First fifty pages

[Michael Roland]

Does that include the forward?

[HillaryJ]

If by "forward", you mean an introduction to the book by someone other than the author, then I would say that it should not be included. When an agent/editor requests the first fifty pages of your manuscript, that's exactly what they want, the first fifty pages that you have written.

[Michael Roland]

Technically, I mean "introduction" rather than forward. Thanks. Same question applies.

[HillaryJ]

Is this non-fiction?

[Michael Roland]

It's a Memoir or Creative Nonfiction.

[HillaryJ]

My sense, and I've not looked that deeply into this genre, is that the query should sort of be the substitute for the introduction, but you might want to toss this into the "Ask Nathan" thread.

[Nathan Bransford]

My feeling is that if you're envisioning that the foreword will be at the beginning of the final book, it should be included in the first fifty pages and counts toward those fifty pages.