Advance
Money a publisher pays you before your book is published, set against future royalties. You keep it even if the book never earns it back. Paid in instalments, not a lump sum.
The Glossary
Querying and publishing come with a vocabulary nobody teaches you. This glossary explains the terms you'll meet while querying, plainly.
A
Agency agreement
The contract between you and your agent once they offer representation. It sets out commission, what rights they'll handle, and how either of you can end the arrangement. Read it before you sign, and ask questions. A good agent expects them.
Association of Authors' Agents
The UK trade body for literary agents, often shortened to AAA. Members agree to a code of practice, which includes not charging reading fees. Membership is a useful signal, though plenty of reputable agents sit outside it.
Auction
When more than one publisher wants the same book, the agent runs an auction and publishers bid for it. Rarer than publishing news makes it look.
B
Big Five
The five largest trade publishers: Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. Most of their imprints only accept submissions through agents.
Boutique agency
A small agency, often one or two agents. Smaller list, sometimes closer attention. Neither better nor worse than a large agency, just a different shape.
C
The Call
The phone call where an agent offers you representation. Usually arranged by email first, so you'll have warning. It's also your interview of them: come with questions.
Closed to submissions
The agent isn't accepting new work right now. Agents open and close as their reading pile grows and shrinks. Don't submit to a closed agent; it won't be read, and it can read as not doing your research.
Commercial fiction
Fiction written to reach a wide readership, where story drives the book. Crime, romance, thrillers and sagas mostly sit here. The counterpart term is literary fiction, and plenty of books sit somewhere between.
Commission
The agent's percentage of what your book earns. Typically 15% for UK sales and 20% for translation and film, agreed in the agency agreement. Agents earn when you earn. They shouldn't cost you anything up front.
Comp titles
Published books you name to show where your manuscript sits, short for comparison titles. "For readers of X" or "Y meets Z". Recent comps, ideally from the last few years, work better than classics: they show the market, not just the flavour.
Covering letter
The one-page letter that introduces you and your book to a UK agent. Usually three parts: the pitch, a little about the book (genre, word count, comps), and a little about you. In the US this is called a query letter, and most online advice uses that word.
Crossover
A book that reaches two audiences at once, most often young adult fiction that adults also read.
D
Debut
A first novel, or the writer who wrote it. Being a debut isn't a disadvantage: agents actively look for them.
E
Exclusive submission
When an agent asks to consider your manuscript without other agents seeing it at the same time. If you agree, agree for a fixed period. Open-ended exclusivity mostly costs the writer.
F
Form rejection
A standard, impersonal rejection, often the same wording every writer receives. It carries no verdict on your writing beyond "not for this agent, this time". Everyone gets them, including writers who went on to do rather well.
Foreign rights
The right to publish your book in other countries and languages. Often sold separately, deal by deal, and a real source of income for some books. Your agent or their co-agents usually handle this.
Full manuscript
The whole book. "The agent requested the full" means they read your opening chapters and want the rest. A good sign, but still not a promise.
H
High concept
A premise you can pitch in a sentence and the listener immediately gets it. Useful shorthand in a covering letter; not a requirement for a good book.
Hybrid author
A writer who publishes both traditionally and independently, choosing route by project.
Hybrid publisher
A company where the author contributes to publication costs in exchange for services and a higher royalty share. Terms vary widely, so read any contract carefully and check exactly what you're paying for and what you'd earn. Traditional publishers don't charge authors.
I
Imprint
A named publishing list within a larger publisher, with its own identity and editors. One publisher can hold many imprints.
Independent publisher
A publisher outside the Big Five, from substantial houses to very small presses. Some accept submissions directly from writers, without an agent.
L
List
The set of authors an agent represents, as in "she's building her list". An agent building a list is often especially open to debuts.
Literary agency
The company agents work within. You submit to an individual agent, not the agency as a whole, and most agencies ask you to approach only one of their agents at a time.
Literary agent
The person who represents you and your work to publishers. Agents sell rights, negotiate contracts, and take commission only when you earn. You don't need one for every route into print, but most large publishers only read agented submissions.
Literary fiction
Fiction where the writing itself, character and theme carry the book as much as plot. The counterpart term is commercial fiction, and the border between them is famously fuzzy.
M
Manuscript
Your book in its pre-published form. Often abbreviated to ms (one manuscript) or mss (several).
Manuscript wishlist
The specific things an agent says they'd love to be sent, often published on agency pages or under #MSWL online. Reading it is the quickest way to know whether your book fits.
Middle grade
Fiction for roughly 8 to 12 year olds, often shortened to MG. A category of reader age, not a genre: middle grade can be funny, scary, fantastical or quietly real.
N
No response means no
A submissions policy where silence after a stated period counts as a rejection. Frustrating, and increasingly common. The agency's guidelines state the period; once it's passed, move on without a second thought.
Nudge
A short, polite follow-up when an agent has held your submission well past their stated response time, or when you have an offer from elsewhere. One nudge is fine. A campaign of them isn't.
O
On submission
What happens after you sign with an agent: they send your manuscript to editors at publishing houses. The querying anxiety, at a new address.
Open to submissions
The agent is currently accepting new work. This changes often, which is why the date something was last checked matters.
Opening chapters
The sample of your book most UK agents ask for, commonly the first three chapters or roughly the first fifty pages. Always the opening, not your favourite chapter from the middle. Check each agency's guidelines for its exact ask.
P
Partial
A US term for a requested portion of the manuscript, larger than the sample but not the whole book. UK agents mostly skip this stage and request the full.
Picture book
A book for the youngest readers where words and pictures carry the story together. Its own market with its own conventions, including very particular word counts.
Pre-empt
A publisher's offer made quickly, before other publishers can bid, to take a book off the table. A good problem to have.
Q
Query letter
The US name for a covering letter. Worth knowing because most online querying advice is American: excellent on craft, but check any specifics (page counts, synopsis length, etiquette) against each UK agency's own guidelines.
R
Reading fee
A charge for considering your submission. Members of the Association of Authors' Agents agree not to charge them, and reputable agents make their money from commission, not from writers. Treat any request for money to read your work as a reason to look closely.
Response time
How long an agent typically takes to reply to submissions, where stated. Weeks to months is normal. It reflects reading piles, not your chances.
Revise and resubmit
An invitation to rework the manuscript along lines the agent suggests and send it back, often shortened to R&R. Not a rejection and not an offer: a genuine expression of interest. Take it seriously, and only take it on if you agree with the notes.
Royalties
Your percentage of each copy sold, set in the publishing contract. Once royalties earned pass your advance, the book "earns out" and further royalties are paid to you.
S
Self-publishing
Publishing your book yourself, controlling the process and paying its costs, through platforms and services you choose. A first-class route in its own right, not a fallback, and the right one for many books and writers.
Simultaneous submissions
Sending your work to several agents at once. Standard practice, and agents expect it. The courtesy that goes with it: tell everyone who has the manuscript when you receive an offer.
Slush pile
The stack of unsolicited submissions waiting to be read. Unglamorous name, real route: books genuinely do get plucked from it.
Small press
A small independent publisher. Many take direct submissions and publish work the bigger houses won't risk. Advances are usually modest or absent; care and attention often aren't.
Standard manuscript format
The plain, readable layout agents expect: double spacing, a clear serif font, numbered pages. Individual guidelines trump any general rule.
Submission
Your package to an agent, usually a covering letter, synopsis and opening chapters. Also the verb for sending it.
Submission guidelines
Each agency's instructions for what to send and how. They differ more than you'd expect, and following them exactly is the easiest good impression you'll ever make.
Submission window
A limited period when an otherwise closed agent or publisher accepts work. Windows open and close quickly, which makes dates worth watching.
Synopsis
A short factual summary of your whole plot, ending included. Usually one page unless the guidelines say otherwise. It isn't blurb and it isn't meant to tease: the agent wants to see the shape of the whole story, so spoil everything.
T
Trade publishing
The mainstream publishing business of selling books to general readers through shops and retailers, which is what most people mean by "traditionally published". The publisher pays you, never the reverse.
U
Unagented
Without an agent. Unagented writers can still submit directly to many independent publishers and to anything marked "unsolicited submissions welcome".
Unsolicited submission
Work sent without being asked for. The slush pile is made of these, and agencies open to submissions are inviting them. It stops being unsolicited the moment an agent requests it, which is why "requested material" gets flagged in an email subject line.
Upmarket
Fiction that blends commercial storytelling with literary polish, sitting between the two. Book clubs live here, and agents use the word often.
V
Vanity publishing
A business model where the author pays a company to publish their book, and the company's income comes from authors rather than readers. Distinct from self-publishing, where you keep control and choose your own services, and from trade publishing, where money flows to the author. If a "publisher" approaches you asking for money, check the model before you check the flattery.
W
Word count
The length of your manuscript in words, stated in your covering letter. Expected ranges vary by genre and age category, and wild departures from them are one of the commonest reasons a submission struggles. Check the norms for your category before you query.
Women's fiction
A market category for fiction centred on women's lives and relationships. A shelving term rather than a judgement about who reads what.
Y
Young adult
Fiction for teenage readers, roughly 12 up, usually shortened to YA. Like middle grade it's an age category, not a genre, and it spans every genre going.