Pages needed in a book (title, copyright, etc) ??

[Preston]

Hi, I was wondering what pages are really needed in a book besides the story itself, such as a title page, copyright, about the author, etc??

[R.F.G.]

Preston wrote: "Hi, I was wondering what pages are really needed in a book besides the story itself, such as a title page, copyright, about the author, etc??"

It can vary with the book. In part it depends on the outfit you use to publish hard copy, but apart from title page, copyright page, and mandatory blank pages (adding up to a total number evenly divisible by four) things like about the author, dedication, preface, and so on are optional.

Pick up a few published books for your genre and take a look at how they're formatted.

[Justin]

I wondered this myself when I published my first two books. What I would do is pick up several books to get an idea of what each of them had. Normally all the pages aside from the story will usually be at the beginning of the book. You have your title that you can list again followed by copyright, dedication, quotes and chapters pages.

This is of course not accounting for the blank pages you may want to use. I always wondered why some books have blank pages, well they do it so that you have the right content on the opening page and not on the back of another. I'm by no means an expert on the matter but I have looked into it and was curious like you were. I would say you're looking at around 5-7 beginning pages before the story.

At the end you can include an index but only if need be. Usually authors either write a small bio at the end or like Stephen King likes to do, gives you a small excerpt of a chapter from another one of his works.

[Preston]

Thanks for the info! I'm thinking a copyright page followed by a title page, then an About The Author at the end. I haven't seen Chapter Lists in a while in any book, but maybe it was at the end of the book.

[[deleted user]]

I have first a title page, then a copyright page, then a dedication page, then (if needed) a table of contents. In an ebook I put no blank pages between them; in a physical book, the overleaf, or left-hand page looks better blank, but it's your choice. I think chapter one should start on the right-hand page, but after that it's again your choice. I put the author's bio at the end of the book. By the way, ebooks usually need a table of contents hyperlinked to the chapters in the book.

[Preston]

Ken,

Good points, especially about the ebooks. I think once I get to the actual publishing stage, I'll figure all of this out, at least that's the hope :)

[R.F.G.]

The formatting for ebooks and print books is very different and should be done as two different files.

Epubs get a hyperlinked TOC by using Heading Style 1 for things like the title on the half-title page, the title on the copyright page, and title on title page, with Heading Style 2 applied to the chapter heading.

You might want to get a formatting guide for print vs epub.

[[deleted user]]

R.F.G. wrote: "The formatting for ebooks and print books is very different and should be done as two different files.

Epubs get a hyperlinked TOC by using Heading Style 1 for things like the title on the half-ti..."

I follow the Smashwords guide for TOC. It's easier and it works. Just bookmark each chapter heading (Chapter one, two, etc.), create a manual TOC and link to each chapter. That's for fiction. A textbook may require use of the more complicated heading system.

[R.F.G.]

Ken wrote: "I follow the Smashwords guide for TOC. It's easier and it works. Just bookmark each chapter heading (Chapter one, two, etc.), create a manual TOC and link to each chapter. That's for fiction. A textbook may require use of the more complicated heading system. "

I set the Heading Style in a Word doc, save, then run the file through a converter which creates the TOC. Easier may simply be a process the end-user is accustomed to using.

[[deleted user]]

R.F.G. wrote: "Ken wrote: "I follow the Smashwords guide for TOC. It's easier and it works. Just bookmark each chapter heading (Chapter one, two, etc.), create a manual TOC and link to each chapter. That's for fi..."

I started with the Heading Style, but I use LibreOffice, which is a little quirky with its headings, so I switched methods. I have no experience with Word, except to convert to a Word doc when I upload to Smashwords. Even then I have to go back into the bookmarks and delete the extraneous bookmarks introduced into the doc by Word.

[Jim]

Traditional Industry Standard:
1st. page - Title
2nd. page - Blank
3rd. page - Author, Title, Designation (Novel/Non-Fiction), Publisher
4th. page - Author's Copyright, Publisher's Disclaimer, Address & Contact Info., Book Design (Cover & Interior) Copyright, Country in which Published, ISBN, Genre/s, Library of Congress Code
5th. page - Dedication (Optional)
6th. page - Blank
7th. page - Table of Contents (Optional for Fiction/Often Required for Non-fiction)
8th. page - Blank
9th. page - Narration Begins

[R.F.G.]

Ken wrote: "I started with the Heading Style, but I use LibreOffice, which is a little quirky with its headings, so I switched methods. I have no experience with Word, except to convert to a Word doc when I upload to Smashwords. Even then I have to go back into the bookmarks and delete the extraneous bookmarks introduced into the doc by Word. "

I write a manuscript in Word 97 and when it's ready save an E version for conversion. I format and apply the Heading Style using LibreOffice Writer.

I format for print using Word 97. It may be a clunky arrangement but it works for me.

Then again, I upload the e-version to KDP and Lulu instead of Smash so there may well be differences in the conversion processes.

[Micah]

R.F.G. wrote: "Epubs get a hyperlinked TOC by using Heading Style 1 for things like the title..."

Well...actually you can hyperlink to anywhere. Just depends on how you're doing it. My ePubs are done via Smashwords, so when formatting the Word doc that gets uploaded to them, I bookmark each section to be used in the TOC, and then hyperlink the TOC entries to those bookmarks.

For Kindle, I hyperlink in HTML.

I highly recommend always building an in-book TOC in eBooks using hyperlinked text. If you're going to publish to Kindle, you also need to build the .ncx TOC which will be used for the built-in TOC in Kindle devices/apps.

[Micah]

Jim wrote: "Traditional Industry Standard:
1st. page - Title
2nd. page - Blank
3rd. page - Author, Title, Designation (Novel/Non-Fiction), Publisher
4th. page - Author's Copyright, Publisher's Address & Conta..."

For print, that is. There really isn't such an industry standard for eBooks.

A lot of eBook publishers are now moving a lot of the front matter to the back so that when a prospective buyer previews the eBook online, they don't have a lot of junk to page through before they get to the actual sample text.

You see a lot of variations out there. Trad publishers tend to stick to the printed format out of...uh...tradition, I suppose. But it's actually pretty annoying when you're sampling it online.

[R.F.G.]

Micah wrote: "Well...actually you can hyperlink to anywhere. Just depends on how you're doing it. My ePubs are done via Smashwords, so when formatting the Word doc that gets uploaded to them, I bookmark each section to be used in the TOC, and then hyperlink the TOC entries to those bookmarks.

For Kindle, I hyperlink in HTML.

I highly recommend always building an in-book TOC in eBooks using hyperlinked text. If you're going to publish to Kindle, you also need to build the .ncx TOC which will be used for the built-in TOC in Kindle devices/apps."

I do understand the concept of hyperlinks used within a document.

Oddly enough, I published mobi versions through KDP without building a .ncx TOC and somehow the built-in TOC are present.

I must have done something wrong.

[[deleted user]]

Micah wrote: "Jim wrote: "Traditional Industry Standard:
1st. page - Title
2nd. page - Blank
3rd. page - Author, Title, Designation (Novel/Non-Fiction), Publisher
4th. page - Author's Copyright, Publisher's Add..."

For paperback formatting with Createspace I'm always mindful of the end cost of the book, so it's best to minimize the number of pages when possible. The front matter is the best place to do this. If you have a dedication I see no problem with having it on the left-hand page following the copyright info, with the TOC on the right-hand, or the beginning of the narration if you have no TOC. I don't think the reader would object to, or even notice, some departures from tradition.