Footnotes or Endnotes in A Book?

[Scripture More Accurately]

I am writing a book and trying to decide between footnotes, endnotes at the end of each chapter, or endnotes at the end of the book.

Which do you prefer and why?

 

[Just_Ahead]

Footnotes at the bottom of the page where the reference is used. Flipping pages can be a pain.

 

[JonC]

I prefer footnotes at the end if the other. The reason is they provide a quicker reference (I typically look up sources as I go and it makes it easier for me).

But it depends, I guess, on the audience. I never claimed to be the sharpest tool in the shed. Those sharper than I (most folks) may have a different opinion.

 

[Scarlett O.]

If it's just a citation of a source or the meaning of a word or some small bit of information - I prefer footnotes.

 

[kathleenmariekg]

I didn't vote, because it would depend on multiple factors. First, depending on the software and delivery options available to the author, I would want him to use the style that was fully supported and familiar.

If an author is dependent on opensource software and is aiming his book to a wide audience that included people reading his book as an ebook on a older model cellphone, then endnotes at the end of a chapter are best.

If this book is hardcopy only, and the audience is people that can afford the book and the shipping, then footnotes are nice. But many Christian books that were not written exclusively for the more affluent among us, are difficult and sometimes impossible to read for the poor and people not in the USA/UK.

Who is your AUDIENCE? What is the PURPOSE of this book?

 

[JonC]

I didn't vote, because it would depend on multiple factors. First, depending on the software and delivery options available to the author, I would want him to use the style that was fully supported and familiar.

If an author is dependent on opensource software and is aiming his book to a wide audience that included people reading his book as an ebook on a older model cellphone, then endnotes at the end of a chapter are best.

If this book is hardcopy only, and the audience is people that can afford the book and the shipping, then footnotes are nice. But many Christian books that were not written exclusively for the more affluent among us, are difficult and sometimes impossible to read for the poor and people not in the USA/UK.

Who is your AUDIENCE? What is the PURPOSE of this book?

I didn't think about digital books, but I agree.

My digital books have references as end notes but if I click on the number I can go back and forth between the text and the reference. Here I prefer them as endnotes so as not to take up the pages of the text.

 

[Reformed1689]

Footnotes

 

[Scripture More Accurately]

I didn't vote, because it would depend on multiple factors. First, depending on the software and delivery options available to the author, I would want him to use the style that was fully supported and familiar.

If an author is dependent on opensource software and is aiming his book to a wide audience that included people reading his book as an ebook on a older model cellphone, then endnotes at the end of a chapter are best.

If this book is hardcopy only, and the audience is people that can afford the book and the shipping, then footnotes are nice. But many Christian books that were not written exclusively for the more affluent among us, are difficult and sometimes impossible to read for the poor and people not in the USA/UK.

Who is your AUDIENCE? What is the PURPOSE of this book?

I had not considered the issue of cost to purchase and ship the book so I appreciate your mentioning those considerations. I have not yet decided whether it will be only an ebook, only a printed book, or both.

My book is intended to help those who are already musically conservative but may be wavering or may want additional help in understanding from Scripture why their view is the correct one and why they should not change to using CCM or other contemporary worship music in their lives and churches.

 

[37818]

Which do you prefer and why?

It is easyer to check on the same page than to have to go to another place in a book to check the footnote.

 

[kathleenmariekg]

Reading this article changed how I make my technology decisions. Publishing a book is a series of problems to solve. The larger your audience the more problems that you will have to solve.

Our Brain Typically Overlooks This Brilliant Problem-Solving Strategy
People often limit their creativity by continually adding new features to a design rather than removing existing ones
By Diana Kwon on April 7, 2021
Our Brain Typically Overlooks This Brilliant Problem-Solving Strategy

... when faced with a problem, people tend to select solutions that involve adding new elements rather than taking existing components away.
... The authors “convincingly demonstrate that we tend to not consider subtractive solutions as much as additive ones,” says Tom Meyvis, a consumer psychologist at New York University, who was not directly involved in the study but reviewed it and co-authored a commentary about it in Nature. While the propensity for businesses and organizations to opt for complexity rather than simplification was previously known, the novelty of this paper is that it shows that people tend toward adding new features, “even when subtracting would clearly be better,” he adds. Meyvis also notes that other reasons for this effect may be a greater likelihood that additive solutions will be appreciated or the so-called sunk-cost bias, in which people continue investing in things for which time, money or effort has already been spent.