#13 in an occasional series on writing non-fiction
It is tempting to write your book straight out, beginning to end. At which point you realise you have uncovered a great deal more information than you can fit into the main text without breaking up the flow. This is the purpose of Notes and Appendices.
Footnotes are placed at the bottom of the relevant page, identified usually by a number or occasionally an asterisk if there are very few footnotes in the book. The note expands on something you have said in the text; extra information about the Reverend Smythe’s first wife that is interesting but peripheral to the history you are writing about the Rectory. It can also be used to qualify what you have said or mention alternative arguments; “Note that Professor Tompkins has argued that Smythe never actually took residence in the Rectory”. The more ‘popular’ a book is, the less need for such asides.
I personally avoid using footnotes as they are tricky to set in small run books and I find they distract the eye. In my textbooks I’ve tried to include all the relevant information and argument in the main text, with no footnotes at all. My mantra has been if it is important include it, if not omit it. Information you cut out could be employed in short articles or blog pieces to support your main work.
Numbered endnotes can be placed at the end of each chapter. This is less distracting but may irritate the assiduous reader who wants to read the majority of the notes. ‘Notes on the text’ can also be included at the back of the book, usually organised by the chapters to which they refer. This can be easier to edit and for a publisher to lay out as it often employs a different format to the prose of the main text.
Citing references is essential in academic work but diminishes in importance the more you aim for the general reader. If you are an academic you will be aware of the standard formats – as a scientist I used the Harvard system, whereas my historian friends prefer variations on Oxford. References can be dropped into footnotes or endnotes, sometimes with accompanying discussion – although in Harvard they are included in the main text which can look clunky but works.
Appendices can include short essays on a related subject, for example Reverend Smythe’s missionary work after he gave up his parish. An appendix is the best place for reference material too detailed to include in the text: lists of data, organisational diagrams or catalogues. A military history will often include an Order of Battle for the opposing forces, an art history might list galleries in which the artist’s works are on display, a biography of a musician could list all their singles and albums by release date. This adds a lot of value to the book, and well-constructed appendices can be the section to which people refer back to again and again. Appendices can also add a lot of length, and for a publisher this translates to cost, so you need to think hard about whether this material needs to be in the book at all.
Acknowledgements are the place where you thank everyone who has helped you; particularly institutions whose images or information you are using and individuals who assisted you in obtaining it. Your editor, agent, illustrator and proof-readers who have given up their own time or professional expertise must also be mentioned. It may be necessary to throw in a catch-all such as “and all my friends and colleagues in the Hampshire Railway Club for their enthusiasm and support” on the basis that you have been helped intermittently by a group who are too numerous to mention by name. Long-suffering partners often get a mention, but you don’t have to mention your mum and your cat as if it’s an Oscar speech.
Try to include everyone it is professionally polite to include, plus everyone who will be avidly looking for their name and will be disappointed if it is not there. In some cases you will credit an individual in the text for a single piece of help rather than listing them in the general acknowledgements; “I am grateful to Dr Oates for this suggestion.” Some books begin with an Introduction which will explain who helped and how and in what order. However, unless your publisher wants this, I personally prefer to see acknowledgements at the back, before or after the appendices.
Ensure your book has a useful contents page so people can flick back and forth between sections that interest them. Lists of plates are now much rarer than they once were, and information such as copyright and credits often appear in the captions or in endnotes.
If your book is long, you may consider writing an index if a mere table of contents will not suffice for readers to navigate the book. Indexing is a specialised task and is best undertaken by someone with experience. You’ll need to brief the indexer on what items to list – most often the names of people and places. Their list will need cross-checking by you, and someone will also need to cross-check it versus the page numbers once the book has been composited as part of the proof-reading process. An inaccurate index is worse than none at all.
Publishers often have a preferred format for bibliographies, which will be sent out with their style sheet. It’s a good idea to build up your bibliography in the desired final format as you go along to save work later. If there is no format dictated, follow one employed by articles or books in a similar vein to your own.
Other things to consider include whether your book will benefit from a Preface or Foreword. It may be written by a person of note who is more famous than you are or who is a specialist in the subject of the book. Environmentalist Lee Durrell (widow of Gerald) kindly wrote the Foreword for A Brush With Life. Their name is generally prominent on the title page, if not also the cover.
You may decide to include an introduction if the subject requires some scene-setting before you get on with the meat of the book. Be careful of waffling too much at this point, especially if the reader has already been through the Foreword, Preface and Acknowledgements. Some academic publishers will ask for an executive summary a few paragraphs long that sets out the key points of the book. This helps researchers who are skim-reading heaps of books to home in on the ones they need to dig deeper into.
A bibliography is always useful. If you are citing references, then each book, article or manuscript referred to must be listed. A more general book can get away with listing the major works consulted. This shows you have done your homework and partly side-steps accusations of plagiarism. It helps the reader see what else is out there, and to reassure them that you’ve read the standard works.
If you have an educational objective, there could be a ‘Suggestions for Further Reading’. This is not to be confused with a formal bibliography as your audience may be children or non-specialist readers and you only want to direct them towards resources that they can read themselves rather than the great pile of academic works you ploughed through in order to write the book. There is nothing wrong with listing your own works, indeed this draws attention to your depth of involvement in the subject. For example:
Monaghan, J. (2011) The Nunnery: Alderney’s Roman Fort? Current Archaeology XXII, no.9, 28-33.
As with many other aspects of writing your book, knowing your audience is crucial when deciding the extent to which notes, appendices, indexes and references will be added to your text.
If you are self-publishing or working with a small press you may need to separate out the items mentioned above. Formatting software can require ‘end matter’ and notes to be separated in this way so that page numbering works correctly.
Adding these components to your book is a methodical, technical and often tedious task, but it elevates its quality. You will be producing a more professional, more useful and hopefully a better selling book.