Parts of a book: front matter, body and back matter, in order

The parts of a book fall into three sections: front matter that introduces it, a body containing the main text, and back matter that supports or follows it. Around all of it sit the physical parts: covers, spine, jacket, endpapers.

Few books use every part. A novel may have a dozen pages before chapter one; a scholarly history may have forty and an index of thirty more. Below is every part in a common order, what each part is for, how fiction differs from nonfiction, and the short list a self-published novel really needs.

The parts of a book in order

The table gives a common order: the one set out in the first chapter of The Chicago Manual of Style, which many English-language publishers follow. Publishers and formats vary it. Praise pages may come before everything else, acknowledgments often move to the back, and an introduction can belong to the main text instead of the front matter.

Front matter also has its own page numbers. It is traditionally numbered in lowercase roman numerals (i, ii, iii), and arabic page 1 usually falls on the first page of the main text: the first chapter, an introduction that belongs to the text, or a part title. That way, adding a foreword late in production doesn't renumber the whole book.

The physical parts of a book

The terms below come from bookbinding and printing, and you will meet them as soon as you talk to a cover designer or a printer.

The page dimensions themselves are the trim size, which sets how many words fit on a page and how thick the spine will be. Ebooks drop most of this list. What remains is the cover image and a table of contents the reader can tap.

Front matter, page by page

Front matter tells the reader what the book is, who made it and how to find their way around it. Traditionally the title page sits on a right-hand page, with the copyright page on its back. The dedication follows on a fresh page.

Half title and title page

The half title carries the main title alone. It goes back to the days when books were sold unbound, and a plain first leaf protected the title page. The title page gives the full title, subtitle, author and the publisher's name and city. A frontispiece, when there is one, faces it from the left.

Copyright page

The copyright page is the book's paperwork. Chicago's list of what can go on it is long; most trade books carry some version of this:

• The copyright notice: the symbol, the year and the holder's name.
• The publisher's name and address, and the edition or publishing history.
• An ISBN for each format, such as hardcover, paperback and ebook.
• Cataloging data from the national library, for publishers that qualify.
• A printing line, a row of numbers such as 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1. The lowest number shows which printing you are holding.
• Credits and permissions for quoted material, the cover design and the photographs.
• Disclaimers. A novel's usual one says it is a work of fiction and that any resemblance to real people is coincidental.

Dedication and epigraph

A dedication offers the book to someone in a line or two, and an epigraph sets a quotation at the door. Both are optional, both get a page to themselves, and the dedication comes first. The glossary entries on the book dedication and the epigraph have examples, and the epigraph entry covers when a quotation needs permission.

Table of contents

The contents page lists parts and chapters, plus any front and back matter a reader might look for, with page numbers in print. Many print novels skip it, especially when the chapters are numbered rather than titled. Ebooks are different. Amazon's Kindle Publishing Guidelines require a logical table of contents, the navigation menu a Kindle reader opens, in every Kindle book, and strongly recommend a linked contents page in the text as well.

Foreword, preface, introduction and acknowledgments

These four get mixed up more than any other parts of a book. A foreword is written by someone else, usually a name that lends the book weight. A preface is the author's own account of how the book came about. An introduction prepares the reader for the subject itself, and if it is essential reading it can belong to the main text, starting the arabic page numbers. Acknowledgments may sit in the preface, on their own page in the front, or at the back, where many novels now put them. The glossary entry on foreword vs. preface vs. introduction has the details and real examples.

The body of the book

The body is the text itself, and its divisions depend on the kind of book.

• Prologue. A scene set apart before chapter one, often in another time or viewpoint. Chicago's outline gives it no separate entry. In a novel it belongs to the story text, though some designers list it with the front matter. See prologue vs. epilogue for when a novel needs one.
• Parts. Large divisions, each with its own title page: Part One, Book Two. Useful when the story jumps in time or changes narrator.
• Chapters. The basic unit of almost every book. Many traditionally published books start each chapter on a right-hand page; many novels simply start a new page. Inside a chapter, a blank line or an ornament marks a scene break.
• Interludes. Short sections between chapters or parts, in another voice or time.
• Conclusion. In nonfiction, the chapter that draws the argument together.
• Epilogue and afterword. An epilogue shows what happened after the story, still inside it. An afterword is the author, or another writer, stepping out to comment, as in a new edition of an older book.

Back matter, page by page

Back matter supports the text without interrupting it. Reference books and histories lean on it heavily; a novel may have nothing but acknowledgments and a note about the author.

• Appendixes. Documents, data or detail that would stall the text: a treaty, a table of results, a map key.
• Chronology or genealogy. Timelines and family trees, a gift to readers of sagas and histories.
• Glossary. Definitions of terms or invented words. Fantasy novels sometimes carry one for their languages.
• Notes. Endnotes, grouped by chapter, with the chapter titles as headings so a reader can find their place.
• Bibliography or references. The sources behind the book.
• Index. Names and subjects with page numbers, compiled once the pages are final. Usually only nonfiction has one.
• Reading group guide. Discussion questions, common in book club fiction.
• About the author. A short biographical note, often with a photo, usually the last page. The author bio examples show how long it should run.
• Colophon and errata. A note on the typeface and printing, and a list of corrections. Both are rare in trade books today.

Self-published genre fiction adds its own back matter after the last chapter: an "also by" list, a link to the author's newsletter and sometimes the first chapter of the next book. In an ebook these pages work as the book's ending call to action, so they come straight after the story.

Fiction vs. nonfiction

The same parts exist for both, but they don't pull equal weight.

Historical novels are the overlap. Many end with an author's note that separates fact from invention and names the main sources, which does in a page what a nonfiction bibliography does in twenty.

What a self-published novel needs

Traditional publishers handle most of the front and back matter for you. If you publish yourself, the essentials are short:

A few practical points. On Kindle Direct Publishing, ebooks don't need an ISBN, but paperbacks and hardcovers do. If you use the free ISBN KDP offers, your imprint appears as "Independently published". The Library of Congress's Cataloging in Publication program doesn't include self-published works, which may be eligible for its Preassigned Control Number program instead. And keep the front matter lean in the ebook. Online stores show readers the first pages as a free sample, so many indie authors move acknowledgments and "also by" pages to the back to let the sample reach the story sooner.

Front matter drifts. Chapter titles change and the contents page doesn't, and a new book never makes it onto the "also by" list in the old one. If you draft in Strokes, attach the contents page and the chapters to a chat with the Strokes Assistant before you export and ask it to list every chapter title that doesn't match the table of contents.