Who To Thank In Your Book’s Acknowledgments

While writing and self-publishing a book may seem like a solitary endeavor, often there are other people involved who help you reach your goal. From proofreading, to cover design, to beta readers and more, there may be individuals you want to thank for helping your self-published book become a reality. Your book’s acknowledgments page is the place to properly thank those people. The experts have tips on who to thank in your book — and the best way to do so.

Who You Should Thank In Your Book’s Acknowledgments

Before you create your acknowledgments page, make a list of all the people whose support and assistance helped your book take shape. To ensure you don’t accidentally leave anyone out, think back through the process of self-publishing your book. Note which details each person helped you with and their full names. This list will be different for each author, and breaking it down into personal and professional shoutouts is a good place to start.

Personal acknowledgments can include:

• Family
• Friends
• Pets (yes, pets are supportive and can be thanked!)
• Writing mentors or coaches
• Anyone else you have a personal relationship with who helped in some way

Professional acknowledgments can include:

• Editor and/or proofreader
• Cover designer
• Anyone who contributed illustrations, photography, or other artwork
• Assistants and researchers
• Anyone who assisted in the process of turning your manuscript draft into a professional-looking self-published book

How To Write Your Acknowledgments Page

You can pick up almost any published book to see examples of how different authors handled their acknowledgments page. Most acknowledgment pages are kept short — if your list of thank-yous goes on and on, it can lessen the impact of each individual thank-you. However, writing and self-publishing a book is an unparalleled experience, and you may only do it once in your lifetime. If it’s important to you to list ten family members and three cats…