Dedications and Acknowledgements

My wife recently held up a copy of one of my books.

“When are you going to dedicate a book to me?” she asked. “To my wife, my one true love, who I appreciate more than anything…”

Knowing there wasn’t a good answer to that question, I kept my mouth shut, but the thought that went through my mind was: That’s more of an acknowledgement than a dedication.

Fortunately, I survived that incident unscathed, but to cover my bases:

This blog post is dedicated to my wife, my one true love, who I appreciate more than anything…

Dedications and acknowledgements are important details, but they are not the same thing.

A dedication goes at the front of the book, and is usually very direct, rarely more than a sentence or two.

Acknowledgements go in the back of the book, and are a lot like an award acceptance speech (I’d like to thank…).

Having defined our terms, let’s take a closer look at the subject matter.

Dedications

So how do you choose who to dedicate a book to?

Honestly?

It depends.

Shadows of Appalachia is dedicated to my Appalachian ancestors. The Screaming House is dedicated to my daughter. A Terrible Place isn’t dedicated to anyone, because I forgot to tell Cyan who I wanted to dedicate it to.

When it comes to options, your dedication can go a lot of different ways. You can dedicate a book to:
-A family member
-A dead person
-A friend
-A group
-Your readers
-Your enemy
-A hero
-An inspiration
-A pet
-My wife

Yeah, you’re probably chuckling at that last one, but I included it to make a point: dedications don’t have to be serious! A quick internet search will show you brilliant dedications that will make you laugh, cry, think, and everything in between.

So what should you do when you write a dedication?

Keep it short and to the point.

So what about acknowledgements?

You get more leeway there.

Acknowledgements are a place to thank those who were critical to getting your book from your mind to the reader. Like I said earlier, it’s kind of like an award acceptance speech. It can run 3-4 pages, and cover everyone from your agent and editor to your family and your pets.

Not only should you mention these people, but you should also tell why you’re acknowledging them. In most cases, your readers have no idea who you’re talking about.

So if you put “I’d like to thank D.L. Winchester,” they have no idea who that is or why they should care. But, if you put, “I’d like to thank D.L. Winchester for his brilliant editorial insights and support during the publishing journey. Not only is he an incredible editor, but he’s also handsome and kind, among many other wonderful things,” they’ll know I’m the editor who worked on your project, and suspect I made some revisions when I got hold of your acknowledgements page.

When should you write your dedication and acknowledgements?

When Cyan emails you threatening dire consequences if he doesn’t have them within the next five minutes!

No. 

You want time to make sure you get them right, and you don’t forget anyone. I’d recommend you start thinking about them around the time you complete the first round of edits, and be able to send them in when you sign off on the last round of edits. That way, you’re not rushed, the publisher doesn’t have to scramble to get them, and everyone ends up happy.

(Except my wife, who’s still waiting for me to dedicate a book to her.)