Where the Growth Is

The Language of Publishing■the tasks required to prepare apress (or other equipment) fora specific printing or bindingjob. In printing, this includesmounting plates on the pressand adjusting the registrationand the quantity of ink reachingthe printed piece. Eachsignature of a book will requireits own make-ready. One reasonthat jobs printed in blackink on house stock are lessexpensive is that make-readytakes less time and effort.Margins: Unprinted spacebetween the text or illustrationsand the edge of thepaper. The top margin is alsocalled head. Gutter is the termfor the margins between twofacing pages.Markup: Usually expressedas a percentage, the differencebetween the price paidfor something and the price atwhich it is sold. For example,a wholesaler that buys a bookfrom a publisher for 50 percentof cover price may mark it upto 60 percent of cover priceand sell it to retailers that markit up to 100 percent of coverprice, a margin (or in generalbusiness terms, a contribution)of 40 percent for the wholesaler.Retailers often talk in termsof discount (as in “from cover”or “from retail price”) ratherthan markup.Mask: A physical means,usually an acetate overlay, ofblocking a portion of an imagesuch as the background so thatthe masked portion won’t print.Masking can also be doneelectronically, with programssuch as Photoshop. Also calledKnockout; see above.Mass market paperback:Paperbacks smaller in trimsize than trade paperbacks,and usually somewhat smallerthan 5" × 8". Sometimes distributedby firms that handlemagazines and similar rackedproducts, they are oftensold in airports, drugstores,and supermarkets as wellas in bookstores at pricesfar lower than those of tradepaperbacks. Returns are usuallycredited when covers arestripped off and sent back.Minus their covers, the booksthemselves are pulped. Titlespublished only as mass marketpaperbacks may have shorterlives than trade paperbacks.Royalties for mass market paperbacksare relatively low.Masthead: A copy block thatprovides a publication’s namealong with information aboutownership and staff and oftenappears on the second pageof a newspaper and on thecontents page of a magazine.Mastheads are valuablesources of editorial contactinformation.Matte: A dull finish, the oppositeof glossy. Papers and coatingscan be matte or gloss.Measure: The width of a lineof type in a book, traditionallyexpressed in picas.Mechanical binding: Despitethe name, “mechanical” bindingusually requires handwork,unlike perfect binding.Examples include looseleafbinding, wire and plastic spiralbindings and comb binding,which is plastic. Often usedfor notebooks, cookbooks,instruction manuals, or othertypes of publications thatneed to lie flat when opened.For sales in bookstores, mostlooseleaf publications areshrink-wrapped. Wholesalersdon’t generally handle spiralorcomb-bound publicationsunless they are boxed or haveadded spines that cover thespiral or comb so book titleswill show when shelved spineout.Plastic bindings are moreeasily damaged than otherbindings and so are difficult toship without special packaging.Mechanicals: Camera-readyassembly of type, graphics, andother elements complete withinstructions to the printer, typicalprior to electronic prepress.A “hard” mechanical may alsobe called a pasteup, boards, orCRA (camera-ready art).Media: The plural of medium.Devices that package andtransmit content, includingprinted publications, tapesand records, films and television,computerized datavehicles, and social mediasites such as Facebook,Twitter, and LinkedIn.Media release: In publishing,usually an announcement ofa new title, author appearance,acquisition, or personnelchange written in journalisticstyle, so that media peoplecan use it with little or no revision.Also called news releaseand press release. Examplesand how-to’s are provided by“Using the Inverted PyramidStyle of Writing,” yale.edu/...SamplesoftheInvertedPyramidStyleofWriting (this is a Worddocument; enter the URLstring, with no spaces or hyphens,in Google’s search boxto access it).Middle reader: A book intendedfor children ages 9–11.Midlist: The term large publishersuse for titles that theythink will not be top sellers.Midlist titles are printed insmaller quantities than leadersand often have scantymarketing budgets. Booksthat would be midlist at hugehouses can sell well throughsmall and midsized publishingcompanies, where they getattention and time to developmomentum.Mockup: A preproduction depictionof material. Often usedfor decision-making, mockupsmay show text from a manuscriptin suggested typefacesand sizes or greeked text.A mockup accompanying ajob to a typesetter or bookmanufacturer will show howthe publisher expects the finishedjob to look and mayVisit the IBPA Website at www.ibpa-online.org | 29