As with any specialized and venerated career, bookselling has a fair bit of jargon. It would be hard not to with a history stretching back a couple thousand years! The first known codex was made in the 1st century AD, and had caught up with the scroll by the late 3rd or early 4th century! And, knowing humans, there were almost certainly Scrollsellers before there was anything resembling a book! How does it feel to be part of one of the oldest professions in the world? Pretty great, right!

But for anyone new to the field, here’s a short guide to some of the jargon you’ll hear. For those of you veterans visiting, please let us know what we should add! And while you’re at it,

ARC	Advanced Reader Copy, alternately, Galley or, for picture books, F&G for “folded and gathered”. Sent to booksellers and reviewers to promote titles and drive sales.
Jobber	Generic term for a wholesale distributor of books. Two well-known companies in the US are Ingram and Bookazine.
Terms	The terms of sale given by a publisher. Often shorthand for special sales publishers often do during specific seasons or in tandem with trade shows
Sidelines	Any non-book items sold in a bookstore. This could be greeting cards, lip gloss, socks, puzzles, games, candy, tchotchkes, etc.
Flipper	In used books, a person who buys items with the specific goal of re-selling them at a profit.
Scout	Typically a flipper who is re-selling to a bookstore or dealer, rather than selling the books directly to consumers.
Rep	Short for Customer Representative. Your sales agent with a publisher or vendor.