We’ve all been new to something and had our heads spin at the terms, acronyms, and shorthand. Here I’ll be gathering the things I find myself looking up in regards to the writing world.
A full manuscript out to an Agent.
| Term or Thing | What it Means | For More, See |
| Beta | Beta Reader – someone you trust and have a good working relationship with who reads your work in progress and provides feedback. | |
| CNR | ??? | |
| First X | First 3 pages, first 5 pages, first 50 pages, first 3 chapters, etc. – some chunk of your completed, polished work requested to be included with or requested in response to your query letter. | |
| FTW | For the Win – used on Query Shark (QS), means query has reached the point that QS believes it would be useful to send out as an actual query. | Query Shark |
| Full | Your full manuscript sent to an Agent (or Editor) in response to their explicit request for same. If they don’t ask for it, don’t send it! | |
| Logline | A logline is a one-sentence synopsis of the story. This term comes from the screenwriting world, but coming up with that one sentence helps writers too. | The Story Department |
| MC | Main Character | |
| MG | Middle Grade | |
| MS | Manuscript | |
| NA | New Adult | |
| Nudge | A quick communication to ask about status or relay pertinent information. | |
| On Submission, Subbing | Your work is being shopped around, either by yourself or by your Agent, to Editors at publishing houses. | |
| PM | Publisher’s Marketplace, private message | |
| QT | Query Tracker | |
| Query, Query Letter, Querying | A written pitch sent to an Agent or Editor in an attempt to entice the recipient to represent or publish your work. May or may not include additional items such as first x pages, synopsis, etc. – what is included with the query letter is strictly up to the Agent (or Editor) you are querying so be sure to follow their guidelines! | Query-Letter.com |
| R&R | Revise & Resubmit | |
| SF, SF&F | Science Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy | |
| Tagline | A tagline is a catch phrase, something that might go on a book cover to further entice readers’ interest. | Writers Helping Writers |
| TBR | To Be Read | |
| The Big 5 | The number and the names can vary, but as of July 2016 per the linked article, the big 5 publishing houses are: Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, Macmillian Publishers, Penguin Random House, and Simon and Schuster | The Big 5 Trade Book Publishers |
| WIP | Work-in-Progress | |
| WM | Writer’s Market | |
| YA | Young Adult |