Preface vs Introduction vs Foreword

A preface is an introductory passage written about a book by its author. It’s often viewed as an apologia — which is not so much an apology as an explanation or defense of why the book exists. Since the preface is part of a book’s front matter (the pages at the start of a book with Roman numeral page numbers), it’s often confused with the foreword and the introduction.

However, there are key differences between the three:

• A preface is written by the author about the book and is separate from the body of the book (the pages with Arabic numbers)
• An introduction is written by the author about the book and is part of the body
• And a foreword isn’t even written by the author! It’s separate from the body and written by an expert in the field who adds credibility to the subject of the book.

Why use a Preface?

For an author, the preface presents the opportunity to introduce yourself, the book, and any previous projects or experiences that might have informed it. Prefaces are your chance to tell the book’s story — the story of how it went from a thought in your head to a book in our hands. Prefaces are most common in nonfiction (prologues are more popular for fiction books). However, they are present in both.

They enable you to speak directly about:

• What you’ve created
• How you created it
• Why it’s important — or why you specifically are qualified to write about it

Many authors will even sign the end of a preface, date it, and list the location from which they wrote it (rounding out the who, when, and where of it all).

How to write a Preface

If you have decided that your book can benefit from a preface, here are three tips to help you write one:

1. Keep it succinct

One or two pages should be your maximum. Any longer, and it risks just seeming like you want to talk about yourself. Plus, a preface is still part of the front matter, so there’s a decent chance your readers won’t read it anyway.

2. Don’t give anything away

A preface is a chance to show off your content and draw readers in — not to baby your audience through something that will become obvious in the body of the book. Aside from a brief description of the main characters and core themes, leave the rest up to the story itself. You can, however, state the purpose of writing the book and what the reader can hope to learn from it.

3. Tell your story’s story

Aside from those parameters, a preface is your playground! Use it to describe:

• Why you chose the subject (and your expertise on it)
• How you became interested in the subject
• Why you were motivated to write about it
• How long it took to write
• The challenges you overcame while writing
• The journey of writing it and how you changed in the process

Additionally, if your book is an updated edition of older work, the preface is the place to describe what’s new.

What is an Introduction?

Both the introduction and preface are written by the author and are not necessarily a part of the story at large — neither serves a narrative purpose nor engages with the plot, characters, and conflict. However, while the preface is situated outside the body of the book, the introduction is considered part of it: it provides information necessary to understand the subject matter or content of the book. 

Introductions are almost exclusive to nonfiction or academic writing, where they are used to position research in the context of a larger academic discipline, or to cover important definitions and research methodology. In fiction, an introduction is only necessary when a story requires extra information to understand the content.

How to write an Introduction

Academic introductions follow strict guidelines that differ by field of study, but most consider a 1000 to 2000 word count adequate. If you think your nonfiction (or even fictional) book requires an introduction, first ask yourself:

• Does the subject matter require background context that isn’t given in the story?
• Does your work serve an argumentative or persuasive purpose?
• Are there conclusions to be made that need to be explicitly stated upfront?

Then, be sure that you include:

• A description of the content cover in your book
• Your main argument, philosophy, or point of view on the subject
• Definitions of any specialized or invented terms
• A clear layout of how the book is structured
• How you got the information (the main sources)

What is a Foreword?

Let’s clear this up right away: a forward is a direction and, quite frankly, not a noun: a foreword, an introductory passage written about a book by someone other than its author. The people selected to write forewords are often unrelated to the book itself but related to the book’s subject matter.

The purpose of a foreword is to:

• Convince the reader to actually read
• Give credence to the book and subject matter
• Introduce an author or work to the world

These are inevitably more effective coming from someone other than the author (and having a big name attached helps the book’s publisher when it comes time to market it).

How to write a Foreword

If you’ve been asked to write a foreword, congratulations! That means you are an eminent authority in one or more fields and have been selected to justify why an entire book was written. So if you’re writing a foreword, you’re in luck: there aren’t very strict guidelines for writing one. Similar to the preface, if the book is a new edition, the foreword will customarily discuss the differences. If it is a reissued classic, it might concern the book’s historical impact.

You can discuss:

• Your relationship to the author or the subject
• How their work has affected your individual life
• How their work has affected the world at large

Ultimately, it describes how a book impacts a single person. So, above all else, make sure it’s personal.