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Synopsis: A foreword, preface, and introduction can each play a pivotal role in a book’s marketing plan. Understanding the differences, and how to use each to your advantage, can help propel your book to critical and financial success.
What You Will Learn In This Post
1. You will learn the fundamental differences between a book’s foreword, preface, and introduction.
2. You will learn how these three sections can make your book more impressive than most other books.
3. You will learn how important a role these three sections can play in your book’s financial and critical success.
Introduction
A self-publisher needs to understand the differences between the foreword, preface, and book introduction. Each section plays a vital role in the critical and financial success of the book. Without these three sections, a non-fiction book is incomplete and not giving the readers their money’s worth.
Therefore, I’ve laid out some basic definitions of each section to help give new self-publishers a starting point before beginning their first book:
Thank you to Danielle de Valera for posting and linking to my post “Foreword v. Preface v. Introduction” on her great blog “The Manuscript Assessor”
Thank you to Barbara Pittman for linking to this article from her website PittmanLettersProject.com
1. The Foreword
(Why the reader should read the book)
The foreword is the place for a guest author to show the reader why they should be reading this book. The foreword of a book is a major selling tool for the book.
If it’s written properly, and by the appropriate person for the job, the book’s author will gain a lot of credibility in the reader’s eyes. It’s important to remember that the author of the book shouldn’t write the foreword.
Instead, the author can use the book’s preface and the book’s introduction to say what needs to be said about the book. Forewords introduce the reader to the author, as well as the book itself, and attempt to establish credibility for both.
A foreword doesn’t generally provide the reader with any extra specific information about the book’s subject. But instead, it serves as a reminder of why the reader should read the book. The foreword must make an emotional connection with the reader.
Thank you to author Joel Friedlander of TheBookDesigner.com for linking to this article.
Thank you to Laura Lee for linking to this article from her website StressManagementForWriters.WordPress.com”
2. The Preface
(How the book came about)
The preface is a place for the book’s author to tell the reader how this book came into being, and why. It should build credibility for the author and the book.
The preface is very similar to the foreword, except that the preface is written by the book’s author. The preface is also an important selling tool for the book. Here the author should explain why they wrote the book, and how they came to writing it. The author should be showing the reader why they are worth reading.
Thank you very much to Kristan Lukasak of GettingOnTop.WordPress.com for linking to this article.
3. The Introduction
(About the content of the book)
The introduction introduces the material that is covered in the book. Here the author can set the stage for the reader, and prepare them for what can be expected from reading the book.
The introduction is a way for the author to grab the reader, and intensify the reader’s desire to find out more, and hopefully devour the entire book. In the introduction, the author can quickly and simply tell the reader what is to be revealed in much greater detail if they continue reading.
Conclusion
As you can see, it is imperative to understand the basic differences in these three book sections in order to produce a professional-looking and complete self-published book. Each section is clearly different, and each performs a specific function in the book. Therefore, in order to produce a high-quality and well-designed book, a self-publisher will need to put a lot of thought and effort into producing these three vital sections.
“It’s essential for an author to understand the differences between the foreword/preface/introduction.” (Tweet)
Foreword Vs. Preface Vs. Introduction: A Guide For Self-Publishers https://t.co/bJ08D6G4K3 via @jckunzjr #selfpublishing #bookmarketing
— Joseph C. Kunz, Jr. (@jckunzjr) January 6, 2017
Questions For Us To Think About And Discuss
1. Please discuss how one or more of these sections helped your book.
2. Has anyone gotten any feedback from their readers about one of these sections?
Thank you very much to Billi Joy Carson of EditingAddict.com for posting and linking to my post “Foreword Vs. Preface Vs. Introduction: A Guide For Self-Publishers”
Thank you to best-selling author Elizabeth Spann Craig for sharing and linking to my post.
• This article is also featured in Joel Friedlander’s online publication The Carnival of the Indies – Issue #67
• This article is also posted on Danielle de Valera’s blog The Manuscript Assessor
• This article is also listed on Elizabeth Spann Craig’s site Twitterific Writing Links
• This article is also posted on LinkedIn.com
• This article is also posted on EzineArticles.com
• This article is also mentioned on Laura Lee’s website StressManagementForWriters.WordPress.com
• This article is also posted on Billi Joy Carson’s website Editing Addict.com
• This article was also posted on Kristan Lukasak’s website GettingOnTop.org. Unfortunately, this website is no longer active.
• This article was also mentioned on Barbara Pittman’s website PittmanLettersProject.com
Foreword Vs. Preface Vs. Introduction: https://t.co/NBJDtTEc88 @jckunzjr
— Elizabeth S Craig (@elizabethscraig) May 11, 2016
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