- You're done writing and you might be tempted
to say, "The end," and be done with it.
Book closed, back cover done, done, and done.
But the back matter of your book is where you
can add some important content
for your author platform and audience.
So if you're looking for the best practices
on back of the book material,
and some things we do a little differently
at Book Launchers and why, well, then this video
is absolutely for you.
(upbeat music)
Hey, there I'm Julie, the book broad of Book Launchers.
We recently were criticized for our unconventional methods
by a company soliciting one of our authors to work
with his marketing company.
We use "The Chicago Manual of Style,"
but with our own house style blended in.
And the reason is not because we
don't know what we're doing,
but because we're focused on book marketing
and author platform building at every stage.
"Chicago Manual of Style" is a book of rules.
It has value, and sometimes you may choose
to break the rules for a good reason.
One of the things we don't do is bulk up the front of
the book with things that aren't going
to help sell the book.
For example, we will generally bump things,
like acknowledgements to the back of the book.
I wanna kick it or smack it. Here, smack it.
Acknowledgements, off you go.
We recommend most authors skip having a forward
unless it's going to be a real asset
to the book sales or the author's credibility.
We rarely recommend a preface
and we get right to the point with introductions
and sometimes we don't even have an introduction at all.
This means my list for what's going at the back
of your book is gonna be a wee bit different
than if you follow the rules.
But do you know why we break the rules with this?
Go ahead, take a guess and type it in the comments below.
And did you know if you comment
the day a video is released, you get entered to win some
of our fabulous Book Launchers Swag?
We have mugs, journals, t-shirts, magnets,
and we're always adding to that list.
And when you comment on any video the day it comes out,
you get entered to win and you and I become friends.
Go ahead, try it.
Okay, so did you type into the comments that we focus
on making the early pages of your book sell your book
when someone clicks on the look inside feature of your book
on Amazon or a preview section on other viewers?
You're right. High five.
Okay, so the front of our book is focused
on things like the required copyright page.
A, I gotta buy this book table of contents.
A dedication that engages the reader.
An optional call to action,
thanks for buying this book download invitation.
And a get to right to why I
absolutely have to read this book introduction.
With the exception of the copyright page,
this is all sales material.
So the back matter of the book, well,
that's where you put things like acknowledgements
and even endorsements,
if you wanna put them in your book at all.
I'm mixed on this.
I think you should be using endorsements
on your Amazon author central, your book page,
your editorial reviews, your media materials,
but I am not 100% convinced
that they will sell your book when you put them
in the front of the book.
But it's your call, might work for some people.
But ultimately your back matter in a CMS,
a "Chicago Manual of Style" world,
would be afterward, appendix or addendum,
endnotes, bibliography, author bio, coming soon, or also by.
In the Book Launchers' world,
it's more like afterward if you have it.
We more commonly put the acknowledgements here.
Appendix or addendum, endnotes, bibliography,
bulk buy, download offer,
hire me to speak page and author bio.
So what are all these things at the back of your book?
Well, the afterward, this can be different things
to different authors.
If your book is research heavy
or something interesting happened while writing,
you can share that here.
It's a connection point for you and your audience
if you wanna have it.
Personally, I don't write one
because it's kind of formal for my conversational style.
My afterward words are really the final words in my book.
Then, I'd hit you with the acknowledgements.
Up next is the appendix or the addendum.
Appendix provides extra details, often research
or ancillary content that some readers find interesting,
but it would've bogged the book down to include it in
the content of the book.
Traditionally, the addendum adds new material
after the first printing or first edition,
but I've seen appendix and addendum used interchangeably,
so I wouldn't get too fussed about this.
This section can also include a glossary or an index.
Endnotes and bibliography also appear back here next.
I tend to use footnotes in my books,
but that's because mine aren't research heavy
and there's not a lot of references.
If you have a lot of references, you'd have endnotes.
Then your bibliography would detail all your research
and reference material.
If you have copyrighted material in your book,
you would put the copyright permissions here too.
If you've used any copyrighted material in your book,
the copyright permissions page is where you show
that you obtained permission to use them.
Then, I recommend a single page
that sells your book in bulk,
leads people to your speaking page
or services or free download
or even social media connections.
Many people may not care that they can contact you directly
to buy bulk for your book.
But every once in a while, your book will end up in
the hands of someone that might want a copy
for everyone in their organization.
And voila, you've just made a 500 book sale
from having a single page in the back of your book.
This page is also a great place to invite your reader
into your ecosystem too.
You can tell them about courses, speaking, social media.
And then finally, wrap it all up with your author bio.
If this is a hard cover book, your author bio is probably
on the dust cover or the back cover.
But if not, put your author photo
and your bio on the last page.
If you have other books,
you may have a page here that is also by
that leads the reader to check out more of your work.
My challenge to you is to end your book
with a call to action or an invitation of some kind.
If this single page only generates one bulk sale
or one speaking opportunity
or one high value relationship, isn't it worth it?
Now there's a ton of videos I could recommend
that you see after you hit that thumbs up button.
But I think you're now wondering
about writing acknowledgements,
especially ones that aren't boring,
and that video is right here for you.
Or possibly you're thinking about
whether your introduction is going to sell your book.
If you are, congrats,
that's some savvy book author thinking there.
And you should click right here for a video all about that.
Either way, you're a delight to hang out with,
and I can't wait to read your comments
on the next video that you view.