So The next topic in the group is Front and Back matter.
Okay… Let’s start with the front matter. Every book has certain things. 1. A title Page. 2. A copyright page. 3. when appropriate – a table of contents.
The Title page is fairly basic. It should have the title and the author’s name. You can add details or graphics if you choose but they aren’t necessary. The Copyright page is often simple. Here is what I use:
Copyright © (YEAR) (AUTHOR)
Publisher
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. This is a work of fiction, any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Names, characters, and places are products of the author’s imagination.
Publisher
(Address)
Publisher’s website
Some add the ISBN to the copyright page. I do not choose to because each version is supposed to have it’s own ISBN and I don’t want to have multiple document files for the same book.
The Table of Contents is not always appropriate. Some books are not laid out in a manner that have multiple points of Content. So if it is necessary it is simple. You can simply list the contents and if you are feeling inclined add the page numbers where said content is found.
That is literally all of the front matter. Now for Back Matter…
This is up to the author/publisher what to include but some options are:
- About the Author – a simple Bio perhaps with a picture. (I recommend the Bio be in 3rd person)
- About the Publisher – much like the About the Author but focusing on the Publishing company.
- Other Books published by the Author.
- Ads – Some people sell ad space in their books. This is put in the back matter.
- Teasers – If the book is part of a series then you can put a teaser for the next book in the back matter.
- Other books by the publisher…This is a rare thing but when I have done it I listed the Anthologies we did.
Front and Back matter can help get the page count up if the book is smaller. There are occasions that you do not want to add pages though and it should be considered. Amazon will not allow words on the spine unless there is 75 pages. However, Children’s books are not a place where some of the back matter is appropriate. Books need a minimum of 24 pages for Amazon to allow them to be made as a paperback. That is difficult for Children’s books to achieve sometimes. There are other options than Amazon but Amazon also has the widest reach customer wise.
I will discuss the Epub with you Next week. And I am planning on discussing the places that you can publish(that I am aware of.) Soon.
Pattimouse 
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