Author's tip of the hat

I just don't like Acknowledgments at the beginning of books. I want to get to the book itself soonest, and I just feel it's something that should be done at the end. Take your bows and blow kisses after the play, please. (And in the case of a great book, acknowledgments ease the post-partum letdown, soften the return to earth.)

Comments

[Jane Hirshfield]

I've come to agree. I used to put the acknowledgments page in the front of my books, as that's what I was used to seeing--but for my new book, I put it in the back--it just seemed ridiculous to clutter the front of the book with information, when the real point is the book itself.

[Meg]

My pet peeve is when author's photos are displayed too prominently; somehow, seeing the writer's face before I'm done reading disturbs the suspension of disbelief for me. I guess I prefer to believe that a good book erupted from the earth fully formed, rather than knowing it came from a fallible human being.

[Ellen Meister]

It breaks my heart a little to see the acknowledgments at the back of a book. It strikes me as dismissive.

Given my druthers, I'll always put my acknowledgments up front so the people who helped me know how much they matter.

[Lesley]

My book pet peeve is when the back covers of trade paperbacks don't offer a description but just have review excerpts, which most of the time don't really give you a good idea of what the book's actually about. I'd like to know who thought that up and give them a good wallop.

[Lisa Scottoline]

Agree! It's a thank-you and belongs at the end. It seems self-indulgent at the beginning and not about the reader. Love, L