Writing Tips
Welcome to writing tips from your editor! I have created this page in hopes of helping authors and potential clients with mistakes commonly seen during the editing process, or just basic information that a baby author may not know. This page is intended to be informative and is by no means everything necessary to publish.
Basic Parts of a Book
1) Book Cover
Having a quality book cover is one of the best ways you can ensure your book sells well, especially as a self-published author. It’s the first thing they see, and a potential buyer can form an opinion in seconds.
2) Title Page
For obvious reasons, your title is important. It is often the first impression a potential reader will have of your book. Your title page serves as a means of not only declaring your title clearly, but also ensuring your name, subtitle, endorsement, and any other crucial information is present for your readers to view.
3) Copyrights
Your book needs to be copyrighted. Unless you’re okay with others stealing its content and reaping the rewards for themselves, that is.
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Here is an example of what your copyright page should look like:
4) Dedication
This is the part of a book that most of us write long before the actual book is finished … we just tend to jot it down in our minds instead of on paper.
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Your book dedication is like your acceptance speech when given an award. Except your book is the award and therefore, you get to write this “speech” and place it where everyone can read it before even starting the book.
5) Table of Contents
There are a lot of reasons to have a table of contents in your book.
For one, it helps readers know where to find the information they’re really looking for.
Secondly, this is highly useful in kindle or ebook versions of your book in order to help readers click and navigate without having to actually arrow over through the pages to get there.
The happier the reader, the better the reviews they leave.
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What is a table of contents?
A table of contents is a list of a book’s chapters or sections with the heading name and often the page number if there are no links inside.
6) Prologue
A prologue is a short chapter that usually takes place before the main story begins as a means of granting understanding to the reader. It’s also used to increase intrigue and captivate readers.
7) Body
The body is the main story, the "meat and potatoes" of the book. It's where the core narrative, information, or substance of the book resides, often organized into chapters or sections. This section is considered the heart of the publication, providing readers with the main content and purpose of the work.
8) Epilogue
An epilogue is a short chapter that comes after the last chapter of a book as a way to tie the story together in a conclusion. Whether it's a massive cliffhanger to get the reader enticed for the next book in the series, or a nice little happily ever after snippet to give the readers more of the characters they fell in love with. Most readers never want the book to end, the epilogue is a good way to give them the closure they need for their next adventure.
9) Acknowledgements
We all have people in our lives to acknowledge for our success in writing a book.
Much like the dedication, the acknowledgments are meant to recognize impactful people in our lives. These, unlike the dedication, typically come at the end of the book and can be written in longer, paragraph form as opposed to a short sentence for each.
It should also include anyone that was hired to work on the book with you! Cover designers, editors, and formatters all work hard to make your manuscript the best it can be. As an editor, it warms my heart to buy a book for my shelf that will include a heartfelt acknowledgment from my authors.
10) Author Biography
Your author bio doesn’t have to be very long. Keep it short and simple while still showing your readers your credibility in what your book covers.
11) Back Cover/ Synopsis
The back cover, also known as the synopsis of your book, is by far the most critical for getting people to buy.
With your synopsis, you want to create intrigue and show your readers that they’ll get a good story. The trick is doing this with a few short paragraphs.