The Parts of a Book: Front Matter Order Every Publisher Expects

Front matter is the opening run of pages before your story or first chapter begins, and it follows a settled order: half title, an optional frontispiece, the title page, the copyright page, a dedication, an optional epigraph, the table of contents, and then any foreword, preface, acknowledgments, or introduction. Only the title page and copyright page are truly expected. Everything else is optional, and each element sits in a specific place because centuries of book construction put it there.

When a reader opens your book, the first several pages set the tone before a single line of the story lands. Get the order right and those pages feel calm and professional. Get it wrong, or skip the pieces professionals look for first, and the book reads as homemade no matter how good the writing is. Here is the full sequence, what each page does, and how to tell the required parts from the nice-to-haves.

The three divisions of a book

Every book breaks into three parts: the front matter (the pages before the body), the body (your actual chapters), and the back matter (appendices, notes, glossary, index, and anything else that closes the book). Front matter is traditionally numbered with lowercase roman numerals (i, ii, iii), and the body switches to arabic numerals (1, 2, 3) starting at chapter one. This guide covers the first division, the one most authors rush and most readers judge.

The front matter, in order

No book uses all of these. Think of the list as a set of slots: put the content you have into the right slot, in this sequence, and leave out the rest.

1. Half title. A page carrying only the book's title, nothing else. It is the first page you usually see inside the cover. Often dropped to save pages.
2. Frontispiece. An illustration facing the title page. Optional, and mostly seen in illustrated or gift books.
3. Title page. Announces the full title, subtitle, author, and publisher. This is one of the two pages you cannot skip.
4. Copyright page. Usually the back of the title page. Carries the copyright notice, edition and printing information, any disclaimers, and your ISBN. The second page you cannot skip.
5. Dedication. A short personal dedication. Optional, and it follows the copyright page.
6. Epigraph. A quotation that sets a mood. It can sit here, or face the table of contents, or face the first page of the text.
7. Table of contents. Lists the parts and chapters. Expected in most nonfiction and many fiction titles; often skipped in novels.
8. List of figures or tables. Helpful in illustration-heavy or reference books. Optional.
9. Foreword. A short piece written by someone other than the author, and always signed by that person.
10. Preface. Written by the author, often explaining how the book came to be.
11. Acknowledgments. Your thanks to the people who helped. Can also move to the back matter.
12. Introduction. The author lays out the purpose, scope, and organization of the work. Common in nonfiction.
13. Prologue. In fiction, a scene that sets up the story, told in a character's voice rather than the author's. It belongs with the story, so many designers treat it as the start of the body.

Required versus optional

The honest short list of what a professional expects to find is small. A title page and a copyright page are the two non-negotiables for any book headed to retail. A table of contents is expected in nonfiction and reference work, and optional in novels. Everything else, the half title, dedication, epigraph, foreword, preface, and the rest, is yours to include or leave out based on what your book actually needs. Adding empty ceremony does not help your book. Putting the pieces you do have in the wrong order does hurt it.

A useful rule from long publishing tradition: deviate from the convention when you have a real reason, and follow it when you do not. Readers absorb order without noticing it, which is exactly why a broken order feels off even to people who cannot name what is wrong.

Recto and verso: which side each page sits on

In a printed book, the right-hand page is the recto and the left-hand page is the verso. Two conventions matter here:

• Major front-matter sections, and the first chapter, traditionally open on a recto (the right-hand page). That sometimes leaves a blank verso before them, which is normal and correct.
• The copyright page sits on the verso, the back of the title page. So the title page is a recto and the copyright notice is directly behind it.

This is why front matter can seem to waste a page here and there. The blank pages are deliberate, and print-on-demand handles them automatically once the layout is built correctly. Our professionally designed book interior templates place these pages on the correct sides for you, so a section that should open on the right actually does, without you counting pages by hand.

A note on page numbering

Front matter uses lowercase roman numerals, and the count usually starts on the half title even though the number is not printed on display pages like the title and copyright pages. The body restarts at arabic 1 on the first page of chapter one. Keeping these two numbering schemes separate is one of the small signals that tells a bookseller, a reviewer, or a librarian that the book was built with care.

If you would rather not assemble any of this by hand, our sister service can do it for you. Cantos, the book-design AI from our team, will format your whole book and build a correctly ordered front matter from your manuscript, with a free preview of your own pages and no credit card. Most authors, though, can get this right themselves with a good template and the list above.

Frequently asked questions

What front matter is actually required?

Only two pieces are truly expected in every book sold at retail: the title page and the copyright page. A table of contents is expected in nonfiction and optional in fiction. Half titles, dedications, epigraphs, forewords, and prefaces are all optional, and you should include one only when your book has real content for it.

What order does the front matter go in?

Half title, frontispiece, title page, copyright page, dedication, epigraph, table of contents, list of figures or tables, foreword, preface, acknowledgments, and introduction, in that sequence. Skip any you do not need, but keep the ones you do use in this order, because readers and industry professionals expect it.

Which pages start on the right-hand page?

Major front-matter sections and the first chapter traditionally open on a recto, the right-hand page, which can leave an intentional blank on the left. The copyright page is the exception that sits on the verso, directly behind the title page. A well-built template or interior file handles these placements automatically.