I'm an Acronym Loving Girl in an Acronym Obsessed World

So my bf (that's boyfriend) and I like to talk in acronyms. Okay, that's a bit of a lie. I like to shorten everything into an acronym and he begrudgingly accepts this weirdness of mine with an evident, though I like to think loving, roll of his eyes. For example, for us "play it by ear" has become PIBE (pronounced - PIE - B).

We live in a world of acronyms these days and with the popularity of instant messengering, texting, and blogging growing exponentially, phrases like LOL (laugh out loud), TTYL (talk to you later), BRB (be right back) and TTFN (ta-ta for now) are everywhere. I actually got an email at work a few days ago from someone outside the company who approached me with a proposal. I was pretty impressed until she signed off with a TTFN. I mean come on now... and I'm part of the generation that's been instrumental in integrating these acronyms into every day life.

I've only worked in the publishing industry since college, so I can't speak for other business sectors, but I know that there are a lot of acronyms used in this industry I've come to know. They're everywhere and for the novice employee, and even those of us who've worked at a number of houses for over half a decade (yikes!) it can all be a bit confusing.

So here, to help you understand publishers just a little better, are some of the most popular acronyms that you'll hear at most any house: (I should note that each publishing house will have its own acronyms - for everything from meetings to a specific series)

- P&L (profit & loss) - Often the last part of this, the word "statement" is dropped and the actual worksheet/document is just referred to as the "P&L." In truth, it's the rather confusing excel worksheet chock full of mathematical formulas that calculates the cost of production and manufacturing of the actual book, marketing, and royalty rates against projected sales to determine whether a book is worth publishing. If a profit can be achieved, you're in. If not, you're out, as Heidi Klum would say on Project Runway.

- T&E (travel & expense report) - I suspect this acronym isn't only used in publishing. It stands for the report employees of the company send to AP (see next bullet) to be reimbursed for any travel expenses we incur while going to visit accounts, conferences, etc.

- AP (Accounts Payable) - The department that cuts the checks. They pay the authors, the house's employees... everyone.

- S&M Meeting (sales & marketing meeting) - Every publishing house has a weekly or bi-weekly meeting where the publisher and editorial and marketing departments get together to discuss how a series or title is tracking (e.g. selling) at retail and whether its hitting, exceeding, or falling below expectations, which often leads into a discussion about whether their is enough marketing (advertising, creating point-of-purchase displays, cross-promotions with outside companies) being done

- BGI - Borders Group International - the conglomeration of stores you know as Borders &

Walden

- B&N - Barnes & Noble - this one is pretty simple!

- WM - Wal-Mart - THE superstore of the century that over the past few years has become a major player in the publishing industry with say on everything - including the cover!

- NYP - No, not the New York Post. This means "Not Yet Published" - as in it hasn't arrived in stores yet. Sometimes an in-store date is already assigned for a title - usually up to about 18 months out from when you're searching for it in a publisher's database

- ROD - "Run Out And Drop" - This means that the remaining printed stock will ship to accounts but after that stock is depleted, the title is OSI (see below) and no additional printings will be ordered

- OSI - Okay, after six years I should know what these three letters stand for but truth be told, I don't. I do know that it, in effect, means that a title is no longer "in print,"

Okay, that's all from me today!

TTFN.