Genealogy 101: anatomy of a publication
To continue with my writing-and-publishing-your-genealogy theme, I’ve included some terms that are used in newsletter, magazine, and book publishing to help you understand what’s what.
Body copy: The main text in an article, excluding headlines, etc.
Bond: The weight and thickness of paper. For example, typical copy paper is 20-pound, while cardstock is 100-pound or higher.
Byline: Credit given to author (by author name). Sometimes refers to author bio at end of article.
Call-out: Label used to identify parts of a photo, illustration, chart, etc. Sometimes with lines, arrows, or balloons tying call-out to a particular element, say identifying a building in a map.
Caption: Description of illustration, photo, chart, or graphical element, plus credit for the source.
CMYK: Four-color print process based on CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black).
Continuation heads: Repetition of the headline (and jumpline) to identify continuation of article.
Deck (dek): One or more lines of text after headline and before body of article to expand the headline/topic. Also known as a drop head.
Downstyle: Capitalizing only the first word and the proper nouns in a headline.
DPI or dots per inch: The greater value of DPI, the higher the quality of image. Images on a computer screen don’t need to be more than 72 DPI, but printed images need to be 300 DPI to be considered high-resolution, print-ready images.
DTP: Desktop publishing.
Dummy: Mock-up of a layout.
End Signs: Dingbat or other symbol used to mark end of article.
Endnotes: Reference citations or notes placed at the end of an article, chapter, or book that is referred to in the body of text with superscript numbers.
Folio: (1) A sheet of paper folded in half is a folio. A folio has four pages (two on each side). Several folios, one inside the other, make up a signature. Several signatures together make a book (or magazine), etc. Also known as a page. (2) A publication’s name, date, and page number placed in the footer or header.
Font: A specific size, weight, and style of a typeface. Example: 10-point Times New Roman, Bold.
Footer: Repeated text at the bottom of every page (or every other page of newsletter).
Footnotes: Reference citations or notes placed in the footer that is referred to in the body of text with superscript numbers.
Graf: Shorthand term for paragraph.
Gridlines: Non-printing lines that help with placement of text and graphics. Also known as guidelines.
Gutter: The margin between columns or between pages. The inside gutter is often wider than the outside margin to compensate for binding.
Header: Repeated text at the top of every page (or every other page of newsletter). Also known as running head or standing head.
Headline: Article’s title.
Index: Alphabetized list of subjects found within the body text, with page references where the topics can be found. Found in back of book.
Jumplines: Continuation lines, as in Continued on page 16 and Cont. from page 1.
Kicker: Short phrase set above a headline; as an intro or section heading for regular column.
Lede: Lead paragraph of a story.
Masthead: Staff, publisher, contact, copyright, etc. Also called staff box.
Nameplate: The banner on the cover that includes the publication’s name; sometimes graphics or a logo, tagline; publication information including Volume and Issue or Date.
Page layout: Design or composition of the page. Also known as page composition, page design, desktop publishing.
Process color: Four-color process printing is based on CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black).
Proof: A printed copy of a page used to check for errors.
Pull-quotes: A small section of the article that is repeated as a graphical element.
Recto: Right-hand pages with odd numbers.
Roman: Upright text with serifs. Normal weight type without italics, bold, etc.
Running head: Repeated text, often the name of the publication, that appears on every page or every other page of newsletter. Also known as standing head or header.
Sans Serif: A typeface without extra strokes, such as Arial, Helvetica, etc. The opposite is serif.
Serif: A typeface with added strokes, as found in Times, New Century Schoolbook, etc. typefaces. Also known as Roman or book type. The opposite is a sans serif type.
Sidebar: Short articles within an article that are sometimes placed within a box to the side of the main article, much like a graphical element.
Signature: Several folios, one inside the other, make up a signature.
Skyline: A teaser placed above the banner on the first page or cover. It’s called a skybox if the teaser includes text and graphics.
Spread: Two facing pages designed as a unit, such as a two-page advertisement or the opening to a big story.
Standing elements: Page elements that appear on every page of a publication in the same position and format. Also known as master page elements or repeating elements.
Standing heads: Page elements that appear on the top of every page of a publication in the same position and format.
Style: Font styles such as Roman, bold, italic, oblique, expanded, condensed, and compressed.Also called styling.
Subhead: Phrases or short titles that appear within the body of an article between paragraphs to break it into smaller sections.
Table of Contents (TOC): List of articles and their page numbers near the start of a publication.
Teaser: Text or image on page 1 or cover to engage readers’ interest.
Template: A master guide, often with standing elements in place, to help design pages within a publication.
Title page: Title of publication and name of author (and illustrator). Sometimes includes publisher name and address, copyright information, ISBN, Library of Congress number, date of publication, etc.
TOC: Table of Contents.
Typeface: The style and weight, in all point sizes, of letters and numbers. Also called a font.
Upstyle: A headline with all major words capitalized. Also known as book-style headline, title case, or proper case.
Verso: Left-hand pages with even numbers.
Weight: (1) The thickness of a typeface, such as light, medium, bold, heavy, etc. (2) The bond of paper stock.
White space: Areas on the page without text or visual images.
For more on my writing-and-publishing-your-genealogy theme, check out:
Genealogy 101: top 10 reasons to publish your research
Genealogy 101: top 10 reasons to publish on paper
Genealogy 101: top 10 projects to publish
Genealogy 101: top 10 writing tips
Genealogy 101: publishing terms for the genealogist
Genealogy 101: top 10 marketing tips for publishing your genealogy
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