Every industry comes with its own set of jargon, and nothing makes us feel on the outside more than trying to learn what feels like a totally different language. Even we word-centered professionals don’t always make clear what these insider terms really mean. Most literary professionals have the very best of intentions, but even so, we often throw around terms that are unfamiliar and, even worse, easily misunderstood from our industry. I hear all the time that authors hear these terms, interpret them the wrong way, and really make bad choices about what to do next with their book. Today we will review the top 10 most misunderstood terms from the publishing industry and what they really should mean to both publishers and authors.
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Publishing terms are usually coined by publishers
Some of the terms here, like “trenches” are used by writing communities and unpublished writers, but most of the terms on this list are used by publishers, not to describe or “grade” writers’ work, but to describe the different steps in the their own processes. Publishing is a business, and these terms might seem like they are judging how important or good a book is, but actually it’s not about how good the book is at all. It’s about where the book is in the process that affects their day’s tasks. These terms describe the ways in which they do their work not how well you’ve done your work.
#10 -Agent
Many of our cultural impressions about “agents” is from films and stories about Hollywood agents or sports agents. These celebrity agents seem to do next to everything for their clients careers, including running publicity campaigns. Literary agents, however, represent you to the publishing houses, advocating for you in contract terms and advising you editorially, but they do not handle marketing or your public image or other tangential parts of your career like speaking engagements. Agents are there to help their authors, but their lane may be narrower than some authors assume.
Many authors, both self and traditionally published, hire publicists separately to help build and author brand and develop marketing strategies. Publicists are separate members of your team,
#9- Slush Pile
Right alongside agents is the publishing term “slush pile” which can certainly make an author feel a lot of different ways about their work. We don’t like to think of our manuscripts, which represent the culmination of months or years of work, sitting in muck. It’s understandable to feel disheartened by this term. It’s an old term—dating back to the 1952, back in the days when authors would send letters and manuscripts to agents through the literal mail, creating huge stacks of papers on agents’ (or their assistants’) desks. It’s true that from an agent’s perspective, the slush pile will contain a lot that isn’t relevant to their jobs or work that they don’t represent, like genres they don’t have contacts in, for example. These are often filtered out first, sometimes by interns and assistants.
Authors then get the impression that the best strategy is to find a way around the slush pile. But in reality, most authors get signed by agents from the slush pile. Agents work through their slush piles, hopeful to find that exciting new book, and may find yours! Authors who try to make contact with an agent outside of this path can sometimes risk crossing etiquette lines that do not make good impressions. Trying to pitch to agents on social media or with “creative” flair like sending pizzas to their offices might make you stand out from the crowd—but not in a good way. The slush pile isn’t something to be avoided at all cost, but just a step in the process.
(There is an exception to these, of course, when agents attend conferences and invite pitches or participate in pitch contests on social media. The interaction should be confined to these circumstances, though, to maintain professional decorum.)
#8- On Sub
“On sub” is a publishing term that is short for “on submission” and refers to a specific stage of the process. Once you have signed with an agent, there is often a period of time when you and the agent will work on the book and the submission package, which will vary depending on the type of book. You might work with the agent to make revisions in order to make the manuscript the most attractive to publishers. When you agree that it’s ready, then your agent will start the process of submitting to people in publishing houses who acquire manuscripts. Like querying, this stage is mostly waiting. It can take a long time, which can be frustrating to authors, but it’s an important and exciting step.
#7- High Level
When authors misunderstand this publishing term, it can often make communication between authors and agents and editors more difficult. It’s understandable that when an author hears “high level” they may assume it means “high quality.” Publishing professional make tell authors that a book needs some “high level” revisions. Authors can go on to assume this means expensive in terms of hiring editors or worse, that the quality of the work is currently “low level” which may discourage them from continuing. But this is not what publishing professionals mean by this term!
High level revisions doesn’t have to do with quality, but in fact means “big picture.” For example, imagine your book project is a hybrid memoir about grief after losing multiple family members in the same tragedy, interspersed with research about major historical disasters that changed populations, like the Chicago Fire, the San Francisco Earthquake, and the Tri-State tornado. “High level” revision note might entail reconsidering the balance between personal narrative and research, including a different focus on which disasters are included. It might be in theme, making a more explicit connection and shifting the focus from informative to persuasive. It might be structural, interspersing the personal throughout the informative chapters rather than having them separated. These revisions are looking at the big picture, taking in a 10,000 foot view and making changes on that level rather than on a line or page level, thus “high level.”
#6-Trenches
During the querying process, you’ll often hear authors refer to being “in the trenches.” This is not necessarily a misunderstanding, because it does mean what it sounds like—a comparison between trying to get your book published and 20th century warfare. It can feel like you’re in a blind trench just lobbing grades and hoping something hits. When you send queries, all you can do is wait for the rejection or the “maybe” that you can pursue further. Even as the no’s and maybe’s start to come in, it’s hard to know how the overall battle is going or to get a clear idea of where you really stand. In some ways, getting that feeling of being “in the trenches” can make you grit your teeth and prepare for battle. In others, it can simply be demoralizing. Just remember that it’s part of the process and make a plan for how you will fill the waiting to hear days.
#5- Blurb
What publishers really mean by blurb is not “quick summary” but “quick endorsement.” A blurb is a short little bit of endorsing text where some other, usually author but sometimes expert, says something to the tune of “This book is so good, you have to read it.” If you have ever bought a general nonfiction or fiction book, you will often see the blurbs either on the top of the front cover, or on nonfiction, often there will be a couple on the back cover.
For many, many years, it has been the author’s responsibility to request and secure blurbs for their book. Authors will reach out to other authors or to experts in their field to ask them to review their manuscript and send them a quick blurb.
Now, there is a bit of a shift in today’s publishing industry. This is news that came out just right at the beginning of 2025, that some of the major publishing houses are starting to back away from authors asking for these blurbs, so your experience may differ depending on the house and when you publish.
#4- Trade
Number 4 in our countdown is the term trade. When we’re talking about trade in the publishing industry, we’re typically talking about a trade book or sometimes a trade audience. All we mean by trade is that this is a book that is intended for general audiences. Essentially, these are the books that make up the bulk of the publishing trade and hence trade books.
Now, it’s easiest to think about what a trade book would be in opposition to, and the easiest way to think about this is a textbook. A textbook is not for general audiences; it is a very, very specific market. We wouldn’t call that a trade book. We wouldn’t pitch it as a trade book. We wouldn’t expect to pay the same amount of money for it as a trade book. Trade books are the books that you can go into any bookstore, there they are on the shelves, that’s a trade book. It just means it’s for general audiences, doesn’t have any positive or negative connotation in the industry. It just is a classification term.
#3- Midlist
Similarly, “midlist” is an publishing term that authors also think of as pejorative when it is not. In fact, being “midlist” is a sign of long term career success for an author. It might sound like a literary version of “B-movie,” but it in fact refers to books that are not brand new, but still selling well. These are the books that have caught the positive word of mouth, and keep selling new copies well after the initial marketing push. A publisher’s frontlist is the books that are coming out soon and are receiving the lion’s share of attention and work from the house. This is why even once you sell your book to a publisher, the actual publication date may be a year out—houses can only have so many books in their front list at a time. The backlist is books that have come out quite some time ago and are probably not selling as well as they did in their initial run. The backlist might be revisited for a second marketing push, especially if the author has another book coming to the frontlist soon, but often they don’t get much attention from the house. Midlist authors are the sweet spot, maintain that consistent level of sales.
#2- Imprint
Usually, when we say imprint, we’re talking about the individual brand trade names underneath a larger publishing house. For instance, Penguin Random House has hundreds, literally hundreds of imprints. These are often smaller presses that the larger publishing house has acquired and brought under their umbrella. They are also formed when a large house dedicates an imprint to a specific subgenre or audience.
Imprints, however, don’t have to be officiually registered. When you are self-publishing, one trick that we recommend to self-publishing authors is that you found an imprint. Instead of independently published, you’re published under an imprint, it just happens that you own that imprint.
The #1 MOST misunderstood publishing term: Editor
This might come as surprise to you, because surely you know what an editor is. An editor is someone who edits, right?
Yes and no. “Editor” as a term covers different things, and two people with “editor” in their job titles may in fact have very different day to day duties. This can be extremely confusing for first-time authors, as their expectations of specific editors and the reality may differ. Authors will likely work with a full series of editors, each who have a different role in bringing the book to market. It helps to understand the main kinds of editors you might work with.
First, though agents are not called “editors” officially, they will often have editorial feedback before signing authors.
Acquisitions or Managing Editors
When you’re going “on sub” the person whose attention your agent is trying to get is called an acquisitions editor. These editors are usually what published authors mean when they say “my editor.” The acquisitions editor does some or sometimes all of the “acquiring” for a particular imprint. Once they acquire your manuscript, they will be the point person for the publishing house that will guide you through the process. In the case of hybrid publishers or some periodical publications like journals, they also go by “managing editor,” depending on the internal staff structure of the house.
Developmental Editors
When you have a manuscript, or perhaps a partial manuscript, and you know that it needs big-picture or “high level” guidance in the revision process, you want to be working with a developmental editor. If you are self-publishing or early in the process, this is a person you may hire to help you bring your book to life. Acquisitions editors may do developmental editing themselves or assignment a staff editor to work with you on this stage.
Copy Editors
Copy editors are what most people think of when they think of editors—those people very fond of red pens and details. Copy editors will help refine your prose, avoid redundancy, and make sure the prose matches the purpose and desired audience and effect of the book. They do not, however, look at “high level” revision concerns.
Proofreaders
These are the Type-A’s of the editing world. They are not looking at your work with their nose to the page, making sure you have the right number of spaces between sentences (ONE!) and your em-dashes and en-dashes all the right length for the context.
Hopefully this has helped clarify not just these terms, but the inner machinations of publishing!
Happy writing.
