Book front matter order

The front matter comes before the onset of the story otherwise known as body text, and the reason for this is that it contains information that is important to know before reading the story. Back matter is the stuff at the end of your book, after the main sections of the book are finished. Not all books will include each of these back matter elements, and since you are selfpublishing, you get to decide what you want to include. What is included in front matter really depends on the type of publication, so lets go. Thus, in the table of contents you would not mention the title page or the dedication nor the table of contents itself. The prelims required for selfpublished books are exactly the same as those required for traditionally published books. Nov, 2019 the front matter of a book consists of its very first pages. Books and journals from the table of contents of the chicago manual of style online. On the contrary, salvettes book presents a detailed coverage of crucial aspects of front and back matter and metadata and is informed by his experience at his publishing company bb ebooks. Though many readers skip right over it, the front matter contains some pretty important information about the book s author and. The other thing that has no effect on what will be shown in the sample are page breaks. Publishers call the preliminary pages in a book the front matter. The front cover is the front of the book, and is marked appropriately by text or graphics in order to identify it as such.

Chapter 1 contents the chicago manual of style online. The order isnt set in stone, but its what i think looks the best in a paperback. Because of this, the front matter has a separate page numbering sequence from the rest of the book. Pages in a book are referred to as recto for the righthand page and verso for the lefthand page. Parts of the book there are three main sections in a book. The frontmatter, the body of the book, and the backmatter. The order of the back matter in a book listed below is the typical order of the back matter in a book. The front matter is the only section where a page can be easily added once the book is in page proofs printed typeset pages that show all elements as they will appear in a printed book. The parts of a book for self published authors bookstand. Nov 28, 2017 the front matter comes before the onset of the story otherwise known as body text, and the reason for this is that it contains information that is important to know before reading the story. Others like to put acknowledgments at the end of the book. What is the prefered way to number the back matter in this case. Whats it matter the front and back matter of a book the. When you format your book for hard copy printing, you should follow the structure as shown in the diagram below.

Jun 24, 2014 the thing to consider is when exactly potential readers are going to be looking through the front matter of an ebook. They arent always numbered separately some books start with the title page as page 1 and are paginated continuously throughout but when there is a significant amount of front matter, its conventional to number it using lowercase roman numerals. The front of the book requires first a title page, and page second, and in that order. Front matter can be subjective as it varies from book to book, but im going to advise you based on what i would do. It doesnt matter if you keep all your front matter as just one long page with no page breaks to split it up, or if you put in manual page breaks so it is spread across 20 different pages. These days, acknowledgements seem to be showing up as back matter for fiction as well as nonfiction titles.

As i said previously, there are no hard and fast rules that dictate how a book must be structured, but the structure discussed here is one thats been around for a few hundred years. The pages in the front matter are assigned lowercase roman numerals i, ii, iii, iv. The back matter types menu lets you indicate an items type. Here are the elements you can find in the front matter of books, and a brief. These sections of back matter are often supplementary in nature, and inform the reader about some aspect of the book. The front matter pages are numbered in lowercase roman numerals. Book front matter includes some or all of these pages half title includes just the book title. In order to determine what appealed to us, we looked at book after book of some of our favorite childrens authors and illustrators. Backmatter numbering graphic design stack exchange. The usual order of book front matter elements as we mentioned, theres a well established order for the types of pages that appear at the very beginning of books, but its somewhat flexible. As we mentioned, theres a well established order for the types of pages that appear at the very. May 27, 2015 book promotion expert ben cameron always says writing the blurb is the hardest 100 words youll ever write, and many authors are also stumped when it comes to writing the front and back matter another task that usually falls just when youre feeling least like writing another word, after completing your books final edit.

In this excerpt from book design made simple, we offer a list of possible book front matter pages and their proper order. Back matter items are essentially chapters within a part, with one additional option to customize. Much of this will already exist in your book proposal and can easily be converted to the appropriate language if the book is being translated. Jan 10, 2014 the particular parts and their order is more fluid in the back matter compared to front. Front matter of a book what is included in the front matter. The book s half title page comes before the full title page in a book. Its the page at the very front of the book, not used in all cases, that has only the title of. Now, lets get to the parts of your book and in what order they should appear though of course, you dont have to include all of the elements.

Front matter is information that is presented before the body of the document. We decided to put a graphic design on the opening and ending pages of the book to add visual interest. Though many readers skip right over it, the front matter contains some pretty important information about the books author and. Its the page at the very front of the book, not used in all cases, that has only the title of the book on it. For the last couple of weeks, weve been doing a blog series on the back matter of a book. Jul 08, 2019 the usual order of book front matter elements as we mentioned, theres a well established order for the types of pages that appear at the very beginning of books, but its somewhat flexible. Listed below is the usual order of how the front matter is formatted in a book. Jan 18, 2018 the interior of your book is basically made up of three parts. There are, of course, variations to this conventional lineup order.

Some common items in back matter include an index, bibliography or appendix. Front matter of a book what is included in the front. There may also be a preface by the author, or a foreword by someone familiar with their work. Sep 29, 2009 for guidance like this i recommend you download my free book construction blueprint which explains all the parts of the book and their order within the book. We tend to spend all of our time writing the main content of the book and fail to factor in the extra time required to write and organize the front and back matter. One thing you shouldnt put at the front of your ebook huffpost. Sep 15, 2014 the front matter is where youll find the following items. Just as front matter is what you find at the beginning of a book, back matter, simply put, is what you find at the end of a bookthe sections that appear after the central story has been completed. Beware the ebook front matter trap polgarus studio. Front and back matter in books alliance of independent.

No matter what bibliography style you choose, be sure to list your references in alphabetical order from a to z, sorting the references by the authors last name. When you open a book, youll find that there are a whole series of pages before the book proper begins. How to organize your books front matter includes a. Acknowledgements towards the end of the book, you can take a page or two to thank all the people who have helped you during the process of writing it. Nov 17, 2019 front matter is the information that appears in the very beginning of a book. Most authors wont need to include all of these, but here is a list of what goes where, when, and why, along with a brief description. Book front matter includes some or all of these pages. Front matter order in a book half and full title page. The recto always has an even page number and the verso always has an odd page number. Front matter pages are traditionally numbered in lowercase roman numerals i, ii, iii, iv, v, etc. Youll find that a preface is part of the front matter, whereas the introduction is the beginning of the book proper.

The front matter serves as a guide to the contents and the nature of the book. Recommended order of front matter there is a significant amount of material that can go in the front matter, and it is best left to the author to determine how much or how little is needed. Book front matter elements book design made simple. All services are available, and your order will be returned on time. Those standard elements found in most books should be in the following order. The components of a doctoral dissertation and their order. The front matter of a book consists of its very first pages. Solutions are practical, his best practice guidelines sensible and their rationales well explained. We all know what the title page is, but whats a half title. The reason is that the main matter numbering is continued from a previous works and will continue in the next works, and the appendicies have to be omitted from this numbering. Some may not include the acknowledgements in their front matter but decide to put it at the end of the book. It could also appear facing the table of contents or facing the first page of text.

If you still want to include a halftitle page, dont put it after the title page. There arent any definitive rules for how the different sections of front matter in an ebook should be organized, and it is very unlikely that your book will be rejected for publishing based on how you have structured it except for smashwords, the nitpicky ones. Front matter is the stuff in your book from the page after the cover till the page before chapter one. When using front matter types, pressbooks will use them to order your book in line with the chicago manual of style guidelines, which will sometimes override the order you place your front matter sections in the textorganize screen. In this article, we define front matter and give examples of what can be included. Some publishers like to put the contents before the preface and some like it after. Front matter occurring prior to the core content of the book front matter is the first part of a book and is the part of a book that outlines the technical details. Front matter is the first section of a book and is generally the shortest. Making your books front mattermatter the writing cooperative. These preliminary pages are called prelims, or front matter. Apr 19, 2017 front matter includes the dedication, epigram, table of contents, foreword, preface, and acknowledgements. So keeping pictures at the front of the book is fine.

Book promotion expert ben cameron always says writing the blurb is the hardest 100 words youll ever write, and many authors are also stumped when it comes to writing the front and back matter another task that usually falls just when youre feeling least like writing another word, after completing your books final edit. The front matter contains the nuts and bolts of the books publicationinformation such as title, author, publisher, isbn, and library of congress data. At least we knew how we were supposed to order our book. How to order the pages of a book clearlingo proofreading. Keep in mind that there is no book that has all of these parts. A halftitle page displays only the main title of the book, excluding all other information. Nov 12, 20 it should include a description of the main features of the book, a category, your photo and a brief bio, the publisher, an isbn number, a library of congress number, a bar code, and the price.

It can be as simple as a single title page, or it can include multiple title pages, foreword, a preface, and much more. The amount of front matter you include depends on the length and content of your document, but may include. How to format front matter how to make an ebook series. The front matter pages usually arent visibly numbered. As i mentioned earlier, the table of contents includes everything that follows it and nothing that precedes it. Order of the pages in the front matter of a book tex. Use this list instead to make sure you have the right content in the right category, and that elements of your book appear in the sequence in which they are expected. Front matter of a book what is included in the front matter of a book. We did a similar one on the front matter youll remember that the front matter is all of the material that comes before the central story or body text in a book. Between the covers of your nonfiction book bookbaby blog.