Jun 25, 2015 how to format a book in ms word part iii. Back matter in your book celebrating independent authors. Front matter are the sections that come before the first chapter. While it might not seem like a marketing tool, front matter does have an influence on sales. May 27, 2015 book promotion expert ben cameron always says writing the blurb is the hardest 100 words youll ever write, and many authors are also stumped when it comes to writing the front and back matter another task that usually falls just when youre feeling least like writing another word, after completing your books final edit. Either way, the material that appears at the front of a book before the actual content is called front matter, and it actually contains some very important information.
How to publish your ebook from word to kindle in under ten. In my ebooks, i will absolutely put a link from the book title to its page on amazon. Amazon turned off her kindle account, blocking her from her own books. If yes, that could be the first thing that should go under the front matter. Front matter is everything in your book that comes before your story. This last read page is bookmarked in cloud by amazon when you stop reading, so no matter what device you use to read it your kindle fire, computer, or smartphone, for example you go to the last read page immediately. This is often the first page with just the title of the book i. You can add front matter such a title page, page, or dedication page, and back matter pages like about the author and books by author in a few clicks. For the last few weeks, diggypods blog has been discussing the various elements of a book s front matter that is, all the different pieces that fit together and introduce the author, the story, the themes, and its importance. Front matter of a book what is included in the front.
Walk through formatting the text in your paperback books front matter, and inserting blank pages to ensure that the pages are in the correct position. Building the front matter of your book building your table of contents preparing a cover finishing your book uploading and checking the quality of your book just before publishing your book. Next, i flip to the book s dedication and acknowledgements. Click the print settings button in the topright corner of kindle create. Add front matter pages kindle create allows you to easily add front matter pages like title page, dedication, and more in a few clicks.
Nov 08, 2019 what you include in the front matter of your book depends on the information you want to impart to your reader to help enhance, explain, or set things up. The front matter of a book is everything between the front cover and page one, where your story begins. Pressbooks lets you easily format these and other items as front matter in your book, which will appear prior to the main body. Front matter and back matter are terms used to describe the first and last pages of a book but not the actual story or body content of the book. As part of the best practice guides for authors from bb ebooks, front matter, back matter, and metadata is a short guide that will help you. How to publish your own amazon kindle ebook pcworld. What you include in the front matter of your book depends on the information you want to impart to your reader to help enhance, explain, or set things up. While theres nothing like reading a real, tangible book, the experience of reading on a kindle is probably secondbest. Kindle books allow you to do just that, offering top quality reads at the touch of a button. We are excited youve decided to design, format, and prepare your book for kindle. You dont own your kindle books, amazon reminds customer. As you create your ebooks whether its meant for kindle or kobo or nook or whoever, you have the option of inserting front matter or back matter sections. So please do take these things as seriously as your story. How to organize your books front matter includes a checklist of front matter items.
Book front matter what to include in the front of your book. How you should be using back matter in your ebooks adam geen. It matters a lot, but sometimes authors get confused about what goes where, when, and why. The provenance information for a book is essential for readers to know, and should be easy to access and clear.
You can control how the headers and footers of your print book appear by specifying the style you want. The page numbering of your book begins with the body, and front matter gets roman numerals as page numbers. Mar 20, 2017 the front matter of all books is pretty well prescribed. Its really not all that complicated, but it is important to get it right if you. How to format front matter how to make an ebook series. The purpose of front matter is mostly to make sure your book looks as professional as possible. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. Back matter is reserved for things like an index, a glossary, notes and other material that doesnt belong in the body of the book itself, but which youd want to include for the convenience of readers or to make the book complete. Kindle voyage the voyage has a front design unique to all others with thin, vertical lines on the side along with left and right softtouch buttons for easy pageturning. Before you write building the front matter of your book. Your ultimate guide to front matter and back matter. What is the difference between kindle edition format and a.
If this is a kindle version of the book, all links. How to navigate a book on your kindle fire hd dummies. Its portable, lightweight, and lets you carry around infinitely more. Its far from the most fullyfeatured reader, but if youre purely looking for a way. This is a work file in kcb format you can use to update your book later. A useful resource guide to make your novel or nonfiction work more professional. Thin blue line usa metal license plate 6x12 inch black, white, and blue american flag auto tag for cars and trucks in support of police and law enforcement officers. The new kindle is a nobrainer recommendation for anyone on a budget thanks to that added front light. Half titlethis page contains only the title of the book and is typically the first page you see when opening the. Youre used to flipping pages in a physical book, but the kindle fire hd and other ereaders provide you with several ways to move around. Building your book for kindle, written and freely provided by the kindle direct publishing kdp people, is an excellent. Apr 26, 2019 what exactly is front matter and back matter. Kindle cloud reader lets you read ebooks instantly in your web browser no kindle device required.
Book design is the art of incorporating the content, style, format, design, and sequence of the various components and elements of a book into a coherent unit. However, many books do not display numbers or numerals in their front matter at all. It can be as simple as a single title page, or it can include multiple title pages, foreword, a preface, and much more. How to write the front and back matter of your kindle ebook. Nov 07, 2012 every book, your book included, should have front matter, and making front matter look great is easy if you know how.
Now before we get into it, these are merely meant as suggestions and there are definitely some who refuse to put a table of contents at the beginning of their book for instance since it. Front and back matter in books selfpublishing advice. Make your front matter and back matter pages work for you. Title page the title page is especially easy because you dont need to give it a different style. To go to the next page, tap anywhere on the page, except near the top and along the left.
Oct 06, 2010 lately ive come to the conclusion that while front matter in print books has a set protocol and exists for a reason, in ebooks its essentially wasted space when its, you know, in the front. Book promotion expert ben cameron always says writing the blurb is the hardest 100 words youll ever write, and many authors are also stumped when it comes to writing the front and back matter another task that usually falls just when youre feeling least like writing another word, after completing your book s final edit. Below is the front matter of a secondhand book printed in 1982 i just received in the mail, its a history of the area i live in and it was written by an academic. If you are using a kindle ereader and you have downloaded the book to your device then you can read it regardless of whether or not you have internet access. There arent any definitive rules for how the different sections of front matter in an ebook should be organized, and it is very unlikely that your book will be rejected for publishing based on how you have structured it except for smashwords, the nitpicky ones. Rightfacing pages are odd numbered pages in printed books because the first piece of paper is on the right side, facing up from the open, printed book. How to publish your ebook from word to kindle in under 10 minutes this guest post over at the book designer. In the words of renowned typographer jan tschichold 19021974, book design, though largely forgotten today, relies upon methods and rules upon which it is impossible to improve, and which have been developed over centuries. Front matter includes the dedication, epigram, table of contents, foreword, preface, and acknowledgements. How to format front matter how to make an ebook series the. This is known as the cover image within kindle book.
Tap near the left edge of the display to move back one page. Whatever way you choose to present your front matter, it is best to keep structured in a similar fashion with all the ebooks you publish to give your reader a consistent experience. Some elements are expected and others are optional, but there is a standard order. Front matter is a little misleading as increasingly commonly the front matter becomes back matter. Front matter can be subjective as it varies from book to book, but im going to advise.
Amazon s latest kindle, now in its 10th generation, is the new entrylevel model in the range. For your convenience, heres a list of what encompasses front matter. Select the book title copy and type in the name of your book, and then select the author name and type in the name of the author. Kindle create displays your book in three sections. Front matter when you format your book for hard copy printing, you should follow the structure as shown in the diagram below. Include correct links under catalogue or your buyer hook. There may also be a preface by the author, or a foreword by someone familiar with their work. Aug 08, 2011 whether you want to create an actual paperback book to ship to readers or a music cd or movie dvd, for that matter, or you just want to crank out an ebook for digital download, such tools make. But they still start numbering at the beginning of the book. The front matter, and all its components, is a seriously important part of the book. When you format your book for hard copy printing, you should follow the structure as shown in the diagram below.
You can split, merge, or rearrange chapters as needed. How to format your book for amazon kindle using microsoft. Note that since pages are not numbered in e books, it probably doesnt matter in that case. It is one of the top selfpublishing companies, and currently dominates the selfpublishing book market. Kindle direct publishing kdp is amazons book publishing platform that can be used to selfpublish a book online, which readers can purchase as an ebook or printondemand book. If done haphazardly, its a sure sign in most peoples eyes that the book content will not be up to par. How to rent kindle books for free from your local library. The front and back matter in a book are one of the key factors to presenting a professional and quality product. To see the toolbar, tap near the top edge of the display.
They still have to know to switch from kindle to print editions, but at least the. Walk through formatting the text in your paperback books front matter, and inserting blank pages to ensure that the pages are in the correct. Front matter pages are traditionally numbered in lowercase roman numerals i, ii, iii, iv, v, etc. No matter what you want to write, amazon offers a program called kindle direct publishing which makes it easy for you to publish. Kindle allows this, obviously, but other ebook publishers like smashwords will not allow links to amazon. Reading a book on a kindle paperwhite is intuitive. If youve been involved in many online forums, youve probably seen quite a bit of discussion about this. Whats the difference between the kindle and kindle. Here are the elements you can find in the front matter of books, and a brief. What to include in the front matter of an ebook tech library tv.
That gives you headroom to play with the front matter. Lately ive come to the conclusion that while front matter in print books has a set protocol and exists for a reason, in ebooks its essentially wasted space when its, you know, in the front. Want to write the next great novel or a howto guide about writing amazing novels. The front matter of a book consists of the material before the actual content or body of the book. Look inside feature of kindle ebooks will only show your front matter. Part 2 is part of our ongoing how to make an ebook series as part of our professional ebook conversion and kindle formatting service. Every book has standard parts, from the front matter and table of contents to the core matter and the back matter. Book front matter includes some or all of these pages. How to move through a book on your kindle paperwhite. Jun 25, 2018 walk through formatting the text in your paperback book s front matter, and inserting blank pages to ensure that the pages are in the correct position.
Front matter is the first section of a book and is generally the shortest. It will appeal if you dont want to spend big on the kindle oasis or kindle paperwhite. These books are printed on paper, which is made from trees and use ink for the printing. If youve read part of the book, it opens automatically to the last page you read. In this excerpt from book design made simple, we offer a list of possible book front matter pages and their proper order. Youre better off going with the answers given by shawn and marion i guess. While this is a very odd question for someone who is asking about books, i will still like to help you on this since it is a very simple answer. Front matter of a book what is included in the front matter.
The front matter of a book consists of its very first pages. You probably wont include all of these, but pick and choose which work best for your unique title. For those who are too afraid to ask, here is a glossary of the different sections of front matter and what they are. Ensure you have front matter and back matter that is organized properly to give your book a professional look. Well walk you through the necessary steps in creating a professional digital file of your book for quick upload to kindle direct publishing. Here are the elements you can find in the front matter of books, and a brief description of each.
How to setup the allimportant front and back matter of. Previously in the formatting kindle ebooks series, we learned about what goes in a title page and why. This opens a window with several options to change the. For the last few weeks, diggypods blog has been discussing the various elements of a books front matter that is, all the different pieces that fit together and introduce the author, the story, the themes, and its importance. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading dark matter. As i said previously, there are no hard and fast rules that dictate how a book must be structured, but the structure discussed here is one thats been around for a few hundred years. Jan 01, 2012 building the front matter of your book. Follow the instructions below to edit the 5 front matter pages specifically for your book. How to create, edit, delete and change front matter items. Im getting ready to sent my manuscript to kindle scout for publication and.
Book front matter elements book design made simple. If the book is a pdoc has that ugly personal banner it will be extracted from the ebook file. If the book is just a book, it attempts to download the cover from amazon s servers, using the exth 1 meta field asin, aka amazon product id. Whats it matter the front and back matter of a book the. The simplest way to move one page forward or one page back is to tap your finger anywhere on the right or left side of the page, respectively. I like making things simple, so i just think of the kindle book format in eight sections. Stupidly, wont even try falling back on the embedded cover. This is part of a series on front matter presented by bb ebooks. Fill in the available fields like title, subtitle, and add a publisher image optional. Learn how to design, develop, and create an ebook like a pro for all markets. Making your books front mattermatter the writing cooperative. Lets talk about the different sections associated with front matter first.
Building your book for kindle we are excited youve decided to design, format, and prepare your book for kindle. Building your book for kindle by kindle direct publishing. How to move through a book on your kindle paperwhite dummies. Thats right, before digging into the main course, i enjoy the appetizers or whats known by book production aficionados as front matter. How to publish your ebook from word to kindle in under ten minutes by ed ditto provides a detailed and illustrated walk through of this quick method for creating ebooks. I believe they know what theyre talking about and i clearly didnt. Half title page click on page 1 the page spreads panel, click on the text container to open the text editor. Apr 19, 2017 next, i flip to the books dedication and acknowledgements. I will usually list my books in the front matter, but in the back, i include a paragraph about each of the books to entice readers to go deeper. Its crucial that every part of the book appear in the right order with the right content. But what the heck do you put at the back of the book. We tend to spend all of our time writing the main content of the book and fail to factor in the extra time required to write and organize the front and back matter. In the second installment well learn how to include a page, also known as front matter. Front matter, body, and back matter even if youve already polished your chapters to perfection, you still need to prepare various other parts of a book before publishing namely, the front matter and back matter.
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