Have you included these in your book’s manuscript?
When authors send me a manuscript to edit, I often find they’ve forgotten several key pages. Writers concentrate so much on the body of their book, they can overlook these.
They don’t take much work to create. But without them, a manuscript’s not ready to be typeset (or formatted as an e-book).
Think of these as the frame that supports your picture:
Front Matter
- Half title page with just your book’s title.
- Title page: book title, subtitle, author name(s). Don’t place the word by in front of your name.
- Copyright page indicating, if applicable, primary Bible translation and date (plus any secondary translations) and permissions statements for any use of copyrighted material beyond “fair use.” (Using song lyrics and poems not in the public domain requires written permission from the copyright holder.)
- Contents page (for nonfiction) with chapter numbers and titles.
- Dedication page (optional).
- Foreword page (optional). Remember to spell this correctly. It’s not forward as opposed to backward. It’s the section for the words that go in the fore (or front).
Back Matter
- Acknowledgments (optional).
- Author’s note (optional).
- Appendices (optional).
- Endnotes (optional). Except in scholarly works, many readers prefer to find such notes at the end of each chapter.
Save time for you and your editor by remembering these important, oft-forgotten pages.
