# Back matter

> Source: https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/glossary/back-matter

Last updated: 2026-09-06
Category: Manuscript & structure
Also called: End matter

Back matter is everything after a book’s main text: epilogue, appendix, notes, glossary, bibliography, index, acknowledgements and colophon.

## Definition

**Back matter** (or *end matter*) is what follows the last chapter. The traditional order runs: afterword or epilogue, appendices, endnotes, glossary, bibliography or further reading, index, acknowledgements (if not in the front), and a short **about the author** — with a **colophon**, a note on the type, last of all.

Fiction usually needs little of it: an author note, acknowledgements, perhaps a reading-group guide. Nonfiction depends on it; notes and an index are what make a reference book usable, and an index is compiled only after the pages are final because it refers to page numbers.

Self-published books have added a commercial page or two here: an "also by" list, a preview of the next book, or a request for a review. Back matter continues the arabic page numbering, and its sections open on a recto in the same way chapters do.

## Related

- [Front matter](https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/glossary/front-matter)
- [Colophon](https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/glossary/colophon)
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