Here is a brief glossary of writer terms every writer should become familar with.

A humorous favorite—from Frank Baron
"Self-Publishing: In which writers attempt to de-mythologize the process of publication by undertaking it themselves. An expensive, exacting, time-consuming process that works best for niche nonfiction,and is more likely to leave the writer with a garage full of books than a portfolio full of press clippings."

A
Agent: A professional representative who both represents and market literary work from various authors.
All Rights: The publication owns the worldwide copyrights to the work, in all media types.
Allegory: A narrative practice in which the writer uses metaphors of expressing more abstract ideas.
Analogy: A relationship showing similarities between sometimes two distinct and different things.

B
Backstory: The events of a character that occur before present narrative. This technique is often used to bring the audience up to date by clarifying any confusion.

C
Cliché: An overused common expression.
Copyright: An author's ownership of their literary work.

E
Edit: To provide a critique of a writer's manuscript.
Editing: The process of making revisions to an author's manuscript.

F
First Electronic Rights: Restricted rights to publish on electronic media. This right does not extend to traditional print media.

G
Galleys: The initial typeset form of a manuscript, sent to an author.

Genre: Describes a specific category of fiction like romance or mystery.
Ghostwriter: A writer who is paid to write an article or book for another author.
Hook: Getting the attentions and maintaining the interest of the reader.

L
Lead: The first paragraph of a manuscript, similar to the hook.

M
Manuscript: An author's initial beta version if you will copy of a novel, typically submits this for review.

O
Outline: A high-level overview or frame work of a story or literary work.
Overview: A short description intended to submit the work to publishers.

P
POD: Abbreviation for print-on-demand, the printing of a book after a copy has been sold. Typically associated with self-publishing.
Pica: Used as the measure of type, one pica equals 12 points.
Proofreading: Correcting grammatical, spelling, and typographical errors.
Proposal: A document used to market books for sale.
Public Domain: As the word implies, content that can be freely used by the public.

Q
Query: A one-page letter to an editor pitching a nonfiction manuscript.
Self-publishing: The term represent a growing breed of authors who publish their own work.

S
Sentence Fragment: A sentence that is missing the subject, the verb, or both.
Summary: A short description of the main plot of a book.
Synopsis: An abbreviated version of a book sent to the publisher.

T
Tearsheet: A page 'torn' from a magazine or a newspaper, or it can represent lose pages from the manuscript for proof reading.

V
Vanity Publishing: A form of publishing in which the author pays a publisher to publish their work.

W
Writer's Block: Is a condition, in which a writer loses the motivation or creativity to complete a writing project.