Front of the book: Introduction

- The three parts of a magazine, front, middle,…back, correspond loosely to dining.…A small appetizer is first, then the main course…or courses, then dessert and unwinding at the end.…The front of the book, and magazines have historically…been called books, at least by insiders,…are a number of short features,…often just a page or two, sometimes less.…There will almost always be a contents page…and a masthead, which a list of those…who work for the magazine or who worked on the issue.…

You may find a letter from the publisher,…perhaps a list of contributors, letters to the editor,…columnist, opinion pages, listings, any short topic,…news, reviews, product pages, all that.…If your magazine carries advertising, one page ads…and your fractional ads will also be up front.…So the front of the book is a key section.…It's a tone and style setter.…You'll often invest 2/3 of your energy in the front…because it's packed with lots of short essentials…starting with the contents page.…

Let's have a look.…