Publishing
Back matter is one of those small publishing decisions that says a lot about whether a book trusts its own ending.
A page or two can be useful. A clean note, a link to the next book, maybe a brief way to keep in touch. Fine. But there’s a point where it turns into a little graveyard of desperate extras: mailing list pleas, recycled samples, unrelated teasers, social links nobody asked for. The reader has already finished the book. Let them finish it.
I’m always suspicious of anything that looks like it was added because “more” was mistaken for “better”.
A page or two can be useful. A clean note, a link to the next book, maybe a brief way to keep in touch. Fine. But there’s a point where it turns into a little graveyard of desperate extras: mailing list pleas, recycled samples, unrelated teasers, social links nobody asked for. The reader has already finished the book. Let them finish it.
I’m always suspicious of anything that looks like it was added because “more” was mistaken for “better”.
The useful bit is whether the book has earned the extra pages. If it has, a short note can be fine. If not, it starts to feel like the publisher is trying to keep the reader in the building after closing time.
I’d rather have nothing than a cluttered afterword that mistakes noise for reassurance.
I’d rather have nothing than a cluttered afterword that mistakes noise for reassurance.