Front matter follows a settled, traditional sequence, half title, title page, copyright page, dedication, epigraph, table of contents, foreword, preface, acknowledgments, and introduction, and getting the order wrong is one of the more common formatting mistakes that makes a self-published book read as amateurish, even when the writing itself is strong. Not every book uses every element, but whichever ones you include should follow this order.
This is part of The Parts of a Book: A Complete Front Matter Guide.
A prologue, if your fiction includes one, isn't technically front matter; it's the beginning of the story itself, and it comes after all true front matter, right before or as the effective start of Chapter 1. See Is a Prologue the Same as a Preface?
This sequence isn't arbitrary; it reflects centuries of book design convention, and readers, booksellers, librarians, and industry professionals recognize it, even if only unconsciously. A book that reorders these elements, putting a dedication before the copyright page, for instance, or a table of contents before the title page, tends to read as unpolished or homemade, regardless of how good the actual content is.
In traditional print design, odd-numbered pages fall on the right (called recto) and even-numbered pages on the left (verso). Many front matter elements are designed to start on a recto page, which is part of why you'll sometimes see an intentionally blank page in a printed book, it's there to push the next element onto the correct side. This convention matters most for print; ebooks don't have the same physical page concept, so it's less relevant there, though some ebook formatting still nods to the convention for consistency.
Most self-published fiction can keep front matter genuinely minimal: title page, copyright page, and a dedication or epigraph if you want one. Skipping the rest isn't a shortcut or a compromise; it's simply appropriate for most novels, which don't benefit from a table of contents, foreword, preface, or introduction the way many nonfiction books do.
Nonfiction more often benefits from a table of contents (frequently expected by readers looking for a specific section) and sometimes an introduction that orients readers to the book's argument and structure.
Because reshuffling front matter after your interior is fully laid out can affect page numbering throughout the rest of the file, it's worth settling on which elements you're including, and in what order, before final layout begins, rather than adding or removing pieces late in the process. See Interior Layout Basics for more on getting your interior set up correctly from the start.
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Entrada Publishing's layout team formats front matter to the standard order, so your book reads as professionally produced from the first page.
Half title, frontispiece (if any), title page, copyright page, dedication, epigraph (if any), table of contents, foreword, preface, acknowledgments, and introduction, in that order. Not every book includes every element.
No. The table of contents should begin with the first chapter, or the foreword if the book has one, not with the front matter pages themselves.
The core sequence still applies, but some print-specific conventions, like starting elements on a right-hand page, are less relevant for ebooks, which don't have fixed physical pages.
You can, but it can affect page numbering throughout the file. It's better to settle on your front matter elements before final layout to avoid reshuffling later.