List of Self-Publishing Acronyms

If you’re new to self-publishing, you probably know this by now:

Keeping up with the discussions on social media, podcasts, and author communities can feel overwhelming if you don’t know all the self-publishing acronyms being thrown around.

It’s probably already obvious that there are many self-publishing acronyms.

Maybe you’re even thinking “WTF!”🤣

So, drawing on my eight years as a self-publishing coach for American nonfiction authors, I made this list of acronyms—with the meaning and definition of each acronym included.

No matter how you’re connected to the book publishing industry, whether you’re an indie author or an indie author to-be, an editor, book designer, or you call yourself something else, I hope you find this indie author acronym glossary to be useful.

⬇️⬇️Each acronym and meaning appears below, in A–Z order. 100+ terms and meanings! ⬇️⬇️

self publishing acronyms list word cloud for indie authors

List of Self-Publishing Acronyms

AA Amazon Ads (formerly Amazon Marketing Services—AMS). Tools and services provided by Amazon to authors and publishers to run ads on the Amazon website.

ACES American Copy Editors Society. A US-based professional organization.

ACOS Average cost of sale. A marketing and advertising metric used in Amazon Advertising to determine how efficient an advertising campaign is. It is the total spend divided by sales generated, written as a percentage. The higher the percentage, the better an advertising campaign is doing.

ACX Audiobook Creation Exchange. An Amazon-owned platform for the production and distribution of audiobooks. Includes a marketplace of professional narrators.

ALLi The Alliance of Independent Authors. “A non-profit membership association for self-publishing authors, to access advice, advocacy, discounts, and more.”

ARC Advanced reader copy. A free copy of a book given for promotional purposes to reviewers, librarians, and booksellers before the official publication date.

ASIN Amazon Standard Indentification Number. A unique 10-character identifier assigned by Amazon to each ebook sold on Amazon. This is different from an ISBN.

B&N Barnes & Noble. The largest brick-and-mortar bookseller in the US. Operates Barnes & Noble Press and sells Nook ereader devices.

BB BookBub. A book discovery service that matches readers with discounted and free ebooks on the major retailers’ platforms. For readers, BookBub offers personalized emails about book discounts, new releases, and recommendations from favorite authors. For authors and publishers, BookBub is considered one of the most effective promotional platforms.

BBFD BookBub Featured Deal. A promotional opportunity that highlights a book to BookBub’s mailing list, which varies from 200,000 to 2 million, depending on the genre. BookBub Featured Deals enable authors and publishers to reach a large number of potential book buyers who receive targeted emails through BookBub.

BBNRFD BookBub New Release Featured Deal. A weekly newsletter, sent every Tuesday, that highlights the most exciting new book releases. Curated by the BookBub editorial team, it showcases top picks from various genres, helping readers discover fresh titles.

BBW Big beautiful woman. A romance with a curvy heroine.

BCC Back cover copy. The text on the back cover of a print book.

BISAC Book Industry Standards and Communications. The most common system for categorizing books, used especially in North America. It uses alphanumeric codes. The BISAC list is updated annually by the Book Industry Standards Group.

BISG Book Industry Standards Group. “A membership organization made up of a diverse slate of publishers, manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors, libraries, retailers, and industry partners” dedicated to “solving problems that affect two or more parts of the industry, with five core practice areas: metadata, rights, supply chain, subject codes (BISAC), and workflow.”

BSR Best Seller Rank. A numerical score assigned by Amazon to products in specific categories; a lower BSR equals higher sales.

BWWM Black woman/White man. A romance between a Black woman and a White man.

CB Cover blurb.

CMOS The Chicago Manual of Style. The authoritative reference manual for authors, editors, and publishing companies for style, grammar, spelling, and more. Every author and editor should have a copy.

CMP Cost per mille. How much it costs to display an ad to 1,000 viewers. Also refers to the cost per 1,000 views paid by an advertiser.

CMYK Cyan-Magenta-Yellow-Key (black). A color system used to print full-color images.

CPC Cost Per Click. A type of online advertising used to direct traffic to websites in which advertisers pay website owners each time someone clicks on their advertisement. CPC also means how much it costs an advertiser for each time someone clicks on an advertisement.

CPI Cost per impression. An advertising term referring to the cost for each time one’s ad appears.

CR Conversion Rate. How often clicks on advertisements lead to sales, typically expressed with a percentage.

CTA Call to action. A marketing term referring to a message aimed at persuading a person to take a desired action.

CTR Click-through Rate. The rate by which someone clicks on an ad, typically expressed with a percentage.

DOCX Document Open XML. Microsoft Word and Google Docs file format. The most common file format for book manuscripts and works in progress. The file format preferred by most editors and book formatters.

DRM Digital Rights Management. A technology that controls access to and usage of digital content with the goal of preventing unauthorized copying and distribution. DRM helps protect intellectual property rights by restricting how digital media can be used.

D2D Draft2Digital. An ebook and print book aggregator and publishing service. With D2D, one can book to individual publishing retailers and library vendors and make a print book available via print on demand.

DNF Did not finish. Refers to a book that someone started to read but didn’t complete.

EAN European Article Number. The most widely used version is EAN-13, a thirteen-digit format. It appears on barcodes that appear on book covers or book jackets. The lines in a barcode contain information about the book.

ebook Electronic book. A book formatted so it can be read electronically on ereaders or in apps.

EFA Editorial Freelancers Association. A professional organization made up of editors. It publishes rates for editorial services.

e-ID Electronic identity. A digital identity card used to sign contracts in many countries.

EPUB Electronic Publication. A file format for ebooks used by ereaders such as Kobo, Nook, and Kindle.

Self-Publish Like a Pro—With a Self-Publishing Coach.

Whether you’re a first-time author or you are looking to jump to the next level—

The self-publishing world can be daunting. But you don’t have to go it alone.

With the expert guidance and personalized support of an experienced book coach, you can self-publish with skill and confidence—while maximizing your book’s visibility.

I’ll help you turn “some day” into “done the right way.”

FMC Female main character. The heroine.

Fnac Fédération Nationale d’Achats des Cadres (“National Purchasing Federation for Cadres”). A French multinational retailer selling entertainment media, including books and electronics.

GMC Goal, motivation, and conflict. Terms used to refer to a character’s development—goal, meaning what the character wants; motivations, meaning why they want what they want; conflict, meaning what stands in the way of them achieving what they want.

HB Hardback or hardcover.

HBD Hardback (or hardcover) dust jacket. Available for print on demand books on IngramSpark and other platforms.

HEA Happily ever after. A romance story that ends with the couple together and happy.

HFN Happily for now. A romance story that ends with the couple together and happy for now.

HTML Hypertext markup language. The standard markup language for documents meant to be displayed in a web browser. It’s used to create certain font, graphic, and hyperlink effects.

IBPA Independent Book Publishers Association. “A not-for-profit membership organization serving and leading the independent publishing community through advocacy, education, and tools for success.” It is open to independent book publishers and self-published authors.

IMP Impressions. In online advertising, when a site displays an ad.

iOS iPhone/iPad Operating System. The operating system on an Apple iPhone or iPad.

IP Intellectual property. Intangible creations of the human mind.

IS IngramSpark. “A platform for self-publishing authors and publishers to create, print, and distribute their [print books and ebooks] worldwide.

ISBN International Standard Book Number. A unique 13-digit number used by libraries and bookstores to identify your book. ISBNs are assigned to book, through each country’s agency of record, i.e., Bowker (US), Nielsen (UK). Each format of a book (paperback, hardcover, ebook, etc.) has its own unique ISBN.

JPEG or JPG Joint Photographic Experts Group. A file format for compressed image files.

KDP Kindle Direct Publishing. Amazon’s self-publishing platform used by authors and publishers to publish, distribute, and sell Kindle ebooks, paperback books, hardcover books, and AI voice-replica-narrated audiobooks.

KENPC Kindle Edition Normalized Page Count. The number of pages in a Kindle ebook, as calculated by Amazon using a number of formatting settings and rules. It is used when determining the number of page reads—and thus the payout to authors—for books read via Kindle Unlimited.

KU Kindle Unlimited. A subscription service for Amazon readers that grants free access to a catalogue of ebooks by authors and publishers who are enrolled in the KDP Select program—authors and publishers who agree to exclusivity for each ebook made available in the KU catalogue.

KWL   Kobo Writing Life. The DIY self-publishing platform for authors and platforms to reach Kobo and Kobo partners and library partners worldwide.

LCCN   Library of Congress Control Number. A unique identifier assigned to books by the US Library of Congress. US-based self-published authors must apply for an LCCN.

LDP   Launch day promotion. A strategy for promoting a book on the day it is released

LLC   Limited liability company. A business structure formed by some authors that may have financial benefits or protections.

MacOS   Macintosh Operating System. The operating system on an Apple desktop or laptop computer.

MC   Main character. Also known as the protagonist.

MFA   Master of Fine Arts degree.

MG   Middle Grade. A fiction genre for readers aged 8–12.

MM or M/M.   A romance between two men.

MMC   Main male character.

MS   Manuscript. Plural: MSS (manuscripts). The original text of a book before it is prepared for publication.

MW   Merriam-Webster. The dictionary used by most US-based authors and editors in print or online formats.

NL   Newsletter. A recurring email publication that helps authors engage with their readers through a subscription list. It typically includes personal updates and details about upcoming events, such as book launches or promotions.

OP   Out of print. No copies of a print book are available and there are no plans to print any more.

PB   Paperback.

PCN   Preassigned Control Number. Assigned by the Library of Congress in advance of publication to those titles that may be added to the Library's collections. A preliminary control number assignment.

PDF   Portable Document Format. A file format used for print-on-demand books and fixed layout ebooks.

PNR   Paranormal Romance. A fiction genre combining the genres of romance and speculative/paranormal.

POC   Proof of concept. Something that demonstrates there is the potential for appeal or profitability.

POD   Print on Demand, a printing technology and business model in which books are printed in small quantities at a time, to fulfill orders as they come in.

POV   Point of view. The perspective from which a story, situation, or experience is observed or narrated.

PPC   Pay per click. An advertising model that charges advertisers a fee every time someone clicks on an ad. The goal is for clicks to lead to a high conversion rate.

PR   Public relations.

PWA   ProWritingAid, a suite of tools to aid authors with writing, editing, and improving their writing; similar to Grammarly.

QR   Quick response. As in QR code, a digitally generated code/image, readable by scanners and smartphones that, when scanned in a book, can take readers to a web page, online store, or social media page.

RAC   Reader acquisition cost. How much money has been spent to acquire a new reader.

RFM   Recency, frequency, monetary value. Book marketing principle that looks at the recency of a purchase (How long ago was the book purchased?), the frequency (How often is the book purchased?), and the monetary component (How much has been spent?). The higher the RFM, the higher a book will rank in online retailers’ algorithms.

RGB   Red-Green-Blue. A color model used for images that uses red, green, and blue.

RH   Reverse Harem. A romance story with multiple love interests of three or more men.

RM   Reader magnet. A piece of free content offered by an author to attract readers and gain followers. It may include a short story or even a book, given away in exchange for a subscription to the author’s email list.

ROI   Return on investment.

RTF   Rich text format. A file format sometimes used for book manuscripts.

SelfPubCon   Self-Publishing Advice Conference—SelfPubCon for short. An online conference held twice annually by the Alliance of Independent Authors.

SEO   Search engine optimization. What’s done to improve the discoverability via online search engines displaying one’s content in online searches.

SF   Science fiction, a genre set in the future.

SFF   Science fiction and fantasy. A genre combining the two.

TBR   To be read. A list of books to be read, as in a Goodreads account.

TIF or TIFF   Tagged Image File Format. A file format for images, such as book cover files that can be uploaded to publishing platforms.

TOC   Table of contents. Appearing in the book’s front matter, it lists the chapters (and sometimes chapter subsections) of a book, along with their page numbers.

TW   Trigger warning. A statement warning readers that the contents of a book may make them uncomfortable.

UF   Urban fantasy. A fiction genre in which the books are set in urban areas.

URL   A website address.

UX   User experience. How a user interacts with and experiences a product, system, or service.

WC   Word count.

WIP   Work in progress. A manuscript currently being written or edited—the book you’re now working on.

XHTML   Hypertext markup language, a mashup of HTML and XML.

XML   Extensible Markup Language, a markup language and file format for data.

YA   Young adult fiction, typically written for readers aged 12 to 18.

➡️If you’re a US author looking to hire a self-publishing coach, click on the link.

Thanks for checking out my indie author acronyms list!

—Daniel

Sources consulted: Indie author acronyms and meanings

Authors, Publishing, MarketingDaniel J. Tortoraamazon, amazon kdp, author tips, ebooks, print books, audiobooks, self-publishing