Continuing with the basics of what makes a book:

Copyright Page

This page appears on the title page’s underside in printed matter. If any of the following information is included in your book, it goes in this section:

Copyright date

Publisher or publishing company name

Printer or printing company name

Edition number

Copyright dates of all previous editions

ISBN number – on a printed book, the barcode with this number is on the rear cover

Any statement about the use of the content and warnings about unlawful copying, plagiarism, and piracy

Foreword/Any Other Introduction

A foreword is an introduction written by another person, perhaps an expert or well-known writer in your genre. If you have a preface (written by the author) and a foreword in your book, the foreword comes first.  The preface is the author’s way of saying why they write the book, what led to it, and gives context that leads to the prologue or introduction.

If your book is non-fiction, the next page would be the introduction – this differs from the preface in that the introduction is a part of the book. If a reader ignores the preface and the foreword, they will likely read the introduction. If your book is a novel, on the other hand, the introduction is called the prologue. This differs from a preface in that it is part of the story and provides important details or teasers at something that may happen later on.

The Body Pages

Most of a book’s content is in the body, including the following:

Prologue (fiction) or Introduction (non-fiction) – the start of the story or book

Parts and Chapters – the main content

Epilogue (fiction) or Conclusion (non-fiction) – the close of the story or book

Afterword – author's note, could be in place of a preface – optional

Postscript – additional note from the author providing new information about the story after the narrative has ended – optional

Back Matter

These are the pages that go in the back matter section:

Addendum or Appendix – extra documentation or information to support the content

Acknowledgments/List of Contributors – lists all of those who contributed in any way or anyone you want to acknowledge publicly for their support and help

References/Biography List – the sources cited in the book

Endnotes/Notes – notes that are numbered and correlating to the sources cited in the book

Copyright Permissions – proof of permission from others that you can use their copyrighted material in your book

Glossary – a list of terms or industry-specific words and jargon, in alphabetical order, for the reader’s benefit – optional

Teaser – excerpt from a sequel or another related book – optional

Index – list of keywords in alphabetical order, along with page numbers where the words are used in context – optional

About the author – information about you

Request for Review – a call to action, asking readers to leave reviews for your book – optional

Everything discussed in the first two parts of this series is what could or should go inside your book. On the About the Author page, you can add a short bio, a photo of yourself, a list of other books you wrote, and links to your social media pages and website if you have one.

On the final page, where you ask for reviews, you can also give links to free content and ask readers to get in touch with you if they have feedback or other questions.

In the final part, we’ll go to the outside of the book – the covers.