Title page the title page is especially easy because you dont need to give it a different style. A successful book is more than just a manuscript thrown between a cover. Nov 07, 2012 every book, your book included, should have front matter, and making front matter look great is easy if you know how. 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. 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.
Including all of the necessary parts of a book and putting them in the right order is the first step to making your book credible and professional. Half title page click on page 1 the page spreads panel, click on the text container to open the text editor. We all know what the title page is, but whats a half title. Apr 23, 2019 parts of a story language arts song for kids english for kids jack hartmann duration. Halftitle pages displaying nothing but the main title of a book were introduced to protect the main title page, as peter wilson correctly states. Front matter is the information that is presented before the body of the document. Making your books front mattermatter the writing cooperative. Its there in poetry collections, memoirs, biographies, historical books, novels, comics, childrens books, short story collections, etc. Keep in mind that there is no book that has all of these parts. The front matter, and all its components, is a seriously important part of the book. Thats right, before digging into the main course, i enjoy the appetizers or whats known by book production aficionados as front matter. A dedication is a part of the front matter that is written by the author. Today, we look at the elements which make up the back matter. 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.
Lastly, there is the back matter which follows the main body of the book. Every book, your book included, should have front matter, and making front matter look great is easy if you know how. If you want to give a shoutout to one or two particular people, this is the place to do it. Front matter of a book what is included in the front matter. Front matter is the material at the front of a book that usually offers information about the book. Its the page at the very front of the book, not used in all cases, that has only the title of. This is one of the aspects of front matter that is in every book, no matter the type or genre. The table of contents normally goes right after the other front matter like the page, dedication, and other books page at the front of the book.
Sep 15, 2014 the front matter is where youll find the following items. This is the piece of artwork on the left otherwise known as verso side of the page opposite the title page on the right otherwise known as recto side. The front matter contains the nuts and bolts of the books publicationinformation such as title, author, publisher, isbn, and library of congress data. The front matter contains pages normally found in every book such as the title page, page, and table of contents. Each part includes certain elements and usually they appear in a specific order. If you still want to include a halftitle page, dont put it after the title page. Front matter, body, and back matter even if youve already polished your chapters to perfection, you still need to prepare various other parts of a book before publishing namely, the front matter and back matter. It sits between the front matter and back matter of the book the body matter or contents consist of parts, chapters, sections, and subsections. 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.
Whats it matter the front and back matter of a book the. The front matter pages are numbered in lowercase roman numerals. How to format front matter how to make an ebook series. In the words of renowned typographer jan tschichold 19021974, book design, though largely forgotten today, relies upon methods and rules upon which it is impossible to improve, and which have been developed over centuries. When a book uses arabic page numbering, the usual habit is to treat the front cover as a page number 1, and start the book itself by page number 3. Solutions are practical, his best practice guidelines sensible and their rationales well explained. The half title is usually the first page when you open the cover of the book it includes just the. Half title, or bastard title title only, on otherwise blank page book card or card page, listing previous works by author, or books. The front matter types menu lets you indicate an items type which may change how it is styled in outputs. There are always three essential parts of any book.
Each part includes certain elements and usually they appear in a. The front matter is where youll find the following items. Pat mcnees the difference between a preface, foreword. An understanding of the following parts of a book will help you properly construct your manuscript. The front matter of a book consists of its very first pages. The front matter includes any material that precedes the text. Follow the instructions below to edit the 5 front matter pages specifically for your book. Even if youve already polished your chapters to perfection, you still need to prepare various other parts of a book before publishing namely, the front matter and back matter if you havent come across these terms before, dont be intimidated. Use the infographic above to familiarize yourself with the parts of a book. Page numbers can in a header at the top of the page, or at the bottom, as they are in this book. Three major segments of a book most books are divided into three general parts. However, sometimes the front matter of the book is numbered seperately by roman numbers. The purpose of the front matter is to give information about the book, author, publisher, and isbn, as well as to list the table of contents. Most fiction books dont use fun chapter titles so it just clogs up the front sample nonfiction its vital up front.
Chapter 1 contents the chicago manual of style online. What page numbering conventions are there for front. The order is the same for fiction works and nonfiction books. Most books contain at minimum three main parts of a book. Book front matter what to include in the front of your book. Between the covers of your nonfiction book bookbaby blog. Its there in poetry collections, memoirs, biographies, historical books. Front matter includes the dedication, epigram, table of contents, foreword, preface, and acknowledgements. In such case, should the first page be i 1 or iii 3.
Its a smooth way of opening a story without immediately. In traditional publishing, page numbers for the front matter appear in roman numerals. The front matter pages usually arent visibly numbered. Here are the elements you can find in the front matter of books, and a. Book front matter includes some or all of these pages.
Front matter and back matter grammar factory publishing. Books can be divided into three areas front matter, body content and back matter. Books and journals from the table of contents of the chicago manual of style online. 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. 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. You can often tell a book is selfpublished because many of these parts will be missing or in the wrong order. Well never look at a childrens picture book in the same way again. And the part of a book that most confuses new independent authors. Nov 17, 2017 probably the most basic aspect of the front matter is the book title page and the half title. The dedication or epigram is an optional page near the front of your book. 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.
After the last page of the manuscripts text, pagination continues in numerical sequence into the back matter. Back matter is the final pages of a book, where endnotes, the appendix, the bibliography, the index, and. It sits between the front matter and back matter of the book. Front matter pages are traditionally numbered in lowercase roman numerals i, ii, iii, iv, v, etc. Front matter is the first section of a book and is generally the shortest. The first part of a book is known as the front matter. As we mentioned, theres a well established order for the types of pages that appear at the very. You can create, edit, delete, rename or reorder front matter items the same way that you would with chapters, with one additional option. Front matter generally appears only in the first of a multivolume work, although some elements such as a table of contents or index. Next comes the body of the book, which is the story. May 19, 2014 those parts are front matter and back matter. Front matter of a book what is included in the front matter of a book.
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. Book design is the art of incorporating the content, style, format, design, and sequence of the various components and elements of a book into a coherent unit. The title page is especially easy because you dont need to give it a different style. 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.
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. Its the 30,000 to 50,000 words you just pumped out. If youre planning to thank lots of people, save the list for the acknowledgments page. Hardcover books are built from cardboard that is wrapped with either a solid color material typically a colored paper or a leatherette or a printed text stock laminated glossy or. Front matter things like and preface, back matter things like index and appendices and the main body the main content of your book, typically made of up chapters, and sometimes parts with chapters. An author does not need to be concerned with many of these elements, as they will be written by the publisher. These pages outline the various technical details as well as some input from the author about what inspired or drove the project. The normal order of parts of the books front matter. Some of the more complex parts weve explained below. After benchmarking a lot of books last summer i changed my front matter to 1cover, 2title page, 3jacket copy, 4the book imagine that, 5all the rest including the toc. The frontmatter, the body of the book, and the backmatter.
Front matter may also contain a list of the figures, illustrations, or tables in the book, a list of abbreviations, a frontispiece, a list of contributors, and endpapers. 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. 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. The front matter is paginated using lower roman numerals, however, the back matter. 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 first three parts of the front matter include the half title, frontispiece, and title page.
It is often the first page of real content, before the first section of the book starts. They simply refer to the first and last sections of your book. Your body content is the book itself its your introduction, conclusion and everything in between. The front matter is a section in the beginning of a book. Whats it matter the front and back matter of a book. The front matter is the first section of the book that the reader encounters. Probably the most basic aspect of the front matter is the book title page and the half title. The foreword is an introduction to your book written by someone else. These pages are numbered using roman numerals rather than the more common arabic numbering. The half title is usually the first page when you open the cover of the bookit includes just the. The actual first page of your book after the front matter should always start on a righthand page and will be page 1. After the last page of the manuscripts text, pagination continues in numerical sequence into the. Next, i flip to the books dedication and acknowledgements.
Were novices, so working with front matter and back matter is a new experience. The parts of a book for self published authors bookstand. The body matter or contents consist of parts, chapters, sections, and subsections. Front matter is the information that appears in the very beginning of a book. Youll find that a preface is part of the front matter, whereas the introduction is the beginning of the book proper. Nov 28, 2017 the front matter is a section in the beginning of a book. Order of the pages in the front matter of a book tex. In this excerpt from book design made simple, we offer a list of possible book front matter pages and their proper order. Parts of a story language arts song for kids english for kids jack hartmann duration. Nov 17, 2019 the typical parts of a books front matter include the following. Books are divided into three partsfront matter, body text with or without illustrations, and back matter. Jan 10, 2014 last week here, i presented the parts of a book which appear in the front of the book. The inside of your book, which we call the book block, is divided into three main sections. Apr 19, 2017 next, i flip to the books dedication and acknowledgements.
1630 894 415 1295 666 1439 588 683 438 746 626 1353 882 4 641 852 300 1585 1380 499 11 1400 473 1195 1669 1366 1673 898 1284 1330 210 1028 355 119 76 290