Publishers sometimes use terminology differently, but Christine Frank offers a primer on how the St. Louis Publishers Association defines common terms.

Traditional publishing (also called commercial or legacy publishing) requires no money from an author and pays the author an advance, usually at least $1,000. The publisher edits, designs, prints, distributes and markets the book, paying royalties to the author based on number of copies sold.

Vanity publishing, an older term less used today, required authors to pay a printer to produce X number of books. This is also known as subsidy publishing and at times requires signing over all rights to the book for a specified period of time. The author receives "royalties" based on a small percentage of the retail price of books sold and pays for copies of their book. Subsidy publishers will usually publish almost any author.

Self-publishing (also sometimes called independent publishing) involves an individual forming a company to produce and market a book or books. The self-publisher arranges the manufacture of the books, distribution and the marketing. Quality control is the responsibility of the self-publisher. The business side of running the publishing company is also the responsibility of the self-publisher. The financial investment is greater, but the financial rewards may be greater if the books sell.

Micropresses publish a small, probably curated list of books. A micropress often specializes in books of a specific genre or niche. This gives the press the ability to market the books more effectively. Self-publishing companies provide publishing services with varying rates of markups and packages. Their profit comes mainly from the markups they charge on services like providing a book cover design, formatting a simple interior, printing and selling the author a number of books.

Print on demand (POD) is a system wherein one book at a time can be printed, usually to order. For the publisher, this provides the advantage of not having to stock a large inventory, saving not only storage space but also a large financial outlay for printing, shipping and storage of a pallet of books.

Book shepherds (also called book coaches) offer freelance services such as editing, layout, marketing, illustrating, cover design and marketing strategy.

-- Jane Henderson