What Matters in the 'Matters'

talking book front ends & back ends

Front Matter and End Matter

I’ve been setting up the outer parts of my book, and I have found it excruciating. It sounds so simple. But what goes where? What order? The abundance of conflicting articles out there, and even the books in my library, make it difficult to find a definitive answer. And eBooks VS print. UGH! This is what I have:

eBook

• Title page

• Copyright page

• Dedication

• Table of Contents

• The Book

• Teaser

• Acknowledgements

• Also By

• About the Author

The print version will add a half-title page at the front and have no table of contents.

What do you think? Am I missing something? Do you agree with my order?

Acknowledgements

And OMGoodness the Acknowledgements. I know I’ve forgotten people and I feel guilty already. I know they are not requirement, but this book has been a long journey and a lot of people have given me help and encouragement along the way.

Guess what I found out? Not everyone likes to be mentioned. I’ve been sending out emails to make sure it’s okay and seeing what name or moniker they’d prefer.

It turns out, there are multiple factors that can contribute to someone’s wish to avoid public recognition. One explained they’d stopped writing fiction and wanted to move away from it.

I’m still happy I reached out to privately thank them though. And, it was nice to reconnect with people that have helped me. My earliest betareaders were swap-readers. (You know, they read mine; I read theirs). Some have published (which I knew) and some are still working on it—like me!

What should I do if I don’t hear back from someone? I could leave their name off or just have a first name or initials. What do you think?

Blogging

I posted this part on my blog, but I’d like your opinion as well. I’ve been considering opting out of blogging and only doing my newsletter. And overall, I get a lot more reads and interaction on my newsletter.

It’s a big decision.

My newsletter is here on Substack, which is publicly available—except for the exclusives I send only to subscribers.

Another option is to keep both. On my blog, post to the IWSG question monthly, and all the other stuff in my newsletter.

Side note: I just watched a show called SCHOOL SPIRITS. There was a line in it that was something like, “No one reads blogs; they are too long.” To which another character rolled their eyes. By the way, this series had great foreshadowing.

Let me know your thoughts.