Book matter is a question many authors and writers have about the content pages in their books. While formulating the front and back matter of an upcoming novel release, Sonoran Dawn had to research what is the good, bad, and overemphasis of book matter.
As a publisher of ebooks through Lulu, Sonoran Dawn looked into what authors should be addressing in their book's matter. A title and copyright pages are nice to have especially when the book is translated into print format. The title page is good for writing autographs. The copyright page is great for when someone tears off or loses the cover art. Both are very important pages when viewed from that perspective.
A dedication or preface can be left toward the back (i.e., Back Matter).
As authors and publishers we do not want to get so bogged down in the formalities of book matter to forget what truly matters: the readers and the story. So if the matter matters to you but is not fundamental to the book, then leave that page for the back end. If the reader is interested, then he or she can peruse your musings after they have read the meat and potatoes of your imagination.
Make sense?
So Sonoran Dawn hopes this advice was helpful when publishing your first novel. Make the Front Matter short and sweet. 4 to 6 pages and get on with it. Anything else can be left to the end.
The End.
