Book Front Matter Guide: How to Format Your Copyright & Title Page

Front matter refers to all the pages that appear before Chapter 1 in a printed book or eBook. It includes the title page, copyright notice, dedication, and table of contents.

Readers expect these pages because they establish the book's professional authority. Skipping these pages or formatting them incorrectly instantly marks your book as a low-quality project.

Here is the industry-standard front matter order:

1. Half-Title Page (Right side/recto, only the book title)
2. Blank Page or Frontispiece (Left side/verso)
3. Title Page (Right side/recto, title, subtitle, author, publisher imprint)
4. Copyright Page (Left side/verso, copyright notice, disclaimer, ISBN, credits)
5. Dedication (Right side/recto)
6. Table of Contents (Right side/recto)
7. Preface or Foreword (Right side/recto)
8. Introduction or Prologue

For print editions, your margins must align with the formatting rules outlined in our how to format a book for KDP guide.

A standard copyright page must include the copyright notice containing the symbol, publication year, and your author name. You must also include the "All Rights Reserved" statement and your ISBN number.

Here is a standard copyright template you can copy and edit for your book:

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[Book Title] Copyright © [Year] by [Author Name].

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Published by [Your Imprint Name / Publishing Company] [Optional: Website URL]

ISBN-13: [Paperback ISBN] (Paperback) ISBN-13: [eBook ISBN] (eBook)

First Edition: [Month Year] Cover Design by DesignDile Interior Typesetting by DesignDile

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For typeface selections that look excellent on these pages, see our guide on best fonts for books.

The title page is the first page readers see and should feature your book title in a large, clean font. Below the title, add the subtitle and your author name.

Title Page Layout Specifications:

• Title Size: 36-48pt, bold, centered
• Subtitle: 18-24pt, italic, centered below title (with ample spacing)
• Author Name: 14-16pt, centered near the lower middle section
• Publisher Logo / Imprint: centered near the bottom edge

For customized design work, explore our book formatting services to see examples of our title pages.

Print front matter is structured around fixed pages and margins. It requires blank pages to ensure major sections (like the Title Page and Table of Contents) start on the right-hand (recto) side.

eBook front matter is reflowable and has no fixed recto/verso pages. You should keep eBook front matter as short as possible to avoid delaying the reading experience. Many eBook distributors recommend placing acknowledgments, dedication, and other optional pages in the back matter so that readers reach Chapter 1 within a few swipes. Also, remember that eBook PDFs do not exist; you must upload a print-ready PDF for print and a validated EPUB for digital. Learn more in our guide on what is a print-ready PDF.

First-time authors often clutter their front matter with unnecessary pages. You can safely skip half-title pages, dedication pages, epigraphs, and lengthy prefaces if you want readers to start reading the story quickly. Fiction authors should place acknowledgments and author bios in the back matter instead.

To help you organize your front matter correctly, you can access our Free Book Front Matter Checklist by checking our contact page or consulting our team for design advice.

Get a book that is ready for publishing from day one. Contact our team today for professional book formatting.

Print books require a table of contents showing exact page numbers for chapters and front matter. eBooks require dynamic hyperlinks without page numbers, letting readers click directly to sections.

Always ensure your chapter titles in the table of contents match your actual chapter headers. If you need help coordinating these files, contact our team using our contact page for a free layout consultation.