It is the smallest page in the book. Most readers glance at it and move on. Some skip it entirely. It carries no chapter number. It advances no plot. It teaches no lesson.
Authors agonize over it.
I’ve watched writers who sailed through three hundred pages of manuscript sit paralyzed in front of two lines on a dedication page. They draft it, scratch it out, draft it again. They change the name. They change the wording. They wonder if it says too much. They wonder if it says enough.
The dedication is the one place in a book where the author stops talking to the reader and speaks to someone else entirely. It is the most private sentence in the most public thing they’ve ever done. That tension is why it matters.
In more than forty years of publishing, I’ve read hundreds of dedication pages. Every one of them told me something the manuscript alone could not. The dedication reveals the why behind the writing — the person or the purpose the author held in mind through every difficult paragraph, every late night, every moment they considered quitting and didn’t.
Some dedications are simple. A name and nothing more. “For my father.” Those two words carry everything the author couldn’t fit into three hundred pages. They say: this is who I was thinking of. This is who I owe. This is the reason I finished. The brevity is not laziness. It is trust — trust the reader will understand what those two words hold.
Others reach further. “For everyone who was told their story didn’t matter.” A dedication like this tells you the book was born from conviction, not ambition. The author didn’t write to build a career. They wrote to answer an injustice. The dedication puts that purpose on the record before the first chapter begins.
I’ve seen dedications to people who will never read the book — parents who passed before the manuscript was finished, mentors who died without knowing the seeds they planted, children not yet born. These dedications carry a particular weight. They acknowledge a debt the author can never repay except through the act of writing itself. The book becomes the thank-you letter they ran out of time to send. The dedication makes sure the name is not forgotten.
The dedication page is purpose hiding in plain sight.
This is why it deserves more than a passing glance. When you read a dedication, you’re reading the author’s answer to the most important question a writer can face: Why did I write this? The manuscript is the long answer. The dedication is the short one. Both should point in the same direction.
If they don’t, something has gone wrong. I’ve seen manuscripts where the dedication and the book seem to belong to different writers. The dedication speaks from the heart. The manuscript speaks from the head. When that happens, the dedication is usually more honest than the book. The author knew why they started writing, but lost the thread somewhere along the way.
The fix is not to change the dedication. The fix is to bring the book back to the purpose the dedication already holds.
For authors still working on manuscripts, the dedication page can serve as a compass. Write it early. Not as a final draft — just as a private note to yourself. Name the person or the purpose. Put it where you can see it. When the writing gets difficult, when doubt settles in, when you lose your way in the middle chapters, look at that page. It will remind you why you started. I have seen this simple act pull authors through months of uncertainty. The dedication holds steady when everything else shifts.
Every book begins with a reason. The dedication page is where the author says that reason out loud. It is small, quiet, and easy to overlook. It is also the most honest page in the book.
If you haven’t written yours yet, ask yourself: Who is this for? Not the audience. Not the market. The person. The one whose face you see when you wonder if the work is worth finishing.
Write their name. The rest of the book will follow.
The Power of Authors by Evan and Lois Swensen explores what it means to write with purpose — and why the deepest convictions often live in the smallest spaces on the page.
The book is available on Amazon: http://bit.ly/3K6o8AM. If you’d like an autographed copy, you can order it here: http://bit.ly/4pgmzjM.
Author Campaign Method (ACM) for Authorpreneurs
This is Publication Consultants’ motivation for constantly striving to assist authors sell and market their books. Author Campaign Method (ACM) of sales and marketing is Publication Consultants’ plan to accomplish this so that our authors’ books have a reasonable opportunity for success. We know the difference between motion and direction. ACM is direction! ACM is the process for authorpreneurs who are serious about bringing their books to market. ACM is a boon for them.
Release Party
Web Presence
Book Signings
Amazon Author Page
Facebook Profile and Facebook Page
Active Social Media Participation
Ebook Cards
The Great Alaska Book Fair: October 8, 2016
Costco Book Signings
eBook Cards
Benjamin Franklin Award
Jim Misko Book Signing at Barnes and Noble
Cortex is for serious authors and will probably not be of interest to hobbyists. We recorded our Cortex training and information meeting. If you’re a serious author, and did not attend the meeting, and would like to review the training information, kindly let us know. Authors are required to have a Facebook author page to use Cortex.
Correction:
We take the quote by Marcella Smith, Small Press Business Manager, Barnes & Noble seriously: “The author is essential to the success of the book, giving energy behind the book to make it something that a customer will come in and ask for. That is what makes the difference in a book that sells, that develops legs, and has a life of its own. Otherwise the book goes on the shelf and stays there for three months. Then it gets returned.”
This is Publication Consultants’ motivation for constantly striving to assist authors sell and market their books. ACM is Publication Consultants’ plan to accomplish this so that our authors’ books have a reasonable opportunity for success. We know the difference between motion and direction. ACM is direction! ACM is the process for authors who are serious about bringing their books to market. ACM is a boon for serious authors, but a burden for hobbyist. We don’t recommend ACM for hobbyists.
We’re the only publisher we know of that provides authors with book signing opportunities. Book signing are appropriate for hobbyist and essential for serious authors. To schedule a book signing kindly go to our website, <
An Author Page on Amazon Author Central is a serious author ACM requirement and desirable for the hobbyist. Author Central is a free resource designed to help authors become more active participants in the promotion of their books. In Author Central you can manage an Author Page, update information about your books, and view Customer Reviews and sales information for your bibliography. If you don’t already have an Author Page on 
We hear authors complain about all the personal stuff on Facebook. Most of these complaints are because the author doesn’t understand the difference difference between a Facebook profile and a Facebook page. Simply put, a profile is for personal things for friends and family; a page is for business. If your book is just a hobby, then it’s fine to have only a Facebook profile and make your posts for friends and family; however, if you’re serious about your writing, and it’s a business with you, or you want it to be business, then you need a Facebook page as an author. It’s simple to tell if it’s a page or a profile. A profile shows how many friends and a page shows how many likes. Here’s a link <> to a straight forward description on how to set up your author Facebook page.
Active Social Media Participation
Mosquito Books has a new location in the Anchorage international airport and is available for signings with 21 days notice. Jim Misko had a signing there yesterday. His signing report included these words, “Had the best day ever at the airport . . ..”
The Lyin Kings: The Wannabe World Leaders
Time and Tide
ReadAlaska 2014
Readerlink and Book Signings
2014 Independent Publisher Book Awards Results
Bonnye Matthews Radio Interview
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When he published those overseas blogs as the book The Innocents Abroad, it would become a hit. But you couldn’t find it in bookstores.
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