'Magnificent Magforum'- University of Westminister Journalism website
Advertising
Glossary of magazine terms and jargon
This is a glossary of terms and jargon used in magazines and magazine publishing. It has been quoted in Mag Scene, the careers guide from the Periodicals Training Council.
NB: terminology can vary between industries, individual titles and internationally
| 3DAP | Digital Data Delivery for Australian Publications, an industry committee that developed a digital production workflow standard for computer-to-plate based on Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF) (www.3dap.com.au) | |
| 4/2 or 4 back 2 | printing 4 colours on one side of a sheet or web of paper and 2 on the other | |
| A series or A sizes | metric paper sizes based on A0 being 1 sq metre. For magazines, most common sizes are A4 (210 x 297mm) for consumer magazines and A3 (297 x 420mm) for tabloid weekly magazines | |
| A4 | metric paper size (210mm by 297mm). Most consumer magazines are slightly smaller or larger than this | |
| ABC | Audit Bureau of Circulation. Organisation founded in 1931. Funded by publishers, advertisers and advertising agencies to verify publishers' circulation claims | |
| ABC1 | readership of a magazine that falls within A, B and C1 socioeconomic groupings. A (upper middle-class, 3% of population), B (middle class, 14%) and C1 (lower middle class, 26%) judged by employment of head of household. ABC1 men form the main target group for much of the advertising industry. Other groups: C2 (skilled working class, 25%), D (working class, 19%), and E (those at lowest levels of subsistence, 13%). There are about 45 million aged over 16 in the UK and 22 million households | |
| ABM | see American Business Media | |
| ACORN | A Classification of Residential Neighbourhoods. Marketing segmentation technique that groups all 1.9 million UK postcodes according to five categories. These are: wealthy achievers (25.1% of the population); urban prosperity (10.7%); comfortably off (26.6%); moderate means (14.5%); and hard-pressed (22.4%). In turn, these are split into 17 groups (the wealthy category, for example, becomes wealthy executives; affluent greys; flourishing families); and 56 types. The segmentation is done using census data analysed by 125 demographic statistics and 287 lifestyle variables. Developed by CACI | |
| Acrobat | Document reader from Adobe. Originating company makes
portable document format (PDF) file from wordprocessor or DTP file
using distiller. PDF can then be distributed electronically and read
by user, independent of other software and the need for compatible
hardware |
|
| Adobe | US software developer. Merged with Aldus. Products include PageMaker, Acrobat and Capture | |
| advertorial | advertising material that is designed to look like editorial. In the UK, this is covered by a BSME code of practice and must be labelled as 'advertising promotion' | |
| AEPM | Audience et Etudes de Presse Magazine. Organisation that measures readership figures for 165 titles in France | |
| affinity sales | magazines sold in specialised shops, where the title's content is relevant to the shop's products or services. For example, a museum might sell History magazine | |
| affinity programme |
where one website will refer its users to another that sells related products. For example, Magforum.com might refer people to Amazon to buy books about magazines. The e-commerce site shares profits with the referring website | |
| agency discount | ||
| ABM | American Business Media represents publishers of trade titles in US | |
| AOP | Association of Online Publishers. www.ukaop.co.uk | |
| ASCII | American Standard Code for Information Interchange.
Accepted method for describing text in computer systems |
|
| Association of Publishing Agencies (APA) | trade body representing contract publishers. Affiliated to PPA | |
| arrears | 1. debts, usually unpaid advertising revenue 2. issues of a magazine sent after the subscription has expired. ABC rules allow these to count as sales for up to three months |
|
| art paper | woodfree, coated paper used for quality colour printing | |
| audience duplication | two magazines that reach the identical audience | |
| audit | check by an independent organisation, such as the ABC or BPA, of copy sales or website traffic | |
| average net paid circulation | the average number of copies of a title sold per issue. Term often used by audit bureaux, such as ABC or BPA |
| B2B | business-to-business | |
| backbone | US term for the bound edge of a magazine or book (spine in UK) | |
| back-up | copy of data kept in case the working version is damaged | |
| bad debt | money owed that is long overdue and unlikely to be paid | |
| BAIE | British Association of Industrial Editors | |
| BPIF | British Printing Industries Federation | |
| banner | advertisement, usually at the top of a web page, which leads to the advertiser's website | |
| bar code | strip of bars printed on covers. Used to track sales by retailers | |
| base
line |
imaginary line on which a line of letters sits | |
| BC (OBC) | back cover | |
| Beachcomer | Long-standing column in the Daily Mirror written by various people over the years | |
| Beaverbrook, Lord | Canadian Max Aitken (1879-1964) who built up the Daily Express empire. Credited with playing a part in installing three British prime ministers - Bonar Law, Lloyd George and Winston Churchill. Was a minister in Churchill's wartime cabinet. Beaverbrook was the inspiration for Evelyn Waugh's Lord Copper in Scoop. | |
| bimonthly | published every other month | |
| bingo card | postcard insert that allows readers to request information about advertisers. Requests are sent on by the magazine to advertisers as sales leads. A good way of gauging reader response to adverts | |
| bit
map |
image described as a set of coloured dots/pixels | |
| BIPAD | unique, five-digit number assigned to news-stand magazines in the US. Part of the Universal Product Code given to supermarket products. Used for billing and credits for unsold copies. System is administered by BIPAD Inc, part of Harrington Associates | |
| biweekly | published every two weeks or twice a month. | |
| (The ) Black Glasshouse | 1950s nickname for the former Daily Express building in Fleet Street. See Black Lubyanka | |
| (The) Black Lubyanka (Lubianka) | Private Eye nickname for the modernist/art deco former Daily Express building at 121-128 Fleet Street in London. Commissioned by Lord Beaverbrook and designed by architects Sir Owen Williams (glass exterior) and Robert Atkinson (interior). Built in 1932. Used for filming of The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961). Now occupied by the bank, Goldman Sachs. The Express moved to offices on the south-east side of Blackfriars bridge (the Grey Lubianka) and after more cost-cutting under Northern & Shell, 10 Lower Thames Street | |
| bleed | printed matter that extends beyond the trimmed edge of a page. The bleed area is usually 3mm beyond the trimmed size of a page | |
| blow-in card | US term for a loose insert – a printed card ‘blown’ into a magazine rather than bound in | |
| Blue Fin | Name of the purpose-built building to be occupied by IPC when it moves out of King's Reach Tower in 2007. Time Warner businesses will occupy ten of the 12 floors. The Blue Fin Building is at 110 Southwark Street, London SE1. The name was chosen from 300 entries in a staff competition. It was suggested by Jann Fabia, art editor of Web User, and Claire Dorey, assistant editor in design of Country Homes & Interiors. Some 2,000 blue aluminium fins cover the front of the building to control sunlight. | |
| blueline | proof made from (black) printing film that is folded to form a magazine section. Once this is approved printing plates will be made | |
| body copy |
main text on a page | |
| book | short for a magazine | |
| bound-in | a sheet of paper or card that is attached to a magazine during the binding process. For example, it may be a sheet of subscriptions cards or an advert on special paper | |
| BPA | audits magazines circulations | |
| BPIF | British Printing Industries Federation represents 2,500 members accounting for UK's £14bn industry | |
| Brad | British Rates and Data. Monthly subscription guide to advertising media (www.brad.co.uk) | |
| brand | marketing term for a company or product name or logo that evokes certain 'values' or reactions in customers that encourage them to buy other products bearing the name. So, Loaded can sell beer, Cosmopolitan yoghurt and Oprah magazines | |
| breakdown | analysis of data by certain criteria, for example, sales by geographic area, website traffic by top-level domain | |
| bromide |
light-sensitive paper used for holding text or images | |
| 'Brogue' | nickname for the British edition of Vogue | |
| BSME | British Society of Magazine Editors | |
| bubble gum reading | easy reading; escapist. Tends to applied to reading for teens and pre-teens in their books and magazines | |
| bulk circulation | distribution of bundled magazines to an individual addressee | |
| bulk sales | selling discounted copies of a periodical to a company, which will often give them away to customers, for example, free newspapers on airlines | |
| Bulk Verification Service |
a division of the ABC that verifies number of copies distributed in bulk | |
| business press | publications relevant to a business, industry, occupation, profession or classification rather than a consumer audience | |
| Business Publications Audit (BPA) |
organisation that verifies publisher's circulation claims. BPA was founded in 1931 and is funded by publishers, advertisers and advertising agencies | |
| business-to-business magazine | see trade magazine | |
| buyer's guide | special section in a title that gives details on products to assist buyers in making comparisons | |
| BVS | see Bulk Verification Service | |
| callout | text from an article that is displayed on a page to entice readers and break up a page visually (US) | |
| camera-ready copy (CRC) |
artwork ready for the film and plate-making process | |
| card deck | a pack of postcard-sized advertisements sold to advertisers and mailed to magazine readers. Mainly used by trade press | |
| Cassandra | column in the Daily Mirror made famous in the 1960s by William Connor | |
| CD-R | Compact Disc Recordable: CD that can be written to until it is full. Once full, data cannot be erased or written over | |
| CD-Ram | Compact Disc Random Access Memory. Technology from Philips that enables users to save information to CDs in the same way as floppy discs | |
| CD-Rom | Compact Disc Read-Only Memory. CD from which information can be read by the user, but not recorded | |
| CD-Rom magazine | content on a CD-Rom presented in a magazine-like way. Format used from about 1993-2000 in US and UK, but failed to establish itself as a business model. See 'Into the digital world' | |
| CD-RW | see CD-Ram | |
| centre spread | middle two pages of a stapled magazine. Often sold to premium advertisers or used as an editorial feature | |
| Ceros | software for digital magazines developed by Applecart Solutions. Used for digital-only launch Monkey (2006) from Dennis and The Lancet (2007), among others | |
| charter subscription | subscription offer in launch issue that promises no price rises for subsequent renewals | |
| checkerboard (US) | thankfully rare layout where quarter-page advertising is alternated with editorial text and placed diagonally on a page or spread | |
| church and state | a metaphor for the division between the editorial (church) and advertising (state) sides of publishing to prevent commercial pressures from influencing editorial decisions | |
| churn | rate of turnover a year of subscribers | |
| circulation | the number of copies of a periodical sold (or distributed in the case of a free title, or delivered by controlled circulation). Circulations of larger titles are vetted by the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Beware of people using the term when they mean the print run, or the number of copies sent out to retailers (many of these will be returned unsold) | |
| circulation value | see retail sales value | |
| classified advertising | advertising sold by the line or column centimetre (as opposed to display advertising). Adverts grouped according to content | |
| cluster publishing | build other titles around a successful magazine to protect it from competitors by controlling market share in readers and advertisers. A strategy used by IPC that failed to protect Woman and Woman's Own from German groups in 1980s | |
| CMYK | four colours (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) used in the standard printing process. In theory, CMY should produce black, but in practice the black ink is needed for depth and contrast | |
| coated paper | paper coated with a mixture of china clay, latex or other materials to give a smooth finish for printing. Usually used for magazines | |
| 'College of Cardinals' | nickname for the panel of leader writers at the Financial Times (used by editor Lionel Barber on BBC Radio 4's The Media Show, 12 November 2008) | |
| colour depth | number of colours used in a picture file. The more bits available for each pixel, the more colours available: 4 bits for 16 colours; 8 bits for 256; 16 bits can generate 65,536; 24 bits can describe almost 17 million, more than can be distinguished by the human eye | |
| colour proof | representation of how a colour page will be printed. Proofs may be made using the printing film or from the digital page files | |
| column centimetre (inch) |
area which is one standard column wide and one cm (inch) deep. Basic unit of classified ad sales | |
| commission | pay to a magazine's advertising staff or agent for bringing in business. Often a percentage of salary for staff once targets met | |
| complimentary copy | free copy of a magazine sent to potential advertisers, the press or editorial contributors | |
| consumer magazines | titles aimed at the general public covering a broad range of topics | |
| consumer specialist magazines | titles aimed at a targeted audience about a specific topic, for example, hobby magazines | |
| content | editorial matter | |
| contra deal | when a publisher trades advertising space for goods | |
| contract publishing | publishing magazines under contract to a non-publishing company, for example, the AA Magazine is published by John Brown Citrus on behalf of the Automobile Association for its customers | |
| contributing editor | editor or writer who is not magazine's staff. Will often be a former senior staff member or a recognised person in a specific field | |
| controlled circulation | free copies of a publication sent to individuals who meet stated criteria | |
| conversion | a subscriber's first renewal. Conversion rates are usually much lower than later renewal rates | |
| cookie | computer file that stores personal information about a person's use of the web | |
| copy | editorial matter: text and pictures | |
| copy editor | see sub-editor | |
| copyright | the legal ownership of a creative work | |
| copy supervisor | see chief sub | |
| corporate advertising | advertising that promotes a company, rather than a product | |
| cost per thousand (CPM) |
cost of reaching 1,000 readers, buyers or viewers with an advert in a publication or website. Used as a measure of effectiveness by advertising buyers | |
| cost ranking | comparison based on cost of reaching a certain audience through advertising in a various magazines. | |
| cover mount | gift stuck to a magazine's front cover | |
| cover-wrap | extra cover wrapped around a magazine, usually for advertising purposes. Rare until 2006 in magazines, but common on local newspapers | |
| CPT | cost per thousand. The cost of reaching 1000 readers through taking a standard page of advertising. Used as a comparison between magazines | |
| coverage | the percentage of a demographic group reached by a magazine | |
| CRC | see camera-ready copy | |
| CRHFM | colour, right-hand page (advert) facing (editorial) matter | |
| critical path | timeline made up of longest consecutive production processes | |
| Cromalin | colour proofing system made by DuPont | |
| crop | to trim to a specific size | |
| CTN | confectioner, tobacconist and newsagent | |
| CTP | computer to plate. Production technique where page files are burned directly on to printing plates without any film | |
| CU | coupon. Abbreviation used on a flatplan | |
| custom/customer publishing | see contract publishing | |
| cyan | sky-blue ink used in the CMYK colour printing process | |
| Back to top |
home page
Home
page | About
Magforum
©2005-09 tony [at] magforum.
com
Updated March 2009