Creating and Formatting Front Matter

 Let's get started with your book's front matter

I will assume that you are using the world's most popular word processor Microsoft Word. If you are not using Word then Libre Office Writer is the best free alternative and works in a very similar way. You could also use the online version of MS Word provided you have an Internet connection. However, the free online version of Word doesn't give you the full features of the desktop version.  It's worth paying the £7.99 ($6.99 US) monthly subscription for Microsoft 365 Personal to get an up-to-date copy of MS Word and all the other Office tools an author needs.

I suggest you start by formatting your manuscript as a paper book. Later we'll convert this to an ebook.

Step 1 - the easy method By far the simplest way of setting page size, and indeed front and back matter is to use a book template. These are available from a number of sources but many of them are not quite 'right' and have minor mistakes such as using the Return key to space pages vertically or displaying pages on the wrong side when editing in a two page spread. Here's one I produced which fixes that. To use it you should replace text in square brackets with your own details and delete all notes written in grey text. Then replace 'Chapter 1' with your own text. Before you save the final copy you should delete the first page entirely. You can download this 5½ inches by 8½ inches 'Digest' template by right clicking this link and using 'save as'.  When you open the file, you'll see this:

You'll need to click the 'Enable Editing' button then resave the document as a template (Fiction_Template_paperback.dotx) file - Word will try to save it as a document1.docx file. Let Word use it's default location for template files

To use the template open a copy of Word and click on 'New' at the left. Don't click Fiction_Template_paperback in the list of recent files since it's a template file and we want a docx file.

Once you click 'New', scroll down until you find 'Office   Personal' Click 'Personal' and you'll see the Fiction_Template_paperback template. Click it and a new document will open using that template.

The template has the basic front matter and back matter pages already set up and also has some basic styles set up ready to use in a book. Page headings and footings have been set although you will have to customise them to fit your book. You should replace with your own text anything in square brackets [ ... ]. I've added some hints in Large Grey Text to guide you as you use the template. Obviously you will need to delete this as you come to it.

Also obviously, you should replace the text of Chapter 1 with your own text and add the rest of your manuscript chapters.

This is what you'll see when you open the template. Work through it, replacing the text to fit your manuscript. As you meet the large grey text (apart from the temporary first page) read it then delete it

Step 2 - Fixing MS Word display Although MS Word is probably the best word processor, it's NOT perfect, (despite me telling Microsoft many times how to improve it) since there are some things it won't do. One of these things is to start a book or booklet with an opening page on the right hand side of a two page spread. Let me get you to do a simple experiment to show you what I mean.

Take a sheet of paper and fold it in half to make a four sheet booklet. Number each page of the booklet from 1 to 4. Then open it out and you will see that page 1 is on the right hand side of the sheet. If you now view your 'working01.docx' file in a two page spread you'll see that the first page is a left hand page - see the above illustration. The very first word processor I used back in 1981 would allow the document to start on a left or right page but the current version of MS Word won't do that. It will only allow you to start on a left hand page. Left hand pages should be even page numbers and right hand pages should be odd page numbers. We'll have to fix that by inserting a temporary blank page. As we do that we'll customize the quick access toolbar to allow you to quickly insert section breaks.

Move your pointer to a blank area of the Quick Access Toolbar and right click it. From the menu which appears select 'Customize Quick Access Toolbar...'

Then from the window which appears select 'Insert Page and Section Breaks' and click 'Add.' While I'm doing this I add other frequently used icons also. Clicking 'OK' will add the icons to the quick access toolbar.

Move your cursor to the very beginning of your document, in front of the C of Chapter 1. Use the Insert Page and Section Breaks icon you added to insert a 'Section Break (odd page)' at this point. Then insert a 'Section Break (Next Page)'. You'll now have two blank pages at the start of your document. 

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Create a Half Title page on the second of the two blank pages you created. Click the Show/Hide icon (a pilcrow symbol - ¶) and the Section Break codes will become visible. In front of the second one type in Normal style the title of your book in capital letters. In my example it's RIPPING TIME.

To display a two page spread use your pointer to select the 'Print layout' icon at the bottom right of the MS Word window and then scale the window to about 70%.

The next page of your front matter should either be a frontispiece, an epigraph or a blank page. Remember a frontispiece is an illustration appropriate to your book. Most books today don't include one so we'll add a 'Section Break (Odd page).'

You should now be on the page where your main book title will be. At this point you'll need to enter your book series title (if you have one). That would be in Subtitle style'. In the next line add your book title in 'Title' style. On the next line in Subtitle style add your subtitle (if you have one) and then your author name. Many authors then add the year of publication and the location they write in in normal centered text. eg. 

London 2010

- Keep your title short, one to five words, but add a descriptive subtitle which can be longer. A subtitle can contain keywords which make finding your book much easier in a search.

After you have entered the text of your title page with a 'Section Break (Next Page)' you now need to center align the page vertically. I've seen many template pages do this by using multiple presses of the Return key but that's the wrong method and can cause problems if the document is later converted to an ebook. (That's something we will do later.)

Here's the correct method of vertical page alignment in MS Word

You'll need to know this to get the first three pages of your book aligned properly. The half title page should be top aligned - that's the default setting so we don't need to change that

Here's three pages from the front of a book I'm wrote (the image will expand if you click it):

As you can see the half page is top aligned, the Title page is middle aligned vertically and the copyright page is bottom aligned. To change the vertical alignment of pages they MUST be separated by section breaks; normal page breaks will not do. You'll need to follow the steps in the following image to change the vertical alignment

(Justified alignment spreads the entire page contents out to fill the page.)