - not the same as
tint |
| Shadows; darkest areas of an image |
| Sheet fed; a printing press which prints single sheets of paper,
not rolls |
| Shingling; allowance to compensate for creep |
| Show-through; image that can be seen on the other side of paper
|
| Side stitch; staple sheets along, one edge |
| Signature; sheets of pages which when folded become a part of a
book. Formerly indicated by a letter to assist correct assembly |
| Size; compound based on starch added to reduce absorbency |
| Size (as in quantity); |
|
| Unit |
Relationship |
Sheets |
| 1 quire |
|
24 |
| 1 ream |
20 quire |
480 |
| 1 bundle |
2 ream |
960 |
| 1 dozen |
|
12 |
| 1 gross |
12 dozen |
144 |
| 1 great gross |
12 gross |
1,728 |
|
| Skid; printers pallet |
| Slurring; smearing of the image |
| Slush-pile; informal term used to describe unsolicited submissions
|
| Small caps; capital letters of equal size type to the lower case
letters |
| Solid; area with 100% ink coverage |
| Spine; back or binding edge of a book or publication |
| Spiral Bind; continuous wire or plastic looped through holes
punched along bound edge |
| Spoilage; anticipated paper waste during printing |
| Spot Colour; ink applied to just part of a sheet |
| Spread; open page size of a book |
| STM; scientific, technical and medical |
| Stet; proof correction cancels a correction
i.e. let the original copy stand |
| Stock; material, normally paper, to be printed |
| Strap-line; subheading used above the main headline in a newspaper
|
| Stenography; a method for the rapid recording of words using
symbols for common sounds or letter combinations. (shorthand) |
| Strip; positioning film for plate making |
| Subscript; small characters set below the normal letters |
| Substrate; any surface on which printing is done |
| Subtractive colours; also known as 'process colours' which with
black are the inks used in colour-process printing - yellow, magenta and
cyan |
| Superscript; small characters set above the normal letters |
| Surprint; re-printing again on the same substrate |
| Swatch; a colour sample |
| TAC (Total Area Coverage); percentages of coverage in the final
film |
| Tag; a word that is part of the meta data for some creative output
that help people to identify the content. Tag cloud - see Wordle |
| Template; standard layout with basic page and layout dimensions
|
| Thermography; resin heated to produce raised printing |
| Thumbnails; sketches, or small versions, of an image |
| Tied letters; letters joined to a single bit of type |
| TIFF (Tagged Image File Format); format for digital information
|
| Tints; shade of a colour |
| Tip in; insertion of an extra page in a book after the normal
process |
| Tissue overlay; transparent paper for protection of artwork |
| Tone; colour or shade printed onto page |
| Trade Publishing; term used inside publishing for publishing
intended for the general consumer market |
| Transparency; photograph or picture which can be viewed by
transmitted light |
| Trap; print one ink over another |
| Trim marks; register marks where to trim sheet |
| Trim Size; finished size |
| Trim; cut product to the finished size |
| Typeface; the raised surface carrying the image of a type character
cast in metal. Also used to refer to a complete set of characters forming a
family in a particular design or style |
| Typescript; a typed manuscript but still a manuscript |
| Typo; typographical error |
| Typographer; a designer of printed matter |
| Typography; planning printed material |
| uc/lc; upper/lower case |
| UCC; Universal Copyright Convention |
| Under-run; print fewer copies than ordered |
| Unical: modification of the squared-capital form of manuscript
writing which introducing curves (from about 4 BCE). |
| Up; multiple images printed in one impression on a single sheet
|
| USP; Unique Selling Point is a feature that makes something such as
a book 'special' |
| UV coating; laminate cured with ultraviolet light |
| Varnish; clear liquid applied after printing for glossy appearance
and protection |
| Vellum; treated skin of a calf used as an ancient paper (still used
in the UK Parliament for Parliamentary Acts) but generally used to describe
a thick, rough book paper |
| Verso; left-hand page of an open book |
| Vignette; design or illustration that fades to white so has no
border |
| VOC; volatile organic compounds |
| Watermark; design created inside paper surface during manufacture
|
| Web Gain; stretching of paper |
| Web press; type of press that uses rolls of paper rather than pages
|
| Web; roll of printing paper |
| Weight; measure of paper thickness and boldness of a font |
| Wet Trap; print or varnish over wet ink |
| wf; correcting proofs to indicates wrong font |
| Widget; piece of code that can be installed in another HTML site |
| Widow; a few words left on the last line of a paragraph which falls
on a new page |
| Wire mesh; used at the wet end of the paper making process |
| Woodfree; special paper made without wood pulp |
| Word wrap; adjustment of the words on a line to match the margins
|
| Work and tumble; one side printed then turned to print the second
side |
| Work and turn; two images printed on the same sheet which is cut to
produce two copies |
| Wordle; An app which will analyse the words in an article to
display the words in a size that is related to the frequency that the word
appears - it is a type of Tag Cloud |
| Wove paper; a finely textured paper without visible wire marks |
| Wrong Reading; image or text that is flipped or reversed |
| WYSIWYG; what-you-see-is-what-you-get |
| Xerography; the Xerox photocopying process using an electrostatic
charge to attract powder to a rotating drum which is then sealed by heat
|
| |
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