How to Number your nonfiction book

Many of the internal layout, heading and numbering rules self-publishers follow are actually based on old standards from the traditional publishing world, but they still hold true today. If you’re an indie author who wants to publish professional looking self-published books, you need to adhere to these publishing standards. If you don’t, readers will spot your low-quality formatting a mile off. They may not be able to pinpoint why your book looks odd, but subliminally it will make a negative impact.

So if you’ve decided to format your own paperback, here are some page numbering guidelines to follow, to ensure your book’s content is presented professionally.

Where should you place your page numbers?

Historically, running headers and page numbers were placed on the top of the page. The running headers always went at the top of the page, and to avoid an extra typesetting line (by putting numbers at the bottom of the page), publishers placed numbers on the same line at the top of the page.

But this causes an issue on important pages like Part or Section pages, or a new Chapter. On these pages, you shouldn’t include any text (running headers or page numbers) at the top of the page, which causes a bit of a dilemma.

These pages are referenced in the index but aren’t allowed to have a number at the top of the page, so if you want to number these pages (and why wouldn’t you?), then you should add your page numbers to the bottom of the page.

If you’re using this bottom-of-the-page placement for important pages, you’ll want to use the same location throughout your book, to create consistency.

On a two-page spread, your page number should go on the far left of the left-hand page, and the far right of the right-hand page. Make sure that when you place these numbers on your page, they’re well within the safe printing zone. There’s a .125″ internal margin inside of your trim line that designates this safe zone.

What type of page numbers should you use?

Using different page numbers is another overspill from traditional publishing. Front-matter uses roman numerals, and the rest of the book uses Arabic numbers (your basic 1, 2, 3 etc.) This was because the body of the book has to be completed before the front matter can get finalized, and publishers would typeset the body of the book using Arabic numbers, and the front-matter was get slotted in afterwards. In order for the numbering not to be thrown off, this front section of the book was numbered using Roman numerals.

So use Roman numerals for your front-matter pages that appear after your table of contents, and Arabic numbers for your main body pages, and back-matter pages.

What pages aren’t numbered?

Although all pages in a book are counted when calculating the page number, not of them should have a visible page number showing on them.

Here’s the Front-Matter pages without a visible page number:

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Epigraph Page (for a quote etc.)
• Table of Contents
• Half Title Page

All of these pages should start on the right-hand side of your two-page spread so you may end up with blank pages on the left-hand side. So any blank front-matter pages should be completely blank, and that includes no visible page number.

All front-matter pages AFTER your Table of Contents should be numbered with Roman Numerals. These pages all appear in your contents list, so the number needs to be visible.

Foreward
Preface
Introduction
Prologue

Here’s the Main Body pages without a visible page number:

Blank pages, whether on the left or right of your spread, shouldn’t have a page number on them.

(If you’re placing your page numbers at the top of the page, you shouldn’t number the important pages). But if you’re placing your page numbers at the bottom of the page, you can number these using Arabic numbers.

Pagination

Your title page is the first page of your file and will always start on the right, and be an odd number. This is where your Roman numerals begin calculating, but these won’t be visible until the pages placed after your table of contents. Your Roman numerals end at the end of your front-matter, which will always be a left-hand page. If there’s content on this page, then the page number will be visible, but if it’s blank, then you won’t have a page number showing.

The first page of your body starts on the right-hand side of a two-page spread, and is numbered 1. All following pages are counted, but won’t have a visible page number if the rest of the page is blank.

The first page of your back-matter starts on the right-hand side of a two-page spread, and is numbered using a continuation of your main body text numbering. You may have a blank page between the end of your body and back-matter, as the first page of your back-matter needs to start on the right-hand side of your two-page spread, and it will always be an odd number.

Your back matter pages with content have a visible page number, and your blank pages shouldn’t.

Numbering Pages with Images instead of Text

If the image or graphic on a page was part of the book’s content, then I’d include a page number on it. But if the image was for decorative purposes only, then the page doesn’t need a visible page number. In the image example above, I’ve used an image to signal the end of the body section of my book, and the beginning of the back-matter. This is a visual cue to my reader that they’re moving to the back content.

Other pages where you might include these visual cue’s could be at the end of a section or chapter.

When you’re deciding whether to include a page number of a page with an image, ask yourself whether it’s for decorative purposes, or it’s to illustrate a point you mention in your book. If it’s purely decorative, it shouldn’t have a visible page number.

Do you have any questions about how to professionally number the pages of your nonfiction book? Let me know in the comments below.

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