Nathan Bransford is the author of How to Write a Novel

The money a publisher pays an author to publish their book. This money is an advance

A publishing professional who shepherds books and authors through the publication process. An agent will submit a book project to editors, negotiate advances and contracts, follow-up on payments, and more generally serve as a creative and business adviser to an author (and much much more). An agent is the author's advocate. ARCs

An organization of agencies who abide by a canon of ethics

When multiple publishing houses are interested in acquiring a project they will sometimes bid against each other in an auction. While auction formats vary, typically the bids will proceed from lowest to highest and they last until one publisher has the highest bid and others have dropped out. Auctions are a good thing for authors and agents. Backli [..]

The five largest publishers: Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Hachette, and Macmillan Blurb

An annual, massive book convention in the US attended by publishers, agents, authors, librarians, bookstore reps, and random hangers-on. Book plates

(see "galleys") British Commonwealth

The person at a bookstore or library who is responsible for ordering books. Commission

You know those books at the front of Barnes & Noble? Those books didn't hitchhike there themselves: that placement is typically paid for by the publisher. Publishers make certain titles "available for co-op" and work out payment arrangements and special promotions, and it is then up to the bookstore to decide which titles get to [..]