The Three Major Parts of Your Book
Designing Your Book is as Important as Writing Your Book
Designing Your Book is as Important as Writing Your Book
You have finished the final draft for your manuscript, and it is really for professional editing, and then final formatting. As the author, you can assist your editor and your formatter by ensuring that the additional elements of your book are included and in their proper place.
Not all of the elements discussed here need to be included, and what to include and what to ignore also depends on whether your book is fiction or nonfiction. However, the elements you choose to include should be in a specific order. As a self-published author, this is an especially important task, as you are the primary manager of your book project beyond just writing the manuscript.
Important Terms to Know
How your manuscript looks with your final draft is not how it will look as a finished print book, and the final design of your book is a very important metric for the future sales of your book.
Recto and Verso: When you open a book, you see two pages: a left-hand page and a right-hand page; together these two pages are called a “spread.” Every section or chapter of your book should start on a right-hand page. In your manuscript, use the “Page Break” function to start those elements on a new right-side page.
Book designers use Latin words for the pages of a book: recto for the right-hand page, and verso for the left-hand page. Each new section of your book should start on the recto or right-hand page.
Front Matter: Everything in your book that precedes the first chapter is included in the front matter.
Back Matter: Everything in your book that comes after the last chapter of your book is included in the back matter.
Your Front Matter
Your formatter will know how to correctly paginate the pages of your front matter in lower case Roman numerals.
Half title Although optional, the half title page is the first page you see when opening the book. It contains only the title of the book and it on the recto (right-hand) side of the book.
Frontispiece You can include a customized illustration on the verso (left-hand) page that faces the title page; this is also an optional element.
Title page The title page includes the title and subtitle of your book, the author, and the publisher of your book. Some other information that can also be on the title page includes the publisher’s location, the year of publication, and further illustrations.
Copyright page The copyright page is on the verso (left-hand) side of the title page. The copyright page includes the copyright notice, information about the book edition, publication, printing history, legal notices, and the mandatory ISBN (International Standard Book Number). The copyright page should also list the credits for the people or companies who design, produce, edit, and illustrate your book.
Dedication If you choose to include a dedication in your book, it will follow the copyright page, and again start on a recto (right-hand) page.
Epigraph An epigraph is a quotation that is relevant to your book content. If you use one epigraph, it is placed facing the Table of Contents or the first page of text. Some authors include an epigraph after the heading of each chapter.
Table of Contents Your table of contents lists all of the major divisions of your book, including parts and chapters. Fiction books usually do not have tables of contents unless your chapter has a “title” in addition to just the chapter number, but that is your choice.
List of Figures If you have a good number of figures or illustrations in your nonfiction book, it is helpful to list them all, including their titles and the page numbers on which each occurs.
List of Tables Similar to the list of figures, a list of any tables in your nonfiction book is very helpful for the reader.
Foreword The foreword is a short piece written by someone other than the author. It is intended to provide a context for the book and signed by the writer’s name, location, and date.
Preface The preface is written by the author of the book and tells the story about how and/or why the book was written. This element also provides important context for the readers.
Acknowledgments Here is where you thank people for their help in the creation of your book.
Introduction As the author, you can use the introduction to explain the purpose, scope, and goals of your nonfiction book, as well as how your book is organized. Many authors put the information in the introduction as the first chapter of the book instead of as a separate element.
Prologue In your fiction book, you write the prologue to set the stage for your story and you write the prologue in the voice of the main character of your book, not in your voice.
The Body of Your Book
This is the central element of your manuscript. It contains not only all of the chapters, but other elements you can include, depending on the genre of your book, and your choice.
Part Opening page If your fiction or nonfiction book has large historical, structural, or conceptual viewpoints, dividing your book into parts helps to organize your copy for your reader.
Chapter Opening page Most fiction books and all nonfiction books are organized into chapters and started on the recto (right-hand) page.
Epilogue The epilogue is usually written in the author’s voice and serves to bring closure to your fiction book.
Afterword This optional element is written either by the author or by another person and adds additional context to the book.
Conclusion In a nonfiction book, the conclusion summarizes the main part of the book and helps to complete the book.
The Back Matter
The back matter of your book contains the various elements and extra material necessary to add context and additional credits for contributors to your book as necessary. Most of these elements are not included in fiction books.
Postscript The term postscript comes from the Latin post scriptum or “after the writing.” This element includes anything added as an addition or afterthought to the main body of your nonfiction book.
Appendix This element is supplemental information such as source documents, additional information not included in the main body of the book, or other insertions.
Glossary If your nonfiction book contains technical jargon or scientific terms, including a glossary of terms will be very helpful for the reader.
Bibliography This element is a list of books or other works that are cited in the main body of the book.
List of Contributors If your book was written by more than one author, each contributor’s name is included alphabetically by the last name, along with a brief biographical note about the author.
Index The index is an alphabetical list of the people, places, events, and concepts included in the book, along with their page numbers. Just as there are professional editors who specialize in editing, there are professional indexers who specialize in this very detail-oriented element.
If you have a contract with a traditional publisher, most of the formatting and design functions will be completed by that company. If you plan on self-publishing, however, you should be familiar with all of the parts and elements that will make up the final published edition of your book, even if you hire a professional book designer and/or formatted.
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