Vocabulary
What is a royalty advance?
The amount of money paid to an author or publisher in advance of publication, which is earned out by royalties after publication
What is the name of the magazine I work for
Kirkus Reviews
Where is the bulk of American publishing located geographically
New York City
Which department of a publishing house works with the author on the manuscript of the book?
Editorial
Who wrote my favorite book Let the Great World Spin
Colum McCann
When referring to a book, what does extent mean?
Page count
What's an ISBN
unique ID number for book
What does a literary agent do?
Represent an author/connect them with editors and publishers
What does the production department do?
Which Ian McEwan novel, known for it's movie adaptation's iconic green dress and set during WWII, is on my top ten books list?
Atonement
What are Subsidiary rights
Rights to audio, digital, translation, film, etc (anything not home market or home language print rights)
About how soon before publication do publishers send us books to review
Usually 3-6 months
What does a literary scout do?
Inform publishers about books in other languages that they may want to publish in English
What is the difference between the marketing department and the publicity department
Marketing pays for advertisements, publicity finds mutually beneficial arrangemetns for promotion.
Which John Green book contains an allusion to Kenyon (if you squint)
Turtles all the way down
What is a publisher's backlist?
Books no longer being actively promoted but still in print (this is where most money comes from)
What is the copy of the book that's sent to us called?
Advanced Reader Copy (ARC)
What are the 3 main types of publishing company
Though almost everyone at the publishing company touches it, which department deals most with the profit and loss statement?
Sales
My favorite Charles Dickens book came up at trivia recently in a question about knitting, which is crucial to the plot. Which book is it
A Tale of Two Cities
What's a USP?
Unique Selling Point: one-sentence pitch of why a book is unique, important, and marketable)
What department of the publishing company is responsible for sending us books to review
Publicity
Name the Big 5 of American publishing
Penguin Random House, Hachette, Harpercollins, Macmillan, Simon & Schuster
What's the difference between an editor and a copyeditor?
Who is the author of the book I'm currently reading (and enjoying immensely) Babel? She is also the author of Yellowface, which just got picked up by a TV company.
R. F. Kuang