Include Afterword In Manuscript?

elisadasilva · Aug 21, 2011

I asked this question in a different forum, but got different answers. I hope an opinion by editors will help.

When submitting a manuscript, should I include the afterword? If yes, should the afterword be included in word count?

My afterword is one page and tells about the historical building used as the setting for the story. I'd like readers to know that the building was real.

Old Hack · Aug 22, 2011

If you're asked for a full, submit the full. So include the afterword.

If you're submitting a partial then you need to send in just the first few chapters--never a chapter here and there.

Fruitbat · Aug 22, 2011

I'm not an editor but I'd include it, and also include it in the word count. It's only a page so not likely to be any big thing at all. It adds something interesting, so how could it hurt? If only submitting a partial and you think it really jazzes it up, then why not call put it at the beginning. Then again, I am a fruitbat, so...

Jamesaritchie · Aug 22, 2011

There's no point in including an afterword, a dedication page, etc., until after the novel sells and copy editing is set to begin.

There's no guarantee at all that the afterword will even be in the published novel, and it's definitely not part of the word count. Word count is about story. Everything outside of story either goes in or gets left out by editorial decision.

You can include it during submission, but it's just something else to read, and has no bearing at all on the book's acceptance or rejection, word count, or anything else.

If your book sells, you'll be given the opportunity to include a foreword, an afterword, a dedication and/or acknowledgement page, etc. Until then, such material just gets in the way of the decision process.

blacbird · Aug 22, 2011

Jamesaritchie said:
If your book sells, you'll be given the opportunity to include a foreword, an afterword, a dedication and/or acknowledgement page, etc. Until then, such material just gets in the way of the decision process.

Strikes me that including such stuff might be considered pretentious amateurish twaddle, and be considered detrimental to the acceptance.

caw

Include Afterword In Manuscript?

elisadasilva

Old Hack

Such a nasty woman

Fruitbat

.

Jamesaritchie

blacbird