I like the one about "Pub date"

Over at the Making Light website, they've run a "devil's dictionary" of publishing-industry definitions (inspired by the one at Paperback Writer, which is in archives that I can't access).

This dictionary generally lacks Ambrose Bierce's wonderfully succinct viciousness. Some entries are too long-winded, some rather obvious ("Trade Publisher: A publisher of books that are sold via bookstores" -- yes, and the punchline is?).

But some are very smart ("Self-publishing: How authors who are slow learners find out about marketing and distribution").

January 9, 2007 9:42 AM | Permalink

Categories:

THE REVIEWS:

Pat Barker, Frankenstein, Cass Sunstein on the internet, Samuel Johnson, Thrillers, Denis Johnson, Alan Furst, Caryl Phillips, Richard Flanagan, George Saunders, Michael Harvey, Larry McMurtry, Harry Potter and more ...

ESSAY:

Big D between the sheets -- Dallas in fiction

ESSAY:

Reviewing the state of reviewing

ESSAY:

9/11 as a novel: Why?

ESSAY:

How can critics say the things they do? And why does anyone pay attention? It's the issue of authority.

The disappearing book pages:

Papers are cutting book coverage for little reason

Thrillers and Lists:

Noir favorites, who makes the cut and why