A preface is when the Author talks about the book outside of the book. This is the spot for whether it was a good idea, who assisted the author, what/whom the author has acknowledged, what inspired the methodology, and what it does not cover. Trusting the author is swayed heavily by the preface.
It’s a good place to explain more about yourself. It’s a place to mention changes you’ve made, the mistakes you found in the first edition, and your reasoning for the changes. Being straightforward about this on the second edition builds a lot of trust with the people who bought the first edition.
This is the one chance you have to describe yourself to a reader without the need to argue or narrate. People explain themselves at a normal speaking volume, so that is the tone a writer should adopt. A preface written in institutional language causes the reader to assume the rest of the book will be written the same way, and will thereby damage the relationship the author can have with the reader.
Where AI falls down on prefaces
Requesting a preface is met with a chapter introduction. It argues the value of the chapter while providing the overview of other chapters. It appears that everywhere in the source material two forms are conflated and this is something publishers pick up on. A book that has two introductions and no preface is unedited and this is how the book appears to the reader.
How We Plan Structure and Voice for No-AI Prefaces
We will start by saying what this book is not. This is the quickest way to establish honesty, and it eliminates the reviews that say books fail to cover aspects they have never claimed to cover. After that, I will say a few words about my method, sources, and the people I need to thank, in whatever order the book’s history suggests.
Developing No-AI Prefaces From Idea to Final Draft
Pulling a draft usually only takes one conversation and one pass. The longer process is usually the acknowledgments section. Clients keep remembering people they need to thank, so we leave that section open to the end of the manuscript. Ultimately, we ask for the last names to be sent when we contact them for the last final draft. This process helps us avoid any omissions.
What prefaces cost
One rate, whatever the format: $10 per 100 words. You are paying for the writer’s time and judgement, so the price scales with the words rather than with a package tier.
Typical preface
Words
Writing
Fee (1%)
You pay
Short
500
$50
$0.50
$50.50
Standard
1,000
$100
$1
$101
In-depth
2,000
$200
$2
$202
The writer receives 100% of the writing price. Our 1% fee is added on top of it, and 0.5% is donated to tree planting.
Full pricing breakdown.
Questions About Buying No-AI Prefaces
What the piece is for, who reads it, roughly how long it should be, and anything it must include or avoid. Links to your existing material help. If you are unsure, send what you have and the writer will come back with questions.
Up to 3 days. The writer has to read around the subject before writing it, so we quote honestly rather than promising an hour. If your deadline is tighter, say so in the brief and we will tell you before you pay whether we can meet it.
Prefaces and introductions are common in non-fiction writing. The preface describes the background and the limit of the book. The introduction establishes the argument. Of the two, most readers would prefer the introduction. For that reason, we will not sell you the preface, and tell you that the introduction is all you need.
Yes. Send the list with each person’s actions and any relationships you want shown. Like everything else, it is priced by the word, so it is worthwhile writing it correctly since acknowledgments are the page that contributors actually read.
Completely. Copyright transfers to you on delivery, with no attribution requirement and no licence back to us. Nothing written for you is resold, repurposed or republished.
Reviews
What clients say about our prefaces
Reviews from completed, paid orders in this category.
RDRafael D
The second draft outline was my saving grace
I had managed to write around 40 thousand words. Unfortunately those words didn’t provide any structure. When I received the feedback on this, it contained a merged chapter, one chapter completely removed (along with an explanation as to why) and the additional feedback stated that the chapter that had been removed was essentially doing the work of three chapters which I had already written. It was a bit painful to read, but correct.
Verified orderBook outlinesApril 2025
LGLéa G
Kept my voice through forty thousand words
My mother finished reading all nine chapters over four months. Impressively, she did it without knowing I had someone else type it. The writer sent questions after each chapter to eliminate guessing. Of all the things I have written myself, chapter six is the best.
Verified orderGhostwritten booksOctober 2025
DPDanilo P
Sold the book in three sentences
My novel took four years, and the back cover took three sentences and had me stumped for six weeks. The writer must have read the full manuscript (instead of the synopsis) which I know because the copy references a scene from chapter fourteen.
