The chicago manual of style online is the venerable, timetested guide to style, usage, and grammar in an accessible online format. Most fiction books have a minimum of back matter, while nonfiction can include a number of items. Also, brian flocas locomotive has back matter and endpaper matter. Wondering how to set up the front matter and back matter in your selfpublished ebook.
Most nonfiction books include some back matter, perhaps a glossary, bibliography, or index. How you should be using back matter in your ebooks adam geen. The main idea of back matter, regardless of the type of book youre writing, is to make the book as helpful as possible to the reader. Ive just revisited 16 yes, thats right, sixteen word documents to add info about my latest book to the back matter of my eight published books. Matter was a big let down for me, because it had pretty interesting ideas like shell word and nest world but banks spends so much time exploring those ideas, and giving you info dumps regarding those ideas that the story of the book takes a back seat in the whole book.
Adding instructions for building a kite simply because a kite appears in your story may seem fun, but its probably unnecessary. But that made me realize i was probably missing a major opportunity to connect with those readers, so i checked my back copy the material at the end of my book and found it seriously wanting. The parts of a book for self published authors bookstand. Back matter in picture books marcie flinchum atkins. Why your back matter matters hidden gems book blog. Not all books will include each of these back matter elements, and since you are.
As part of the best practice guides for authors from bb ebooks, front matter, back matter, and metadata is a short guide that will help you. How to organize your book s front matter includes a checklist of front matter items. If your book is well written, the reader has just had a powerful. Dark matter is a thriller, of course, but its also the first love story ive ever written, and i worked hard to strike a balance among thrills, science fiction, and genuine emotion. In the previous two posts in our book anatomy 101 series, we looked at the range and organization of your book s front matter, and the main body of the book. Front matter is the information that appears in the very beginning of a book. A short while ago, i posted a blog called, setting up your book. 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. Some common items in back matter include an index, bibliography or appendix. After the last page of the manuscripts text, pagination continues in numerical sequence into the back matter. One of the great things about writing multiple books is that readers have several points of entry from which to discover your work. The oldest doc was created in 2010, the newest in 2016, using two different computers and different versions of word. Optimize your books back matter with draft2digitals.
How to use your books back matter to massively boost your. Browse bestsellers, new releases and the most talked about books. This appeared in a brochure from the loft literary center, which happens to be a fabulous local resource for readers and writers. A quick and easy guide to writing the best front and back matter for your selfpublished book, both print and ebook editions, by jessica bell.
Some authors include a list of their previously published books. Ensure you have front matter and back matter that is organized properly to give your book a professional look. The parts of a book and the elements of content the balance. The front matter contains the nuts and bolts of the book s publicationinformation such as title, author, publisher, isbn, and library of congress data. Just read laurie halse andersons thank you, sarah today with first graders and they wanted me to read every word of the back matter. But before we get into the howto, we first need to answer an oftoverlooked question.
Back matter or end matter is the content that goes at the back of your book to help you sell more books and grow your audience. How to write the front and back matter of your kindle ebook. Book back matter what to include in the back of your book. In a picture book of scarcely more than two hundred words. There are two types of indexes subject matter and detailed. Front matter of a book what is included in the front. To me, its the love and family elements that make up the beating heart of dark 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. What you include in the back matter of your book depends largely on the editorial contents of your manuscript. Before we even begin to explore back matter, its worth talking about the rules. How to use your books backmatter to sell more books author media.
So that you earn a commission everytime someone makes a purchase via your. But theyre also on the verge of putting your writing down. This is a good place to start your search for your next book. The front matter is paginated using lower roman numerals, however, the back matter is not. Ive moved shearwater to permafree and got over 5,000 downloads this month. Youll find modern classics such as game of thrones or the harry potter books and books that are the basis for movies such as a wrinkle in time. There is a smashwords document and an amazon document for each book. Take a look at the walmart books best sellers section. Make sure the links in your catalogue are affiliate links of your account. You will normally list your back matter in one short paragraph in your proposal where you discuss the contents of your book. 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. At the end of the document but before the end reference list there may be several items included. Front and back matter in books selfpublishing advice. Ive seen in forums that many readers do not even look at sample chapters, while others enjoy them.
When a reader finishes your book, you want to leave a trail of breadcrumbs in your back matter, leading them to your website and other purchase links. Back matter in your book celebrating independent authors. If you have well over 2025 pages of ads in the back of your book thats going to have an effect on your percentages or locations of your book. As you know, amazon has a million rules most infuriatingly vague and one of the more recent ones is the rule that only 10% of your published book s length can be used for back matter or bonus material. 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 book s final edit. Pressbooks makes it easy to format these as back matter. Whats it matter the front and back matter of a book. Back matter pages are numbered continuously with the main text. Interestingly, there is a split opinion about this. One of the pain in the rear things about having multiple books is that each time you publish a new book, you have to update all the back matter for every other book. Listed below is the typical order of the back matter in a book. A quick and easy guide to writing the best front and back matter for your self published book, both print and ebook editions, by jessica bell. When a book is filled with facts or topics a reader might want to find quickly, an index is the fastest way to find them. If there is no dust jacket intended for the print edition on which the authors bio typically appears, it may be included in the back matter.
Some pb ive seen have back matter added onto the back cover, but i am hoping that back matter can be included in with the 32 pages. Readers dislike seeing that they have pages upon pages to go and find out suddenly that the books is over. This back matter is composed of an alphabetized list of terms, and indicates where in the text these terms are used. Today, i want to take a look at front matter and back matter.
Front and back matter goes after the book is fully edited and before you begin formatting the content. This is back matter that matters to the author, the book s subject, and to readers, as jane encourages young people to make the world a better place for people, animals, and the environment. Just remember that back matter should expand the book s usefulness or interest. The index is like a travel guide to the book itself. The back matter of your books is a powerful marketing tool. Your ultimate guide to front matter and back matter. If the editor thinks the back matter isnt necessary, shell focus on the text. Im the guest authoreducator there today talking about back matter in picture books. Anyone who has read that far is clearly interested in what you have to say.
Back matter items are essentially chapters within a part, with one additional option to customize. In ebooks, of course, there are no such concerns and you can load up the back end of your books to your hearts delight. What you include in the back matter of your book depends largely on the editorial contents of. 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.
Back matter is the stuff at the end of your book, after the main sections of the book are finished. A bibliography also called a works cited or reference list is a list of books or sources that have been used in the book at hand, or are relevant in some way. 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. A bibliography also called a works cited or reference list is a list of books or sources that have been. Do you struggle with your book s back matter, and howwhenwhere to put retailer links to your next book. The front matter pages usually arent visibly numbered. Carrie charley brown is hosting reforemo read for research month, a time when writers challenge themselves to read picture books as mentor texts to improve their writing.
Figure out your back matter 6 months ahead of time. Keep in mind that there is no book that has all of these parts. Preorder titles at great prices from your favorite authors. It usually appears in modern books on the verso of the title page, but in some books is placed at the end see back matter. By editorial director carol hinz i have a confession to make. Back matter is the stuff at the end of your book, after the main sections of the book are. You can create your indexes in microsoft word or hire an indexer to do it for you.
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. A book with back matter will pick up the occasional like or two. For the last few weeks, diggypods blog has been discussing the various elements of a book s front matter that is, all the different pieces that fit together and introduce the author, the story, the themes, and its importance. The frontmatter, the body of the book, and the backmatter. The back matter also known as the end matter is you guessed it material found at the back of a book. Just as front matter is what you find at the beginning of a book, back matter. Anyway, can back matter be considered part of the 32 pages in a picture book. In this video ill show you how to use draft2digitals automated back matter formatting. Authors use their back matter to offer readers further context or information about the story, though back matter can also be extremely simple. The order of pages shown above is customary but not mandatory. November 28, 2017 5 comments what is the front matter of a book. Back matter is reserved for things like an index, a glossary, notes and other material that doesnt belong in the body of the book itself, but which youd want to include for the convenience of.
228 420 1280 18 1079 1207 1150 13 605 1349 780 486 62 893 67 10 870 785 1136 733 1214 1004 38 1628 963 1029 421 174 1406 1288 338 998 611