Your academic book’s introduction is your first opportunity to make an impression on your reader. It’s natural that you’d be worried about writing it well. One aspect of the introduction that authors tend to fixate on is length. How long should your introduction be?
In today’s episode, which is the first of a series on book introductions, Jane will discuss length. If you’re worried that your introduction will be too long or too short, after this episode you’ll know how to make the length just right.
Here’s what we’ll cover:
- Why asking how long your introduction should be isn’t the right question, and what you should be asking instead.
- The value of looking at other books as examples, and how to approach that process strategically.
- How to understand the length of your introduction in the context of the length of your entire book, rather than treating the introduction as its own project.
Make sure to have a notebook handy, because you’re going to get a cheatsheet for thinking about how to approach your introduction.
Books discussed:
- Stephanie Jones-Rogers, They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South
- Kellie Carter Jackson, We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance
- Alexandra Freidus. Unequal Lessons: School Diversity and Educational Inequality in New York City
- Yuki Kato. Gardens of Hope: Cultivation Food and the Future in a Post-Disaster City
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Transcript
The introductions actually have quite a range in length. One was as short as 11 pages and one was as long as 25 pages. And I’m only using long and short as I compare them to each other. I’m not using them as absolutes. I’m using them as relative terms, okay? Because I know that as soon as I say long or short, someone’s going to be like, “Oh my goodness, mine is 10 pages. That is so short.”
And I would encourage you to not think about it that way. I would encourage you to think of what is the length I need to have to accomplish the goals I want to have. And that range—that length—can vary as we see here.
Surprisingly, the lengths are not organized. One is 11 pages, one is 14 pages, one is 22 pages, and one is 25 pages. You might be saying, “Oh, I bet one discipline has the 11 and 14, and the other discipline has the 22 and 25.” And that is not true.
- One of the sociology books (Gardens of Hope) has a 22-page introduction.
- The other sociology book (Unequal Lessons) has a 14-page introduction.
- In the history books, They Were Her Property has the 11-page introduction, and We Refuse has a 25-page introduction.
And it is the only book with a preface, mind you.
So it does not go shortest to longest based on discipline. In fact, in our very small sample of four, the shortest and the longest introductions are in the same discipline.
That is a lesson for you: do not think that because you’re in a certain field, your introduction must be a certain length. Don’t do that.
Instead, ask yourself:
- What am I observing, particularly from the press I might be interested in?
- What are they publishing?
- What is the structure of those books?
Also, consider things like:
- Chapter lengths
- Word count
- And how your book fits
If your book isn’t a perfect fit word-count-wise, it doesn’t mean it’s not a good fit for that press—but it’s information to work with.
Relative Length: Page Count vs. Book Length
So when you’re thinking about your introduction, another question is: How long is my book?
Sometimes people will say, “My intro needs to be 10 pages,” or “It shouldn’t be more than 12,000 words.” But ask: How much of your book is that?
Let’s look at some examples:
- A 22-page introduction in a 320-page book
- A 14-page introduction in a 208-page book
- An 11-page introduction in a 205-page book
In fact, They Were Her Property had an 11-page intro, but I thought the book was 320 pages at first. Then I checked—it’s 205. I’m literally flipping through it.
So also consider: what percentage of your book is the introduction?
Questions to Ask Yourself About Your Introduction
Jane Joanne Jones [00:10:07]:
Let’s move into some questions to help you determine how long your introduction should be.
1. What are the goals of your introduction?
Yeah, you want to tell people what your book is about—but how?
- Do you need to provide historical context?
- Are you introducing a new concept that needs to be explained in detail?
- Are you engaging heavily with secondary literature?
- Do you have a separate theory chapter that might do this work instead?
2. How is your book organized?
- Do you go straight from the intro into body chapters?
- Is there a contextual background chapter coming next?
3. What other appendages will your book have?
- Preface?
- Appendix?
- Online supplement?
For example, some authors with complex methodologies may choose to place that discussion in an appendix, which frees up the introduction. Some use the preface to place themselves or discuss positionality.
4. How will you handle footnotes and endnotes?
That can also reduce length if you use them strategically to handle detailed theory or citations.
Recap
Let’s recap the key questions:
- What are your goals?
- How is your book organized?
- What additional materials (appendices, preface) will be included?
- How will you use footnotes or endnotes?
Use those answers to estimate the length of your introduction—not a fixed number but a proportion that fits your structure and purpose.
Closing Tips
Finally, you can do your own research:
- Visit university press websites
- Use “look inside” features to browse intros
- Compare introduction length to full book length
- Borrow from the library
- Pull books off your own shelf
And in the next episode, I’ll give you a method for deconstructing introductions so you can analyze what you like as a reader—which should inform your choices as a writer.
Try to put yourself in the reader’s shoes.
Wrap-Up
I like to keep these episodes short. I hope this was helpful.
If you have questions about introductions, subscribe to the newsletter (link in show notes). You’ll get a chance to submit your question and it may be answered on the podcast.
Until then, stay well, and I will see you in the next episode.
Thank you so much for listening to today’s episode. Remember, writing an academic book is challenging, but that doesn’t mean you have to overcomplicate it.
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Take care, and tune in for our next episode.
