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It’s one of the most common malapropisms in publishing.
Many people who should know better regularly erroneously use the word “forward” when referring to the introductory chapter of a book – and we can only chalk so much of it it up to overzealous autocorrect.
Remember: “Forward” is an adjective that means “ahead” or “in front”. By contrast, “Foreword” is a noun. It means a standalone chapter that introduces a book or its author. To make matters more confusing, it does appear in a forward position in the book!
A foreword from the right contributor can give your book a big marketing boost. As well as enhancing your credibility as an author, the foreword could help you tap into a broader audience, especially when that contributor is also a published author with an established platform of his or her own.
Amazon considers foreword contributors to be secondary authors in the work. This means that when readers go searching for titles written by your foreword contributor, your book will appear in their search results too.
What this means to you: If you are lucky enough to have a professional or personal relationship with an established author whose work is relevant to your own, ask them to support your book by contributing a foreword. You could even reach out to an established author who you don’t know at all with this request; there’s always a chance they’ll say yes. If they have a new book of their own coming out, they may be glad to have the added exposure that your book will bring them. But bear in mind that it is a pretty big ask, so you might want to ask them to excuse you for being so forward in your request.
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