Tracy’s new e-book, PubSpeak: A Writer’s Dictionary of Publishing Terms is now on sale through the following retailers: Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and Amazon UK. Tracy writes:
Hello readers and writers of Glass Cases!
I’m very excited to be here today and host a contest for my new ebook, Pub Speak: A Writer’s Dictionary of Publishing Terms. When I wrote the book, I was envisioning an author who may have received their first contract using it to look up terms, or perhaps someone who wanted to get into the industry reading it to get a jump on the numerous other graduates competing for the same internships. I think there is a lexicon in publishing, and like many businesses, those that speak the language tend to do better than those that don’t!
Today though, we build a new lexicon – one of wit, and snark, and hopefully, pants-peeing.
It’s a Pub Speak Definition Contest and the winner will receive an electronic copy of the book, as well as my eternal admiration and probably some embarrassing congratulatory tweets. (You know you want it.)
I’ve listed six terms out of the 400 plus in the book. Choose one term – or all six – and come up with a definition in the comments section. Keep the comments limited to one definition only, but feel free to comment again choosing a different word. Only use each term once – no multiple definitions please from the same commenter, please.
Example: So if one of the terms was “advance,” your definition could be, “Advance: A figment of the writer’s imagination” or, as a second comment, “Advance: Half what you made that year at McDonalds.”
Here are the terms, good luck!
1) cheap edition
2) offer
3) work
4) novelette
5) shelf life
6) advance
Sarah and I will pick the winner and announce on Monday.
Sarah LaPolla 
Advance: What the author hopes it will do to his or her career.
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Advance: Amount of money offered up front for the purchase of your book by a publisher, always smaller than the amount given to another author whom you are convinced has less talent than you
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Shelf Life: The amount of time your book has to sell before the next Stephenie Meyer, J.K. Rowling, or Dan Brown book is published
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Novelette: French word meaning “manuscript that will never sell”
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Work: Any activity that, unlike writing, actually results in a paycheck
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Offer: The first step in the next round of waiting
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Cheap Edition: When, in effort to save money, a publisher prints a version of your book without any verbs
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Offer – what you'd like to do to that agent who rejects your manuscript.
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Cheap edition – from the bottom of the henhouse
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Shelf life: beap, beap, beap, beap….
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Novelette: heat oil in pan and sauté pages of novel. Add beaten egg. Toss. Drop. Hope it lands sunny side up, and that nobody notices you haven't made a soufflé.
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This comment has been removed by the author.
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Work: writing or reading, k?
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Shelf life: when a person has so many books that everything in his or her apartment serves as either a bookcase or a bookend.
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Offer – as used in a sentence.
Maggies husband wanted some sugar, but she told him to get offer.
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Cheap edition – The less popular singing group similar to New Edition.
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