Face It: How to Write a Strong Preface
A book’s front matter can include any number of optional pieces, including dedications, introductions, and testimonials. Because a single book is unlikely to include all of the possible options for front matter, some people mistake some of the options as interchangeable or merely synonymous names for the same introductory information.
A book’s preface is one of the pieces that can get overlooked, or lost in the shuffle. This is your chance to directly connect with your reader and ensure they understand the context of your book. Prefaces can prevent confusion or offense and ensure your reader gets what you intended out of your work. If you have something important for them to understand before they start reading your content, you don’t want them to skip it.
Today, we’re going to talk about prefaces: what they are, what they’re not, and how to write a strong one.
None of These Are Prefaces
First, let’s do a quick rundown of all the things a preface is not. Front matter includes all material that is placed in the book before the main content starts.
The following are listed in the typical order of inclusion in the front of a book:
Testimonials are written by other people, typically individuals with clout, expertise, or influence to your subject matter and/or readers. These may appear on the front and/or back cover, but if there are many of them, they might be placed on an opening leaf of the book before or after the masthead (opening title page).
Dedications are written by the author for a specific recipient, like a gift tag, and get their own recto (right-hand) page.
Epigraphs are quotes the author chooses that were written by someone else (either historical or fictional) and that provide tone, context, or are otherwise pertinent to the text. These are frequently used at chapter or section starts, but sometimes there is only a single one at the very beginning of the book.
The Table of Contents clarifies what’s in the book, but it may still separate the front matter from the main body text by listing the page numbers of the former in roman numbers and standard pagination in arabic numbers.
Forewords are written by someone else at the author’s request. They introduce the importance of the work, the author’s expertise or relevance to the topic, and/or the impact the work has had on the foreword writer.
Prologues are written in character (though possibly a different character than the main plot) to set the tone or provide background context for a novel (especially genre fiction). They start body text; they’re not part of the front matter.
Now that we have all that out of the way, let’s talk about what a preface is.
The Purpose of the Preface
Nonfiction tends to use the term “Preface” while fiction may use “Author’s Note.” Some literary fiction gets thematic and uses an unconventional synonym, like a book about music using “Prelude” instead. Regardless, the preface is placed in the front matter, after a Foreword (if there is one) and before the Introduction (if there is one) and/or Chapter 1.
Prefaces are an author’s introduction to the work. While an “Introduction” in the body text (such as often forms the first chapter) explains to the reader what the book is about and/or what the reader can expect to learn as they work through the chapters, the preface tells why it was written.
This can include why the topic is important to the author, why the subject should be important to the reader, or even why it’s important for this book to be released now. An author may talk about their inspirations, specific sources or developments that changed their perspective on the issue, or their expertise or lived experience that informs their approach.
Sometimes the preface simply draws the reader’s attention to a specific distinction that’s crucial to understanding the intention of the work.
Some effective examples include:
alerting the reader to any supplementary materials (either included in the book or available on the author’s website) that may enhance their engagement with the text, such as exercises, glossaries, workbooks, or external resources;
explaining the use of language that may be historically accurate but offensive to modern readers;
providing content warnings so readers can engage with the text in an informed and safe way;
providing pronunciation or translation of fantasy names or non-English languages for clarity;
or sharing help lines or other resources for readers who may have experienced similar struggles as those discussed in the book.
In essence, prefaces can present a brief “making of” for the writing process. Or, if the author’s expertise is crucial to understanding the advice or perspective within the pages, the preface may serve as an in-context (but brief) biography.
How to Write a Strong Preface
The most important thing to remember when drafting your preface is to be concise. The more materials at the beginning of a book before the reader can get to the meat, the more likely they are to skip the front matter entirely. As we’ve established, your preface’s content is important enough that you don’t want readers to skip it. So, be brief.
The ideal length is 1–2 pages, no more than 3. You have the opportunity to speak directly to your reader (using “you”), even if you’ve avoided the second person in the body text. Since this is the one place where you are specifically using your own voice, you also have the option of being more informal, personal, or direct in the preface. If you’re writing a memoir or autobiography, you may choose to keep the tone the same as your content. If you’ve written genre fiction, your preface might have an entirely different tone than your book’s narrator (remember, this is not a prologue). However, if you’ve written a professional, no-nonsense nonfiction, ask whether you want to keep that arm’s length, austere presentation in the preface, or if you want to show more of the human beneath your weighty knowledge.
Your subject matter will also direct what kind of focus your preface should have. If you’ve written a memoir all about how you used writing to heal your trauma, you probably don’t need to discuss the book’s origins, since you’ll be covering that in depth in the coming pages.
If you’re writing a fiction “based on a true story,” you might use the preface to clarify what parts of the story are true (or, conversely, where you took liberties). If you’re writing a genre fiction that deals with difficult or controversial themes, you might position yourself in the preface as a member of that community, or clarify that you don’t condone certain mindsets or decisions that you explore in the plot. If there is a common misunderstanding of a key term or topic you explore, you might clarify the way you are using that term up front so that readers have the right mindset going into the pages. In essence, use your preface to clarify, frame, or prepare the reader for the material they are about to engage with.
If a preface is what your book needs, hone what message you want to convey, keep it brief, and write effectively. Though it may be the first writing your readers see, it will likely be the last piece you write before submitting your manuscript.