How many people, including new authors, really know all the different bits to a book?

For example, do you know what a publisher means when they say ‘front matter’ or ‘back matter’?

What is a preface? Is it the same as an introduction, a prologue, or a foreword? If not, how does it differ?

Do you think that is a trick question? Could a book possibly all have all four of those?

The answer to that is ‘not really’ and it will become clear throughout this short series.

If you want to create a book that looks professional inside and out, then you need to know what makes a book. Your readers have a certain level of expectation when it comes to what they read and the inside of your book should live up to those expectations.

It doesn’t matter whether you are paying a professional to format your book or you do it yourself, the more knowledge you have about all its parts, the sooner you can get each part prepared and the sooner your masterpiece will be ready for your readers.

The Basics

We’ll begin by looking at all the basic bits and then break them down so you know exactly what your book could have – I say could because it will depend on genre, research and lots of other things.

The basic parts of a book are:

Front Matter

Body

Back Matter

Not every book is going to have the same front or back matter pages but some pages are standard – title page, copyrights, About the Author, etc.

Front Matter

So, which pages belong in the front matter?

Frontispiece – located opposite the title page, this is an ornamental illustration – optional

Title Page – an inside page with the name of the book and the author exactly as displayed on the front cover

Copyright Page – copyright, date and other pertinent information

Dedication Page – a dedication to a person, persons or something – optional

Table of Contents -  a list of every chapter and part of your book – must include front and back matter as well as the body. If you write a novel with chapters denoted only by numbers, this may be omitted

Foreword – a section that another person writes (not the author) as an introduction and promotion for the book – optional

Preface – a letter of explanation the author writes to the readers – optional

Epigraph – a poem, quote or another excerpt used as a kind of preface – optional

First page

The first page is generally the title page or the frontispiece. The illustration on the frontispiece may be a whole page or it may just be part of it; some books use this as a map relevant to the story – historical fiction, for example.

This tends to be found in printed books and is on the page that faces the title page, which is where the author name and book title are, along with any tagline or subtitle as appears on the book cover. It is worth noting that this page isn’t an exact copy of your cover but it should have the same information on it, minus awards references and testimonials, and it should be in the same font.

In part 2, we’ll continue looking at the basics.