How to Write a Book Dedication (With 30 Examples)

A dedication is the shortest part of a book, and often the part closest to the author’s heart. This guide shows how to write one, with six real dedications from classic books, 30 original examples you can adapt, and where the page goes in print and ebook. Before the book goes out, a final proofread catches mistakes in the front matter too; our book editing services include that pass. For the rest of writing a book, see our step-by-step guide.

What a book dedication is

A dedication names who the book is for: a partner, a parent, a child, a friend, a group of people or someone who has died. It sits alone on a page near the front, usually in a sentence or two.

Acknowledgments are different: they’re longer, often at the back, and thank everyone who helped make the book.

Every dedication is optional. Many books have one, and many don’t.

Six real dedications from classic books

These come from books now in the public domain in the US, quoted from the Project Gutenberg texts. Slashes mark line breaks; the Dracula and Winnie-the-Pooh dedications are set in capitals in the Gutenberg texts. Each one works for a different reason.

What they share: each is about one person or a small circle, each says something only this writer could say, and none tries to impress anyone else.

How to write a book dedication in 5 steps

1. Choose who it’s for. One person, a few people, a group, a cause or a memory. If you’re torn, pick the person without whom the book wouldn’t exist.
2. Find the one true detail. A nickname, a shared place, a habit, a sentence they once said to you. One real detail does more than a list of virtues.
3. Choose the tone. Match the book or match the person: simple, warm, funny or quiet. A comic novel can have a serious dedication, and the reverse works too.
4. Keep it short. A sentence or two is usual. If you need a paragraph, it may belong in the acknowledgments.
5. Ask, then read it aloud. Check with the person before you name them, then read the line aloud. Settle the final wording when the book is done and you know what it became.

Pick your style

30 book dedication examples

All 30 were written for this guide. Change the names and details to make them yours. The details are the point: swap in something true about your own person.

For a partner

1. For Dev, who learned to sleep through the 5 a.m. typing and now can’t sleep without it.
2. To Leah, who paid the electric bill for the two years this book paid nothing, and called it an investment.
3. To Tom, who built the desk in the spare room before I’d written a word.

For parents

4. For my mother, who kept a library card in her coat pocket the way other people kept keys.
5. To Dad, who taught me that a story told well at dinner is worth the cold potatoes.
6. For Mom and Baba, who learned English from the evening news so I could learn it from novels.

For children

7. For Ada, who named the goat in chapter three and won’t let me change it.
8. To Sam and June: this is what I was doing all those Saturday mornings. Sorry about the pancakes.
9. For Noor, who asked every night at bedtime whether the dragon had eaten the mayor yet.

For friends

10. For Grace, who picked up at 2 a.m. and said, “Which chapter?”
11. To the Thursday table: Priya, Owen and Bea. Same corner, same coffee, nine years and counting.
12. For Marcus, who drove four hours with a spare laptop the week mine died.

In memory

13. In memory of my grandmother, Esther Kalman, who kept every letter and taught me to keep the stories in them.
14. For Danny (1979 to 2021), who never finished the story about the ferry. I finished this one for both of us.
15. In memory of Ruth, whose porch light was always the last one off on Alder Street.

For teachers and mentors

16. For Mr. Okafor, who gave my worst story a C-minus and the note “Funny in the middle. More of that.” I tried.
17. To Helen Price, who hired a nervous apprentice and made me rewire my first kitchen twice.
18. For Mrs. Bell at the Elm Street branch, who waived my late fines in exchange for a book report.

For readers

19. For the new kid in every city, eating dinner on a moving box because the chairs haven’t come.
20. For whoever finds this copy in a beach rental, swollen from the pool. That’s exactly where it belongs.
21. For the kids who took the back off the radio to see where the voices lived.

For a group or cause

22. For the volunteer fire crew at Carrow Point, who go out when everyone else is told to stay in.
23. For the volunteers of the Mill Lane food bank, every Tuesday, in every weather.
24. For the girls on the Haskell Park U12 team, who lost every game and never once missed practice.

Funny dedications

25. For the upstairs neighbor and his drum kit, who made sure I never slept past six. Chapter one is yours.
26. To my sister Rosa, who told everyone at Christmas 2019 that I was “writing a book,” in air quotes. You can drop the quotes now, Rosa.
27. For the 7:42 train, which was late often enough for me to write half of this.

Very short dedications

28. For Ma, who kept the first page on the fridge.
29. For Jo, who knew the title first.
30. For Nell, who asked for the sad parts back.

Where the dedication goes, and how it looks

In a printed book, the dedication usually gets its own right-hand page in the front matter, after the title page and the copyright page, and before an epigraph or the table of contents. It’s often centered and set in the upper part of the page, sometimes in italics, with the back of the page left blank. For the order of the other front pages, see where the copyright page goes.

In an ebook, keep the dedication on its own short page in the front matter. Ebook text reflows to fit each screen, so simple centered text works better than fancy layout or line breaks that depend on page size.

In an audiobook, a short dedication can be read near the start, so read yours aloud to check it sounds right.

If you’re laying out the book yourself, check the dedication on the printed proof. If not, book formatting sets the front matter for print and ebook.

Before you print it: names, privacy and feelings

• Ask first. Some people love being named; others would rather not appear in a book. A quick message saves an awkward conversation.
• Use first names or initials if you want privacy for them or for you. Stoker’s “Hommy-Beg” shows a nickname can be warmer than a full name.
• Think about who’s left out. Naming one child, sibling or friend can sting the others. Naming a group, or writing several books with several dedications, is one way around it.
• Take care with memorial dedications. Check the spelling of the name and the dates with family before you print.
• Remember it’s permanent. A printed book outlasts relationships. Some authors use initials for exactly that reason.

Special cases

• Co-written books can share one dedication or give each author a line, side by side.
• Ghostwritten books carry the named author’s dedication, because it’s their book and their voice.
• Series usually have a new dedication in each book, which is a chance to thank different people. Planning a series? See how to write a book series.
• Memoir often dedicates to someone in the story. Given the subject, it’s worth showing them the page first; see our guide to writing a memoir.
• Children’s books often dedicate to a child, sometimes with a playful line the child will enjoy reading later.

When to get help

A dedication is yours to write, but it’s part of the front matter, and mistakes there are easy to miss.

• A proofread checks the final pages, including the front matter, before the book prints. For fiction it’s $160 for the first 10,000 words, then $0.016 a word.
• Formatting sets the dedication and the rest of the front matter for print and ebook. Standard formatting starts at $89 for an ebook and $199 for print, up to 20,000 words, with set prices for longer books.
• Not sure what your book needs? A $49 sample edit of up to 1,000 words tells you, and the $49 comes off your edit if you book within 60 days.

Book dedication questions authors ask

Do you need a dedication in a book?

No. A dedication is optional, and many books, including well-known ones, don’t have one. Add it if there’s someone you want to name, and leave it out if nothing feels right. If you include one, keep it short and put it on its own page after the copyright page. You can add or change it before each new edition.

Can you dedicate a book to yourself?

Yes. Some authors do, often with humor or to mark how far they’ve come, such as “For the girl who filled notebooks under the covers.” It can read as self-centered if done straight, so a light or reflective tone usually works best. Another option is a line to yourself in the acknowledgments.

Can you dedicate a book to more than one person?

Yes. You can name two or three people in one line, address a group such as “my sisters,” or give each person their own short line on the same page. If you name many people, the page starts to read like acknowledgments, so consider moving longer thanks there and keeping the dedication brief.

Is a dedication the same as acknowledgments?

No. A dedication is a short line near the front that names who the book is for, often one person. Acknowledgments are longer, often at the back, and thank the people who helped make the book, such as editors, early readers, family and experts. A book can have both, either one or neither.