You might have a person in mind who is the very reason that you’ve written this book. Your book might be about that person or written in their memory. This person might be a natural choice for the dedication. Consider if you actually know the person to whom you’re dedicating the book. You can also brainstorm names of people that you don’t know personally but whom you admire.
Don’t feel too obligated to dedicate your book to someone who asked for the dedication. It is a deeply personal process to write a dedication, and if it doesn’t feel right to choose that person, you can choose someone else. Be prepared, however, to explain to that person your reasons why they were not chosen.
For example, Robin Hobb, in her book “Ship of Magic,” dedicated the book like this: “To caffeine and sugar, my companions through many a long night of writing. ”[4] X Research source
F. Scott Fitzgerald dedicated several of his books like this: “Once Again to Zelda. ”[6] X Research source King C. Gillette dedicated his book, The People’s Corporation, like this: “For mankind. “[7] X Research source
In the dedication to his book Anansi Boys, Neil Gaiman takes a humorous approach by dedicating the book to an unnamed “you”: “You know how it is. You pick up a book, flip to the dedication, and find that, once again, the author has dedicated a book to someone else and not to you. Not this time. Because we haven’t yet met/have only a glancing acquaintance/are just crazy about each other/haven’t seen each other in much too long/are in some way related/will never meet, but will, I trust, despite that, always think fondly of each other!This one’s for you. With you know what, and you probably know why. "
Carl Sagan dedicated his book Cosmos to his wife: “In the vastness of space and immensity of time, it is my joy to spend a planet and an epoch with Annie. ” Tad Williams dedicated his Otherland book series to his father in a funny and endearing way: “This Book is dedicated to my father Joseph Hill Evans with love. Actually Dad doesn’t read fiction, so if someone doesn’t tell him about this, he’ll never know. ”[10] X Research source
For example, Vaughn Davis Bornet dedicated his book, Welfare in America, to someone who worked to improve people’s welfare: “He devoted his life to the administration of government and voluntary agencies formed to help the starving and homeless. ”[11] X Research source For a children’s book about a rat, Beatrix Potter wrote a dedication to her pet rat: “In remembrance of ‘SAMMY,’ the intelligent pink-eyed representative of a persecuted (but irrepressible) race. An affectionate little friend, and most accomplished thief!”[12] X Research source The dedication to the first Lemony Snicket book was simply: “To Beatrice– darling, dearest, dead. " The dedication for each subsequent book continued the joke about Beatrice’s deceased-ness. This dedication helps set the tone (darkly humorous and ironic) for the whole book. [13] X Research source
Quotations can come from someone well-known, or it could be a quote from someone you know.
For some types of dedications, you might preserve the original formatting. For example, if you are including a poem as your dedication, you should use the original formatting of the poem, rather than making up your own.
