OBELISK A character (†) used chiefly to mark footnotes. Also called dagger or long cross. In European typography, the obelisk was also a sign of mortality and used to mark the year of death or the names of deceased persons. See also DAGGER FOOTNOTE PUNCTUATION
OBJECT-ORIENTED A term descriptive of graphics or images that are defined mathematically - by lines, circles, text, and other objects - in contrast to bitmapped graphics, which are defined by pixels. Also called vector graphics. See also BITMAP BITMAPPED GRAPHIC PIXEL
OBLIQUE A sans serif font equivalent to italics. A term used in typography in reference to a style of letter created by slanting a roman font to the right to simulate italics if the computer or printer has no true italic font. (Upright faces are usually termed roman). Although similar to italic, an oblique does not have the script quality of a true italic. See also FONT HUMANIST TYPE STYLE ITALIC ROMAN SANS SERIF SCRIPT
OBLIQUE STROKE (/) Also termed slash or virgule See also PUNCTUATION SLASH VIRGULE
OBLONG A word used in publishing to describe any printed book or catalog, etc., which has been bound on one of its shorter sides. Such a book is also said to be album bound. See also BINDING BOOK BOOK FORMAT
O.C. An abbreviation for order canceled. It sometimes appears on an invoice to indicate that an item, which was ordered originally, was subsequently cancelled by the customer. See also INVOICE INVOICE SYMBOLS
OCTAVO A book that is approximately 9¾ inches in height by 6 inches wide. It is printed on sheets, which are subsequently folded to form 8 leaves or 6 pages. See also BOOK FORMAT DEMI-OCTAVO
ODD HEADER In word processing, a term applicable to a header that is used only on odd-numbered pages. See also EVENHEADER HEADER RECTO WORD PROCESSING
ODD SIZE A term that describes any nonstandard book size or size of paper. See also BASIS SIZE BASTARD SIZE INTERNATIONAL PAPER SIZES BOOK FORMAT
OFF-PRESS PROOF A proof made by photomechanical means, such as a Cromalin or Matchprint, and sometimes by digital means, rather than on the printing press. Off-press proofs can be produced more quickly and cheaply than press proofs. They are also called prepress proofs. See also PHOTOMECHANICAL PRESS PROOF PROOF
OFFPRINT An excerpt from a publication, or a copy of a writer's article, which has been printed and bound before the publication itself is distributed for sale. Offprints are bound separately and used for promotional purposes. For example, a publisher may print and bind a chapter of a book for distribution to booksellers before the entire book is published. In addition, offprints can be supplied to the author in lieu of payment for his use as published samples of his writing to accompany future query letters or submissions. Also, a run-on or reprint of an article published in a scholarly journal or magazine for the writer to distribute. Offsheets are additional sheets that have been cut into single pages and assembled as separate articles held together by one staple in the upper left corner. See also ADVANCE COPY EXCERPT GALLEYS MARKETING
OFF REGISTER A term in printing that indicates that one or more color separations for an image were improperly aligned, causing text and colors to be out of position and creating a blurred image. The cause of such occurrences must be corrected before printing can be permitted to continue. See also PRINTER'S ERROR REGISTER REGISTRATION
OFFSET LITHOGRAPHY A printing method in which the image is transferred from the printing plate (fastened to a plate cylinder), onto a rubber blanket (rubber covered cylinder) and then to, or "offset" onto, the paper (traveling around an impression cylinder). The rubber cylinder affords the flexibility to print on wood, cloth, metal, leather, and rough paper.
There are no raised surfaces on the printing plates. The image and non-image areas are the same height. Consequently, the image to be printed is not above the surface of the printing plate (as in letterpress) or sunk below it (as in intaglio, or gravure, printing). Instead, it is flush with the surface of the printing plate. As a result, the process is termed planographic. The plates are made photographically.
The offset plate is treated to make it porous and then coated with a photosensitive material. Exposure to the image hardens the coating on the image areas. The coating on non-image areas is then washed away. The image areas are treated to accept the ink. The areas, which are not to be printed, are dampened with water. When greasy ink is applied to the plate, it sticks to the greasy image areas, but not to the non-greasy, damp, non-image areas.
Offset lithography is the most common lithographic printing method and one of the most common of all commercial printing processes. It is a high-volume, ink-based process that is widely used to print magazines, newspapers, advertisements, books, catalogues, greeting cards, and labels. Offset lithography is also called offset, litho-offset, set, offset free, offset photolithography, or planographic (flat) printing. See also BINDING OFFSET HYDROPHILIC LITHOGRAPHY NEGATIVE
OFFSET PAPER A term used to denote uncoated book paper. Also, a collective term for printing papers that have the properties required for offset printing. Offset paper must have sufficient strength to resist the tacky inks and significant moisture found in offset printing. Further, it must be pick-resistant and cannot create dust during processing. Offset paper may be uncoated or coated (e.g., matt, glossy, embossed). Further, it may manufactured from mechanical pulp or chemical pulp and supplied in sheets or in reels. See also BOOK PAPER COATED PAPER PAPER PICK TACK UNCOATED
OKIDATA A leading manufacturer of printers, especially dot-matrix and LED printers. Although its headquarters are located in New Jersey, it is owned by a large Japanese conglomerate, OKI Electric Industry Company. See also DOT-MATRIX PRINTER LASER PRINTER
ONE PIECE FOLDER (OPF) A custom-made, one-piece mailing carton designed to hold a particular book or set of books. See also ALL-FLAPS-MEET FOLDER JIFFY BAG MAILER
ONE UP A term that denotes that only one item is imposed at a time on a sheet. As a result, only one impression is printed at a time. See also FOUR UP IMPOSITION
ONION SKIN A lightweight translucent bond paper, typically used in air mail stationery because of its thinness. See BOND PAPER
ONLINE NEWSLETTER An electronically distributed newsletter. Like traditional newsletters printed on paper, online newsletters report news and contain business updates, profiles, and more. Some Web-based newsletters contain information deemed important by their recipients. Others contain information of more general interest or entertainment. The distinguishing feature of an online newsletter is the method used to distribute it. Online newsletters are usually e-mailed to their subscribers. However, in some cases, the newsletter is posted to a Website and a notice is e-mailed to the subscriber to advise that a new edition is available online. In the case of paid subscriptions, the recipient may be supplied with an access code to permit viewing. See also EZINE NEWSLETTER
ONE-SHOT FEATURE A single feature article for sale by a syndicate, rather than a series of features or a syndicated column. See also FEATURE PHOTO FEATURE SYNDICATE
ONE-TIME RIGHTS A term to describe the license granted by a writer to a publisher to publish the writer's manuscript once only, after which the rights to subsequent sales revert to the author. One-time rights are similar to reprint rights and sometimes are the same. See also RIGHT REPRINT RIGHTS
ONOMATOPOEIA The use of words that, when pronounced, suggest their meaning. Such words appear to imitate the sound with which they are associated. Examples include hiss, buzz, sizzle, pop, click, murmur, whisper, babble, growl.
ON SPEC A colloquial term for on speculation. It is used to describe one compensation arrangement under which a commercial artist may decide to create a design, or a writer may decide to write copy. One who works on spec does so without any contract or agreement to ensure his compensation. Instead, he hopes that, once his work is completed, he will be able to interest someone in buying it.
Similarly, an editor may decide to read a finished manuscript on speculation. This means that he is under no obligation to publish it. Alternatively, an editor may agree to consider a particular article or work for publication on speculation. Again, this means that he will consider publishing it, but with no guarantee that he will actually do so. See also FREELANCER PAGE RATE WORK FOR HIRE
OOP An abbreviation for out-of-print. See OUT-OF-PRINT
OOS An abbreviation for out-of-stock. See OUT-OF-STOCK
O.P. An abbreviation for out-of-print. See OUT-OF-PRINT
OPACITY The property of paper (or other substrate, ink, or color) that prevents or minimizes the transmission of light, and therefore, show-through. Show-through is the visibility of ink, which is printed on one side of a sheet, on its other side. Opaque paper is not transparent. Higher opacity results in less show-through and higher quality of the printed material. Opacity is determined by paper thickness, ink coverage, and the chemicals in the paper. The thicker or heavier the paper, the greater is the opacity, but also the higher the cost. See also OPTICAL CHARACTERISTICS SHOW-THROUGH
OPAQUE Not transparent. Impenetrable to light. The opposite of transparent. Most grades of paper are relatively opaque to light. Opaque also means to cause something to be less transparent to light. In printing, publishing, and photography, the term is used in the context of covering areas of a film negative with an opaque ink so that they will not appear on the printing plate and be reproduced. See also MASK MASKING MATERIAL
OPAQUE INK An ink that conceals all color beneath it. It is used particularly to conceal various parts of film negatives. See also INK NEGATIVE SURPRINT TRANSPARENT INK
OPINION LEADERS Persons in the forefront of new ideas. People who are able to influence the thinking of authors by what they say or write. Opinion leaders include respected authors and broadcasters, in addition to celebrities and other respected and highly-visible people. See also BOOK REVIEW FRIENDS OF THE HOUSE INTRODUCTION PUBLICITY
OPTICAL CENTER A term to describe what appears to the eye to be the center of a page or rectangle. The optical center is usually slightly above the geometric center (e.g., 2/5 of a page down from the upper edge of the paper). It does not seem to be as low as the geometric center. .See also BALANCE CENTER PAGE LAYOUT
OPTICAL-CHARACTER RECOGNITION (OCR) Any software that enables a scanner to read printed documents, recognize the characters, and convert the information into digital form that a computer can use. The image of a printed page can then be displayed on a computer monitor as text. Consequently, it can be edited, saved, and stored electronically. See also DIGITAL INPUT DEVICE SCAN SCANNER
OPTICAL CHARACTERISTICS Those characteristics of paper or board that concern its appearance. These include color, brightness, gloss, and opacity. See also BOARD BRIGHTNESS GLOSS OPACITY PAPER
OPTICAL DISK A high capacity storage device that stores information in a fashion similar to that of a CD-ROM. As with a CD, a laser etches tiny grooves in the plastic disk. The disk is read by a tightly focused laser beam. The medium stores large amounts of data with memories of 620 MB and 1.2 GB common. See also CD-ROM LASER MAGNETIC MEDIA
OPTION A written contract by which an owner of property (the optionor) gives to another (the optionee) the right to buy a property or to sell, lease, exchange, list or mortgage it. The right is given for a clearly stated future period and for a specific and clearly stated price and conditions decided now. Any item, whether real estate, personal property, or stock, can be the subject of an option. In publishing, the term is most often used in reference to the right to purchase subsidiary rights of an author's work, or to purchase an author's future work. See RIGHT SUBSIDIARY RIGHTS
ORDER CHECKING A business function of a self-publishing enterprise, which includes the tasks shown below. See also ORDER PROCESSING FULFILMENT
- Ensuring that the order is addressed to you and is for your books.
- Ensuring that all ordering information required to fill and ship the order has been completed.
- Receiving any check enclosed with the order, or completing any do-it-yourself checks, and marking the order paid.
- Ensuring that the order correctly reflects your trade terms. If not, deciding whether to process the order anyway, invoice the difference, or take other action.
- Determining which edition of the book(s) was desired, in the event that the requested version (e.g., soft paper) conflicts with the ISBN or product code entered.
ORDER ENTRY This business function includes sorting and batching incoming consumer orders, recording the orders, checking the orders for hot-sheet advertising offers, depositing cash and checks, and processing credit cards.
ORDER PROCESSING The combination of order entry, invoicing, and order fulfillment. This may involve preparing and mailing invoices or pro forma invoices, preparing packing slips for the guidance of the order filler, adding the customer's name and address to the customer mailing list, or updating the account's history, in the case of a reorder. See also ACCOUNT RECEIVABLE FULFILLMENT INVOICE ORDER CHECKING ORDER ENTRY
ORIENTATION A word normally associated with the positioning of printing on a page in relation to the directions of page length and width. Landscape orientation and portrait orientation are the two common choices of orientation. See also LANDSCAPE ORIENTAION PORTRAIT ORIENTATION POSITIONING
ORIGINAL ART A term that denotes the initial photo taken, or illustration created, for reproduction. See also ARTWORK ILLUSTRATION
ORNAMENT Another term for a dingbat. See DINGBAT
ORPHAN A term in word processing to denote the first line of text of a paragraph, if appearing alone at the bottom of a page or column of text. Also, the last word, last syllable of a hyphenated word, or last line of text of a paragraph, if appearing alone at the top of a page or column. (The latter is sometimes termed a widow.) In addition, any line of type appearing by itself at either the top or bottom of a page. Orphans are visually unattractive and considered to constitute errors in layout. Some word processors adjust page breaks automatically to avoid the creation of widows and orphans. See also WIDOW WORD PROCESSOR WORD PROCESSING
O.S. A commonly used abbreviation to denote out-of-stock. See OUT-OF-STOCK
OUTDENT Another term for a hanging indent. See HANGING INDENT
OUTLINE A chapter by chapter summary of the contents of a book, typically 5 to 20 pages in length. A book outline is submitted to a publisher to explain the scope of the article or book. It enables the publisher to evaluate an unwritten book, or a written book without reading it fully. The outline covers the main areas of the book without giving the details. In addition, an author may use an outline as a guide to the sequence of events. See also QUERY LETTER
Outline is also used to denote a graphical image that shows only the edges of the object. In printing, the term describes a typeface that forms only the outline of the characters. See also OUTLINE FONT
OUTLINE FONT A digital font that is geometrically defined and stored in a computer or printer as a set of templates or outlines, rather than as actual patterns of dots. Outline fonts can be scaled up or down for any designated type size. In addition to their unlimited font size, outline fonts take maximum advantage of an output device's resolution. The more resolution a printer or monitor offers, the better an outline font will look. They can also be shadowed or shaded to give three-dimensional appearance, or reversed. The most popular languages for outline fonts are PostScript and TrueType. See also BIT MAP BITMAPPED FONT CHARACTER CHARACTER SET FONT GLYPH HINTING OUTLINE POSTSCRIPT RESOLUTION SCALABLE FONT TRUETYPE TYPEFACE
OUT-OF-PRINT A term to describe the status of a publication (usually a book) that is no longer available, either now or in the future. If a publication is out of print, the publisher has no further copies of it for sale and no intention to reprint it. See also IN PRINT INVOICE SYMBOLS NEW EDITION OUT-OF-PRINT CLAUSE OUT-OF-STOCK REMAINDERS
OUT-OF-PRINT CLAUSE An important clause within a book contract between author and publisher. An out-of-print clause specifies the conditions under which the author's book will be considered to be no longer in print. In turn, this determines when all rights granted to the publisher under the contract will revert to the author. See also ACCOUNTING AND PAYMENTS CLAUSE OUT-OF-PRINT RIGHT
OUT-OF-REGISTER Another term for off register or misregister. See OFF REGISTER REGISTER
OUT-OF-STOCK This term implies that the publisher (or distributor or bookstore) has no copies of the requested publication in inventory and is awaiting a new printing or shipment of it. That is, it is temporarily unavailable. The meaning differs from that of out-of-print, which implies no further availability, either present or future. OS, O/S, and OOS are frequently used in place of the term out-of-stock. See also BACK ORDER INVOICE SYMBOLS OUT-OF-PRINT STOCK
OUTPUT Anything produced by a computer in a form that is useful. This includes computer-produced text, reports, graphics, and music or sound in hard-copy or softcopy format for immediate use or storage for later use by computers and people. See also HARDCOPY SOFTCOPY VIRTUAL PRINTER
OUTPRINT DEVICE The final destination of output from a computer, typically an imagesetter or laser printer. See IMAGESETTER LASER PRINTER
OVERHANG COVER A cover of a book or publication that has a greater area than the pages it encloses. See also BINDING COVER TEXT BLOCK
OVERLAY A transparent layer or cover sheet that is taped over artwork or a mechanical, photo, or proof for protection and has the same dimensions as the mounting board or material that it covers. Overlays are typically clear acetate sheets or tissue. In the case of multi-color artwork, acetate overlays are color-separated and contain the text and image elements, rather then leaving them for a mounting board. Tissue overlays are used to mark corrections or carry printing instructions for the underlying copy and to protect what it covers. See also ACETATE COLOR OVERLAY LAYOUT MECHANICAL: MOUNTING BOARD REGISTRATION MARKS TISSUE OVERLAY
OVERLEAF The other side of a page or sheet, particularly the book page following a right-hand page. See also PAGE LEAF SHEET VERSO
OVERPRINTING Printing on an already-printed area. That is, printing one color on top of another. Inks are usually transparent. Therefore, a color that is over-printed will appear as if it had been mixed with the other. Overprinting usually refers to printing black type on a halftone or colored background. Also termed surprinting or double printing. See SURPRINT TRANSPARENT INK
OVERRUN A printing run of more copies of the book, publication, etc., than were ordered is termed an underrun. It is generally considered acceptable for a printer to underrun or overrun a job by up to 10% of the quantity ordered. The term is sometimes used for overs, the additional copies printed. See also OVERS UNDERRUN
OVERS That portion of a print run, which exceeds the quantity ordered. That is, the number of printed pieces that are in excess of the quantity specified on the purchase order. The term is also used in reference to additional paper required to replace that spoiled in printing. It also is used to denote the quantity produced in excess of the number of copies ordered. See also PURCHASE ORDER UNDERS
OVERSET A term that describes type, which extends beyond the space allotted. The type, which has been set, exceeds the space available in the layout for it. See also TYPESETTING
OVERSTRIKE To print or type one character directly over another so that both occupy the same space on the paper. This was one way to create unusual characters not in the typeface on older printers, such as the 0 created by using O and / to create a zero that is easily distinguished from an uppercase letter O. Another practice was to form $ by use of the S and I characters. The need for this practice has been made unnecessary by modern graphics-based computer systems. See also BITMAPPED FONT OUTLINE FONT
OVER THE TRANSOM A term used in reference to the unexpected arrival of unsolicited manuscripts or material submitted to a pblisher by authors and freelance writers. The term occurs in conversations about submissions, which meet (or almost meet) the publisher's needs.("This piece came in over the transom."). See alsoAGENTED MATERIAL READER SLUSH PILE UNSOLICITED MANUSCRIPT
OVERTYPE MODE Another term for typeover mode. See TYPEOVER MODE
OVERWRITE MODE Another term for typeover mode. See TYPEOVER MODE
OXYMORON A figure of speech in which two apparently contradictory terms are combined to produce an effect. Bittersweet is an example of an oxymoron. A paradox expressed in to two words, usually an adjective-noun or adverb-adjective, and used to emphasize a contrast, incongruity, or hypocrisy, or for effect. See also FIGURE OF SPEECH PARADOX
OZALID A trade name for a process for copying manuscripts, line drawings, etc., from paper or film onto a sensitized paper developed by ammonia paper. Also, a reproduction produced by this process. It is sometimes termed blues in the US because of the color of the image on the proof. See also DIAZO LINE DRAWING MANUSCRIPT
