Analysis & Recommendations
Wambtac Ghostwriter’s unique manuscript review for any nonfiction, memoir, or novel.
Auto Read
The brain’s ability to understand quickly and effortlessly; easily absorbed. A manuscript without content disruptions, mechanical errors, or intrusive passive/static phrasings.
Author Intrusion
Revealing information to the reader that the POV character does not know.
BISAC
Book Industry Standards and Communications. See https://bisg.org/page/BISACEdition.
Bulk Sales
Books sales by the cartonful or pallet.
CiP
Cataloging in Publication, a free program offered by the Library of Congress that creates a bibliographic record of forthcoming books. Only available to individuals or entities that have already published at least three titles from three different authors that have sold widely to libraries in the USA. A purchasable version, the PCiP, is available through select venders.
Coding
Attaching a style to every manuscript heading, subheading, and paragraph; removing extraneous paragraphing and spacing devices.
Content Disruptions
Issues that make a cold reader hesitate or say, “Huh?”
Dale Carnegie technique
Instructional presentation that “tells ’em what you’re gonna say, says it, then tells ’em what you said.”
Deal Breakers
Issues that stop a cold reader from reading on.
Editorialize
Explain to the reader that has already been or is about to be demonstrated or shown.
Fiction Map
Ghostwriter’s tool to reduce a novel to its bare bones to identify its current plot architecture.
First Draft
A manuscript that speaks to and resonates strongly with the author and their friends and family.
First-time Author
A person who is writing their first book (and probably trying to do it alone).
High Volume-Low Margin Display Marketers
Booksellers that buy “truckloads” of copies at deep discounts to sell at book fairs in schools, corporations, and charity functions.
Industry Pitch
A simple OR complex single-sentence sales tool that pitches the who and what of a given title. Includes the author’s authority or background, their preferred name, the book’s best spin, the TITLE: Subtitle, and the spine of the nonfiction book or novel’s premise.
ISBN
International Standard Book Number. Sold by RR Bowker, this unique numeric book identifier is required for all commercial book sales..
LCCN
Library of Congress Control Number. Necessary to submit a book to the Library of Congress, to obtain a PCiP, and to sell to public libraries.
Marketable Literary Property
An easy sell to agents, publishers, distributors, wholesalers, booksellers, and cold readers.
Meet in the Middle
Hollywood technique for developing a bare-bones fiction architecture.
Meta
“Most effective technique available.”
Musical Line Edit
Ghostwriter’s technique to put cadence, punch, and impact into ordinary prose.
Nonfiction Chart
Ghostwriter’s tool to reduce a manuscript to its bare bones to identify its current structure.
Non-writing Author
A person who has something vital to share with the reading public but whose main occupation is something other than writing books.
PCiP
The purchasable version of the Library of Congress’ CiP information block.
Pov
The position from which a story is told: first person, second person, first/second, limited third person, omniscient third person
Second Draft
A manuscript that speaks to and resonates strongly with a cold reader.
Slinky® Flow
Sequence of information in which one idea logically and smoothly follows another throughout a paragraph, section, chapter, and manuscript.
Synopsis
A brief summary of a novel’s storyline or plot,