Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Don’t Send Me Your S.A.S.E


I was recently skimming through a book about book publishing and it contained a glossary of industry terms. Upon reviewing them I noticed a few things worth sharing with you.

1.      “New Adult,” an up and coming genre for books read by 18-29 year olds (kind of like YA, but with sex) was missing. Hard to believe a glossary would miss this hot new segment.

2.      But it did include “deus ex machine,” which I’ve never heard of in all my years in the industry. It refers to “any unlikely, contrived, or fast resolution of a plot in any type of fiction.

3.      The term “erotica” seemed to leap off the page. It should just be defined as “romance” because that is what people are buying now.

4.      The word “advance” is starting to look foreign, as many authors get little or no advance these days.

5.      Same with “auction.” There are so few bidding wars for homes and books.

6.      “Creative nonfiction” sounds like a made-up story being presented as true.

7.      Another term I’d never heard was “hi-lo.” It was described as “a type of fiction, that offers a high level of interest for readers at a low reading level.”

8.      One term that is quickly vanishing is “mass market paperback.”

9.      The term all authors are disgusted with was there: “platform.”

10.  Lastly, “SASE” looked outdated. In the digital era, a self-addressed stamped envelope sounded as current as a telegram.

Publishing is all about the words, and the words that reflect the business of publishing are changing.

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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer, the nation’s largest book promoter. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2013


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