Writing Forewords and Prefaces Easily

Tips on Writing Striking Forewords and Prefaces

Supposing you're a writer and want to write a preface for your book or you've been proposed to write a foreword but you have no idea of what it is? First off, a preface is a small introduction composed by an author of a book unlike a foreword that is normally written by anybody beside the author himself/herself.

Foreword

If you intend writing a foreword, you should be proud of yourself as you've done something really admiring – published a book. Now your major aim is to present the work strikingly. Luckily, there're miscellaneous ways of achieving it. Firstly, you can focus on the most important chapter of the book. Secondly, assuming you're acquainted with the author personally, you may write about your impression of his/her personality. Also, it's advisable to speak your mind about the book or how it influenced your life. When writing a foreword for a newly published book, it's essential to discuss the novelty in the current edition. As for a re-released classic, your foreword may refer to the historical influence of the book.

 Preface

Writing a preface concerns your own book. A preface located in the front matter of the work is a golden opportunity to explain the motive for writing your book to readers and talk about its significance. In fact, it's not compulsory to write a preface, but if you're curious about how to write it, our overview will come in handy. Being an introduction to a book, the preface must contain information about it. Here are some suggestions your preface may include:

• Tell about the origin of the book, the purpose of its writing, the motives for choosing a particular subject, and someone or something that inspired you to write this book.
• Briefly describe the book, its characters, or a theme raised to attract readers' attention to the book.
• Describe the process of your writing – lessons you drew from it and how you felt. Also, tell how your worldview changed during the period of writing.
• Discuss the problems that cropped up and the methods by which you worked them out.
• Describe your research process. Reveal sources that influenced your book and focus on their originality.
• Express gratitude to the people who were helpful while you were writing.
• Talk about the time you spent working on your book if you consider it important. For instance, if you've been writing it for a couple of years, readers must know how much effort you put into your work.
• Insert some ideas of how to read the book if you have a special approach.
• Remember to send your work to an English grammar check.

In summary, your preface must be concise. One page or two at maximum is a happy medium. Your preface must also be without any grammatical and spelling mistakes. If you want somebody to access your work, our editors are always eager to help.