There is a significant amount of material that can go in the front matter of an ebook.
Many authors get overwhelmed or easily confused how much is necessary and also what to include
in what order.
After watching this video you will be an expert in adding front matter for your ebook.
All the sections we see in this video are also available as a FREE Word Template, which
are just a click away - ALL YOU have to do is just simply go to the techlibrary.tv/downloads
page to get these templates for FREE, and MUCH MORE!
Now, how much or how little front matter is needed, is a question that you need to answer
yourself based on your readers or ebook.
There is no hard and fast rule to include everything you see in this video, but choose
wisely what you include, as there are sections that are vital to protect your ebook, like
the copyrights page.
Please also keep in mind that if there are too many sections or pages that form part
of your front matter, then the preview available through the 'Look Inside' feature of Kindle
ebooks will only show your front matter and very little actual content of your ebook.
So, choose your sections wisely.
Now, let's see the recommended section and the order in which you can place your front
matter in the ebook.
1.
Praise for your ebook: if at all your book or the contents of your book is already praised
by your readers through samples, test readings, or for whatever reason, you could include
them at the beginning, after the book's cover.
Many authors, include not just their current book's praise but also the praises received
from previous books.
If you have none yet, feel free to skip to the next section.
2.
TITLE page - this is where you include your ebook's title, subtitle, your name as the
author name, any logo - all centered and BIG enough to catch the eye of the reader.
Nothing else goes in here.
Don't clutter this page with any extra items, or text.
The less text on this page, the better.
3.
Copyright page: it's good to include the copyrights page RIGHT after your title because, it's
something that 99.99% of the readers will skip reading as it's all just legal talk.
But it's also wise to keep it here because we can say upfront about any disclaimers here
so readers can take caution if at all they read this text before they proceed to read
the main chapters in your ebook.
you will also have the opportunity to mention your edition year here, so if there is any
book series or editions that you want to quote, you can do so here in this copyrights section.
As a reminder, if you want a free template in WORD format for the copyrights page and
everything else from this video, simply download it from this URL, which is also just a click
away in the video description.
4.
Next comes the Dedication page.
Here's the manuscript of my ebook Frugal Blogging with more than 250 pages- i have dedicated
this book to my parents, by the way, and it has just a line of text in italics and center
aligned.
You can do something similar here, but it's an optional section.
If you have none to dedicate your book to, feel free to skip this part.
5.
Next in the order can be some optional sections - in my book, i have used this space to insert
some more disclaimers related to the content of my ebook - which is followed by my own
bragging.
i mean, "about the author" section and why somebody should read my book - this is a place
where if you have already written more books, you can link to it.
I do this twice in my book - once here on the front pages and then again at the end
of my ebook as a CTA - call to action.
So, after all, if a person read my book till the end, which is almost 260+ in word format
itself, and obviously it will be more in Kindle format coming to around 330+, then I will
safely assume the reader will be interested in reading my other books as well.
This is your opportunity to entice your readers to become more interested in your author brand.
Although fiction writers can skip sections like
'what this book covers', 'why to read this book', etc. non-fiction writers can include
them here . but again these are not hard and fast rules, and if you feel these must be
before your first chapter, go ahead and do so.
No harm there.
6.
Then comes the contents section.
A table of contents is a very important section, especially when it comes to ebooks.
a clickable TOC is vital because readers cannot simply flip pages like we can do while reading
a paperback or a hardbound hard copy book.
Ebooks are displayed on just one plain screen of an electronic device staring at our readers
- thus a clickable TOC is a must.
Be it fiction or a non-fiction ebook.
This can be easily achieved if you have been using STYLES in Word, so when a TOC is inserted,
the heading tags will be picked automatically forming part of your Table of contents.
Just make sure NOT to include page numbers in your contents page.
7.
Next, in the list is Acknowledgments section - if at all you need to thank some people
or acknowledge them for their contributions made so you could finish your book, then it's
here.
8.
Next, if you have any Foreword, Preface, or Prologue, they can be placed here, right after
your Acknowlegments section but before your first chapter.
To recap, here is the list of sections of the front matter to include in your kindle
ebook.
You can download this list ALONG with the FREE Word Templates by going to the Tech Library
TV website's Downloads section.
If you haven't already created your free account there, please do so NOW to get this as well
as an unlimited access to get all the future reading materials that are not available elsewhere
on the website.
I hope you enjoyed this video and if so please share this video with your author friends,
hit on the like button, and don't forget to subscribe for more such videos.
If you don't want to remember my channel and just want to get notified whenever I upload
a new video, you can do that by simply clicking on the notification bell icon and YouTube
will take care of sending you the notifications whenever there is a fresh new video made here.
Thanks for watching and I will see you again in my next video.