A Dedication is a dedication of an entire work, or sometimes part of it, to some person or group of persons. A Dedication can be written by the original author at any time regardless of when the work was first published. This includes before or after publication. However, if you are using worldwide Dedications then it becomes more complex as publishing times vary from place to place. If you are Dedicating your book to someone who lives in another country please check relevant Copyright laws for that country before Dedicating your Book.
The Dedication must also not contain anything that could affect the public perception of either yourself or your work – libelous material will rebound badly on both you and your work so think very carefully before putting anything in a Dedication. The Dedication itself must be completely free of typos and grammatical or spelling errors. If your Dedication contains a serious error it may invalidate the Dedication entirely. It is always best to have another pair of eyes proofread, spellcheck, and check for grammar before submitting your Dedication to Smashwords for processing.
You do not need an editor to find every single Dedicator misspelling but you do need someone who can read through it thoroughly enough so they are reasonably familiar with the Dedicator’s name by the time they reach the end – this will help ensure there are no misreads. A Dedications format does not vary greatly between authors except that most Dedications are written in the first person singular and some Dedications are written in first-person plural.
Dedicated type, for example, Dedication: To my wife and children or Dedication: To my parents, does not affect the Dedication so long as it is consistent throughout the book. The language used in a Dedication can be anything from formal to informal but must always be on topic. In addition, you cannot Dedicate your work to someone dead more than 50 years – this is because of copyright issues. If you do include a Dedication then it becomes part of the Public Domain and anyone will have access to it forevermore – make sure every Dedicator knows this before they agree to write a Dedication.
A Dedicated author should not announce themselves as such within their Dedication – this is always written in the third person singular. Dedicators are advised to Dedicate their books themselves without the help of an editor, proofreader, or publisher so please do not Dedicate your book to them unless you know what you are doing. If Dedicating self-published work then no dedication is required at all, Dedicated Authors mustn’t announce themselves as such because it will invalidate the Dedication entirely if they ever choose to sell or transfer the rights to someone else at a later date.
If however authors wish to thank people involved in publishing their work, praised their work, or shock them into writing more then these things can be placed in the front matter but should never appear within the story itself. Dedications with too much information in them are considered bad form and if the Dedication concerns the quality of content within the work itself it is usually more appropriate to write a review or even publish it as an article on your blog.
A Dedication can be released under any license so long as every Dedicator agrees to the terms whatever they may be. This guarantees future use of Dedications by third-party users who do not have access to email addresses, social media accounts, etc. Dedicators are advised that some licenses require no indication of release on copies made but this does not affect their ability to distribute further copies via any platform at all providing they abide by its restrictions.
Some licenses are limited use whereas others are unlimited allowing publication, editing, modification, etc. Dedicators are advised to carefully read the license they choose to Dedicate their work under before sharing it with others. A Dedication is one of the most important aspects of an author’s marketing toolkit for many reasons but mostly because Dedications may be republished by third-party users who do not have access to Dedicators’ contact details and anyone using a Dedication in this way will think that you wrote it yourself.
This method of business model has seen huge success in recent years especially in Sci-Fi eBooks where many authors sell books containing nothing more than Dedications at prices much lower than competing authors. This type of publication strategy gains momentum when a lot of people like what they see/ read and thus creates demand whereas low-quality works are often disregarded.
Dedicators are advised to show good judgment when choosing Dedicated work to buy and should avoid Dedication Frauds – these come in many forms but all Dedication Frauds share the same goal – making money without any legitimate skills or talent necessary. Don’t worry that Dedications may be stolen by competitors because this is one of the rare occasions that you can legally copy someone else’s work because … it was already written by someone else anyway. This allows non-writers to produce best sellers with no background knowledge of writing books whatsoever so long as they know how to correctly market Dedications for profit.
Dedications can be used in almost any form whether it’s on cards, posters, T-shirts, business cards, etc so never underestimate Dedicating as an effective marketing strategy. Dedicators are advised to make full use of Dedications but are aware that Dedications will not sell a bad book or save one from getting negative reviews or comments – it is the quality of the work itself which does this. In conclusion, Dedication is a sacred thing and those who Dedicate their work will receive all due rewards so long as they truly deserve it.