A Publishing Primer
Don't know your French flaps from your headbands? Here's a guide to the arcane terminology of the book world

By RACHEL TOOR writing in the Chronicle of Higher Education.

When I taught a course about publishing last winter, I learned from my students that much of what I say when I talk about publishing is jargon. That was an unhappy realization because, as a writing teacher, I rail against coded language and shortcuts designed to let readers know that you are "in the club."
Until that course, it had never occurred to me how many terms of art there are in the world of book publishing. I thought I would take this opportunity to explain some of its more arcane terminology.

Read the full piece and all that arcane terminology online here.

Rachel Toor is an assistant professor of creative writing at the Inland Northwest Center for Writers, in Spokane, the M.F.A. program of Eastern Washington University. Her newest book, Personal Record: A Love Affair With Running, will be published in October. She welcomes comments and questions directed to careers@chronicle.com.