Piece – a short-form work you are actually writing or actually have written.

Feature – a long-form piece you wrote instead of your writer friends (neener).

Longread – a feature or longish piece you are promoting on social media.

Latest – informal term for a piece (“Here’s my latest for venue on hot-topic.”)

Thing or This thing I wrote – term for piece for the non-self-assured (“So, here’s this thing I wrote…”)

Blog post – piece you already wrote similar to but not nearly as good as piece your writer friend just published. (“Oh, I wrote a blog post about that…”)

Blog – a blog post, but you’re particularly upset about it. (“Ugh, I wrote a blog about that ages ago.”)

Thinkpiece – piece for which you secretly not-so-secretly harbor scorn and/or jealousy.

Article – term non-writers use for a piece.

Opinion piece – a piece, but without reporting.

Essay – term non-writers use for an opinion piece.

Book – a substantial, very long-form argument bound between covers (or the digital equivalent). Most often, actually just a piece or a feature with extraneous B-roll stapled to the back.

Book project – just like a book, except you’re not writing it, just talking about it as if you are.

Memoir – a book written by someone under 25 or over 55.

eBook – might be a book, might just be a piece dressed up as a book, but it’s definitely not on paper. If you’re under 25, it’s a memoir.

published December 9, 2014