Front matter and back matter: the pages most first books get wrong

Open any well made book and look at the pages before chapter one and after the last chapter. They follow a pattern for good reasons. Many first books skip or muddle them.

Front matter

The pages before the main text are called the front matter. A usual order:

1. Half title. Just the title, on its own page.
2. Title page. Title, subtitle, author name, publisher name.
3. Copyright page. The details a library or a shop needs.
4. Dedication. A line or two, if you want one.
5. Contents. For non-fiction and for any book where readers might want to jump about.
6. Foreword, preface or note. Optional. Keep it short.

The copyright page

This is the most commonly fumbled page. It usually includes:

• The copyright line, with the year and the name of the rights holder.
• The publisher's name and address or a contact.
• The edition and the printing details.
• The ISBN for that exact format.
• The credits for the cover, the editor and the typesetter, if you want to thank them.
• A line about the rights, such as that no part may be reproduced without permission.

For anything beyond this, ask a professional. The point of the page is that someone who finds the book can tell who made it and which edition it is.

Page numbers

Front matter pages traditionally use small Roman numerals, or no numbers at all. The main text starts at page 1. This is a detail that makes a book look right.

Back matter

The pages after the story are the back matter. Some options:

• Acknowledgements. Thank the people who helped. Keep it short and real.
• About the author. A few honest lines. A photo is optional.
• Notes or sources. For non-fiction, so readers can follow up.
• Glossary. If the book uses words from another language or specialist terms, a short glossary helps.
• A note on the next book. A line about what comes next.
• A request for a review. One polite line asking readers to leave a review is common, and it works.

Common mistakes

• Starting the story on the back of the title page.
• No copyright page at all.
• Page numbers starting on the first page of the cover.
• An acknowledgements page longer than a chapter.
• Skipped pages left blank by accident.

Check on the proof

When your proof arrives, read the front pages first. They are easy to forget because you have not looked at them for months. A missing line here is much more embarrassing than a missing comma in chapter seven.