A man will turn over half a library to make one book.
Samuel Johnson, reported in James Boswell, Life of Samuel Johnson (1775)
As you’re creating that outline of your book’s content, it may be helpful to compare what you have to some industry standards.
Front Matter
Front matter generally consists of information about the content of the book (such as why it was written), or about the author, or navigational aids for the reader. Any of the pages in the list that follows are optional, but a copyright page does claim the book as your own and provides helpful information about when and where it was published, as well as the ISBN number (necessary if you plan to sell the book).
- end sheets (only required on casebound binding)
- copyright page
- dedication
- acknowledgements
- table of contents
- foreword
- preface
Body
The body of your book is the information that you wanted to convey to begin with. It can be grouped in sections, such as chapters, or it can be one long narrative.
back Matter
Back matter is entirely optional, but it’s a useful place to tuck references (particularly if you’re writing non-fiction), extra resources for your readers, or things like an index to help readers navigate your content more specifically. Back matter may include
- afterword
- bibliography (references) for either text or images, or both
- author’s biography
- index
- any other lists or extra helps for the reader