Creating your book’s front matter

Front matter is that part of a book which is found before the main content. Some of it is optional and it’s up to the author to decide what should be included. These are the sections normally found in it.

• Half title– The book title. This page contains the title of the book, usually written in CAPITALS at the top of the first page. It’s the first page you see when opening the cover. Follow this with a 'section break (new page)' if you are using a frontispiece. If you are not using one then use a ‘section break (odd page).
• Frontispiece - (optional) A full page illustration on the verso of the half title and facing the title page.
• Title page The title, subtitle, author and publisher of the book. May also include the year of publication and location of the author. This is always a right-hand page of a two page spread. This pace  should be centre aligned vertically. See this page for how to align a page to the top/centre/bottom (and justified).
• Copyright page On the verso of the title page and containing copyright notice, edition information, publication information, cataloguing data, legal notices, and the book’s ISBN number. This page should be bottom aligned.
• Dedication - (optional) Top aligned page.
• Table of contents - (optional, especially in fiction) This should always start on a right hand (odd numbered) page and should be top aligned.
• List of figures/tables - (optional) This should be a top aligned page.
• Epigraph - (optional) A quotation or poem. This may be placed on the verso of contents, list of figures, or facing chapter one. Epigraphs may also be placed at the start of each chapter.
• Forward - (optional) A short piece written by someone other than the author possibly explaining the context of the book.
• Preface - (optional) A short piece written by the author explaining the context of the book and how it came about.
• Prologue - (optional and often undesirable) Sets the scene for a fictional work and should be written in a character’s voice rather than the author’s voice.

And finally! Chapter 1 – always starting on a right hand (odd) page. Normally this will be numbered as page 1 of the book.

How to create and insert your front matter

The instructions below refer to Word 2016 and later. If you have an earlier version—Word 2010 or later, I’ve placed instructions for that version in an earlier blog – Making Word 2010+ display odd pages on the right If you have an even earlier version I suggest you upgrade. Paying monthly for Microsoft Office 365 is fairly painless and you'll get some important bonuses such as lots of cloud storage to keep backup copies of your work. You'll also get the rest of the Office Suite of programs.

The numbers on the illustrations refer to the steps listed here.

1. Word choose File → New → Blank document
2. Select 'Print Layout' view
3.  From the Layout tab select in the Page setup group the 'Size' button and then at the bottom of the dropdown 'More Page Sizes'
   
4. If you have started by modifying a template downloaded from a print-on-demand publisher, the book size will already be set – skip forward to number 6 in the instructions. Otherwise, using the 'Paper' tab, select what size pages your book will have. I use a custom size of 13.97 x 21.59 cm (5.5 x 8.5 inches) which is one of the standard book sizes. Your self-publishing firm will tell you what standard sizes are available. I suggest you measure a few books too.
   
5. On the 'Margins' tab select a top margin of 2 cm; bottom margin of 2.54 cm; inside margin of 1.27 cm; Outside margin of 1.27 cm; gutter of 0.95 cm; Gutter position Left; Portrait; Multiple pages should Mirror margins; Apply to This section. The ‘Gutter’ refers to extra space added to the center of a book to make it easier to read. The thicker the book is, the more gutter space which will be needed. When you upload your book your print-on-demand service should warn you if you have too little gutter space.
6. On the 'Layout' tab, double click in the white space above the text “This is the 5.5 x 8.5 Basic…” This will open a ‘Header & Footer Design’ tab. Check in the Header and footers tab ‘Different odd and even’; Un-check ‘Different first page’; set the header and Footer to 1.25 cm from the edge; You should now see 'Odd Page Header' at the header and 'Odd Page Footer' at the footer. 
7. Close the Header and Footer view
8. If rulers are not shown turn them on using the ‘View’ tab and selecting the ‘Ruler’ checkbox.
9. Half title page - Type in CAPITALS your book title. Center it. This is NOT your main Title Page it’s known as a ‘Half title’—the first page you see when opening the cover.
10. After the title press Return then insert a 'Section break next page' 
11. On the Home ribbon turn on ‘Show/Hide’. You will now see formatting codes normally invisible. I leave this on all the time but if you find them distracting you can turn this off later. Even with show/hide turned off, you may see small black squares at the left of the text indicating ‘Keep together’ is on.
12. Frontispiece? If you are using a frontispiece—An illustration facing the title page—then add the ‘Frontispiece’ image now.
13. Whether you are using a frontispiece or not, Insert a section break - odd page. This will ensure that your title page is an ‘odd’ left facing page. You can use the icon from the Insert ribbon but since you’ll probably use this a lot, you may find it useful to add the ‘Insert Page and Section Breaks icon’ to your Quick Access toolbar and use that. Here’s how to do that and add some other essential icons.
    Right click a blank area of the ribbon and select ‘Customize Quick Access Toolbar…’
    Select ‘All Commands’ at the top
    Select and add the icons listed below. Navigation Pane allows you to quickly toggle the navigation pane on and off. This gives you more space on your screen. Save, Undo, Redo and New File do just that. Touch/Mouse Mode is useful if you have a touchscreen It spaces the commands in the ribbon out more. Insert Page/Section Breaks is a quick way of inserting breaks without having to go through multiple menus. Speak Selected Text is an essential tool for checking your document while editing. Print Preview Edit Mode allows you to quickly preview the document as printed out. Using the Section breaks icon on a quick access toolbar makes inserting that ‘Section Break – Odd Page’ a lot quicker.
14. Main title page The next page will be your main title page where you put the title, the author. I also add the location and year of writing. Format this page as you wish it. At the end of the page insert a ‘Section Break – Next Page.’ Want an example? See this page.
15. Copyright page Your next page will be a copyright page and if you have one, put your ISBN/EAN number here. I’ll give you two example texts - customize the areas in square brackets [ ... ] and space these appropriately. The important line, which you must not change is the ‘Copyright © [year] [name]’ statement.
    Copyright Example 1 – Non fiction book

    [Name] has asserted [his/her/their] right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the [author/authors] of this work.

    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.

    
    

    Copyright © [year] [Name]

    All rights reserved under International and Pan-American 

    Copyright Conventions.

    
    

    ISBN-10: [Your ISBN-10 number]

    ISBN-13: [Your ISBN-13 number]
    
     Copyright Example 2 – Fiction book
    [Name/names] [has/have] asserted [his/her/their] right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the authors of this work.
    
    This book is a work of fiction and, except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
    
    Copyright © [year] [Name/names]
    All rights reserved under International and Pan-American
    Copyright Conventions.
    
    ISBN-10: [Your ISBN-10 number]
    ISBN-13: [Your ISBN-13 number]
    
    

    After your copyright statement add a ‘Section Break – Next Page.’
    

Those of you with an eye for detail might have noticed that so far, the pages used have three different layouts. 

1. The half title page was vertically aligned at the top. 

2. The title page was vertically aligned at the center 

3. The copyright page was vertically aligned at the bottom:

It’s not immediately obvious how to do this in Word. It's important that this isn't done by using the Return key to add blank lines! To achieve it each page must end with a section break.

First place your cursor on the page you wish to change.

Next from the layout tab (1) select the small icon (2) at the bottom right of the Page Setup section of the ribbon.

Select the Layout tab (3) in the window which opens.

In the Page Vertical alignment section (4) select the alignment you want. ‘Justified’ incidentally will space out the paragraphs of a page to fill the entire page.
There's a more detailed guide to vertical alignment in MS Word here.

Next steps:

1.      Dedication/Acknowledgments/Epigraph page Your next page will contain either a dedication, or acknowledgments you wish to make or an epigraph—a quotation or short poem. Or if you don’t want to use any of these then leave this page blank. Add a Section Break (Odd page) at the end of this page. I add a dedication here.

2.      Next comes the Contents page if this is a non-fiction book. Contents must always be an even number of pages so end this area with a ‘Section Break (Odd Page)’. Fiction normally don’t have contents pages. (unless you are using a description of chapter contents.) Word has a tool for creating a ‘Table of Contents.’ It uses the headings of your book. Find this under the References tab of the ribbon.

3.      If your book contains multiple illustrations, you can add a ‘List of illustrations’ next if you wish. Again, end this with a ‘Section Break (Odd Page).

4.   If you have an odd number of contents/list of illustrations/tables pages you will have a blank page at the end. I often use this page to insert an epigraph.   

You are now ready to insert the content of your book

Save your document!