My husband, who is the author of three books, was just asked by a close friend to write the foreword to his new book. He agreed, even though he’d never written a foreword before. I decided to do a little research for him on how to write a great foreword. I figured I’d share that information with you since, as an author, you may one day be asked to write a foreword for another author, which is a real compliment!

A foreword is something like a second introduction except that it is written by a person other than the author. The author introduces the book in an introduction or preface and another person, preferably someone famous, introduces the author and explains why the book is significant or timely. Ideally a foreword is written by a person known as an expert on the topic of the book, or is just simply popular and deemed an expert on everything. This is why you’ll sometimes see a celebrity write a foreword even though he or she has no background with the content of the book. A celebrity foreword can be a real boon to a budding author who nobody knows about. A celebrity foreword could greatly help your sales, especially if you personally know the famous person who is going to write you a foreword. It adds credibility to your book.

Now, if you are actually the one who was asked to write a foreword. Wow! Congratulations! You must be really popular or must be an expert to be requested to do such an honor. The question is, do you know what to write? What if you don’t know the author personally?

Start by reading the material for which you are going to write a foreword. Take note of those points you find striking or remarkable and build your foreword around that. Forewords are best written in a chatty manner, like you are just talking to a friend and introducing another friend. Remember to be enthusiastic. Forewords are really intended to make people want to buy the book, and that is your duty as the writer of the foreword. Tell the readers what you loved about the book and what you think the readers would like about it, too.

If you personally know the author of the book, you can also mention anecdotes about him or her that relates to the book. You can also mention how you came to know and how well you know the author. Tell the readers how that relates to the book at hand. If you know the author as a good friend, tell them that, too.

Now, if you don’t personally know the author, you can just mention anecdotes about yourself that don’t necessarily involve the author but that may have a tie in to the theme of the book.  Write about how the book affected you and your outlook on life, or on love, or whatever the book is about.

Last, but not least, be sure to spell the word FOREWORD and not FORWARD. I’ve seen this mistake more than once, and it’s something spellchecker will never catch.

Happy writing!

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