A foreword is a short piece recommending the book, written by someone other than the author, usually a recognised authority in the field. It sits in the front matter, before the preface, and it carries the writer's name.
That authorship rule is not a convention you can bend. If you wrote it yourself, what you have is a preface.
The Definition
Yale University Press states it plainly: a foreword "is optional but may be a valuable addition to the book. It is written by someone other than the author or editor, usually a recognized authority in the area the book covers, and introduces the book to its audience."
New Hart's Rules gives the same rule with the naming convention attached:
"The foreword is a recommendation of the work written by someone other than the author. He or she is usually named at the end of the piece, or in its title, and in the contents list. The distinction between the foreword and the preface (see below) should be noted and the correct title given to each of these sections of the front matter. The foreword usually begins on a fresh recto."
Three things follow from that: it is a recommendation rather than an introduction to the subject, the writer is named, and it opens on a right-hand page.
The Chicago Manual of Style supplies the general test for anything in this position: "Any piece not written by the author of the book should have either a byline at the beginning or a signature at the end." A foreword with no name on it is a formatting error, because the reader cannot tell it is not yours.
What It Is For
A foreword borrows credibility. Its value is almost entirely in who wrote it, which is why the name goes on the cover as often as not.
Typical uses:
- A recognised expert vouching for a non-fiction book, which is the classic case.
- An established novelist introducing a debut, or a reissue of a neglected book.
- A translator or editor explaining what they did, though that is often titled a translator's note instead.
- A later writer introducing a classic, which is why so many reissues carry one.
What it should not do is summarise the book's argument. That is the author's job, in a preface or an introduction.
Getting One
There is no formal process, and it is worth being realistic about it. You ask, usually through a publisher, an agent, or a direct approach if you have a genuine connection. The person needs to have read the book, or at least enough of it to write honestly.
A foreword from someone your reader has not heard of adds nothing, and a foreword that reads as a favour reads as a favour. A book is better with no foreword than with a limp one.
Where It Goes
Front matter, after the contents page in Chicago's order and before the preface. New Hart's Rules puts it earlier, before the contents, which is one of the genuine differences between the two orders.
Either way it comes before the preface, and both come before the introduction. Being front matter, it takes lower-case roman numerals, for the reasons in why front matter uses roman numerals.
The foreword's writer is listed in the contents alongside the section, so a reader scanning it sees the name.
What Deckle Does
Deckle has a Foreword document type in the Front Matter menu, alongside Title Page, Copyright, Dedication, Epigraph, Preface and Table of Contents. It starts with a placeholder line, "Begin the foreword here."
Because it is front matter, it takes roman numerals when restart numbering at Chapter One is on, and it appears in a generated table of contents.
One thing to add yourself: the byline. Deckle does not add one, so type the writer's name at the end of the document, or into the document title as "Foreword by Jane Doe", so the reader knows it is not your voice. That is the convention both New Hart's Rules and Chicago describe, and it is the single thing most easily forgotten.
Position it in the Binder where you want it, since export order follows Binder order.
For how it differs from its neighbours, see prologue vs preface vs foreword, and for the full set, what is front matter in a book.
Common Mistakes
- Writing your own foreword. By definition it is someone else's. Yours is a preface.
- Leaving off the byline. Without a name the reader assumes you wrote it.
- Getting a foreword from a name nobody knows. The whole value is the name.
- Using it to summarise your argument. That belongs to you, in a preface or introduction.
- Placing it after the preface. Foreword first, then preface.
FAQ
Q: Can I write my own foreword? A: No. If you wrote it, it is a preface. That distinction is stated by both Yale and New Hart's Rules.
Q: Does a novel need one? A: No. Forewords are most common in non-fiction and in reissues of older fiction.
Q: Should the foreword writer's name go on the cover? A: If the name sells the book, yes, and publishers routinely do it.
Q: How long should it be? A: No authority sets a length. A few pages is typical, and it is their piece rather than yours.
Q: Is it numbered in roman numerals? A: Yes. It is front matter, so it takes the roman sequence.