What should go in a running head?

In fiction, the usual scheme is the book's title on the left-hand page and the author's name on the right. In nonfiction, the scheme carries wayfinding instead: the part or section title on the left and the chapter title on the right, so a reader flipping through can find where they are. Both schemes are conventions rather than rules, but a book should pick one and never vary it.

Why is page 1 always on the right?

Odd-numbered pages are right-hand pages — the recto — and even-numbered pages are left-hand. The counting starts at the half title on page i, and the arithmetic that follows puts every odd page on the right. Chapter openings traditionally fall on a recto too, which is why fine editions burn a page to force it.

Do I number the front matter?

Front matter is numbered in lowercase roman — i, ii, iii — starting from the half title, and the numbering usually becomes visible only partway through, most often at the contents or the preface. The pages before it are counted but carry no number. The first chapter then starts at arabic page 1, and the count starts over.

Why does my first chapter page have no page number?

Display pages drop their furniture. A chapter opening carries the title and the white space the design gives it, and adding a number at the foot competes with the page's one job, which is to announce the chapter. The page is still counted — the next page is 2 — it just does not print the number.

Running heads and page numbers

Two small lines of ink repeat on nearly every page of a book, and readers never look at them until they are wrong. The running head — the repeated line at the top — and the folio — the page number — are the book’s wayfinding, and they follow conventions precise enough that a reader notices their absence on a page that never had them.

The vocabulary

The running head (or running header) is the repeated line across the top of the text block. The folio is the page number, wherever it sits. A drop folio is a page number with no running head above it — the folio alone, dropped to the bottom of the page. The verso is the left-hand page, always even; the recto is the right, always odd.

What goes in the running head

The scheme has to answer one question: what does a reader flipping pages want to know? The answers differ by book.

Fiction usually runs the book’s title on the verso and the author’s name on the recto. The reader of a novel is inside one continuous story; chapter titles would spoil the flow and change nothing.

Nonfiction runs the wayfinding instead: the part or section title on the verso, the chapter title on the recto. A reader with the book open at random — which is how reference nonfiction is read — can orient in one glance. A longer variant adds chapter titles on both sides with section titles further in.

Whatever the scheme, it applies uniformly. A running head that carries the chapter title on some pages and the book title on others is noise; the convention exists precisely so the line can be ignored.

Where chapters are long, a more granular scheme runs the current section rather than the chapter, which requires the typesetting to know what section each page falls in — a higher-maintenance choice that suits technical and reference work.

Where the folio sits

Three conventional placements, in rough order of frequency:

Foot, outer corner — the default of trade publishing. The number sits at the bottom, on the edge away from the spine, where a thumb holding the book open leaves it alone.
Head, outer corner, on the same line as the running head. Common in academic and reference books; keeps the bottom clean for notes.
Foot, centred — the drop folio of older and classic-styled designs. Quiet, and it pairs with running heads dropped on chapter openings.

The folio and the running head move together: a design either runs heads with folios at the head, or drops heads on display pages and leaves a drop folio, but the commonest trade pattern is running head at the head with the folio at the outer foot, both on every text page.

The pages that carry neither

Display pages — pages whose one job is to be looked at rather than read — drop their furniture:

the half title, title page, and copyright page;
the dedication, the epigraph, and part-title pages;
the opening page of every chapter;
blank pages.

The chapter opening is the case that surprises people: the first page of chapter twelve carries no page number, and the reader has never once noticed, because the page announces itself. The numbering continues underneath it — the next page is numbered 2 — the count is uninterrupted, only the printing of the number is suppressed.

Sides, and why page 1 is a right-hand page

Books are bound from sheets, and the arithmetic of signatures makes every right-hand page odd and every left-hand page even, starting from the first page of the book. The half title is page i, the title page iii — the versos in between counted but blank — and the odd numbers keep landing on the right for the whole book.

This is also why chapter openings traditionally sit on a recto. A chapter starting on a right-hand page is the book at its most formal; many trade paperbacks let chapters start on any page to save the blank that forcing it creates. Both are respectable. What matters is that the design knows which it is doing: a chapter that must start recto costs a blank verso every time, which is page count — the trade-off from estimating your page count, spent on ceremony.

Front matter runs on a different clock

The pages before chapter one are numbered in lowercase roman numerals, counting from the half title as i. The count is real — the preface knows it sits on pages ix to xiv — but the folio is usually printed only from some distance in: title and copyright pages carry no number, and the visible roman numbering commonly starts at the contents or the preface.

Then the clock resets. Chapter one is arabic page 1, whatever side it lands on — though a design that forces chapter openings onto rectos will force the first chapter onto page 1 on the right, and spend a blank verso doing it.

Ebooks have none of this. A reflowable book has no pages, so running heads are meaningless and page numbers belong to the reading device — the divergence between the formats is covered in ebook, print, or both?.

The short version

Fiction: title on the verso, author on the recto. Nonfiction: part on the verso, chapter on the recto.
Folio at the outer foot unless the design has a reason.
Display pages drop both — the count continues underneath.
Front matter in lowercase roman; arabic restarts at 1 in chapter one.

Running heads and folios are the book’s quietest machinery, and like most quiet machinery they are only ever noticed misfiring. They are also entirely mechanical: the scheme is chosen once and applied everywhere, which is typesetting work, not writing work.

Nueel’s designs carry the running head and folio scheme with them, apply it to every page, drop it on display pages, and number the front matter in roman without being asked — the pages that should be bare stay bare.

Common questions

What should go in a running head?: In fiction, the usual scheme is the book's title on the left-hand page and the author's name on the right. In nonfiction, the scheme carries wayfinding instead: the part or section title on the left and the chapter title on the right, so a reader flipping through can find where they are. Both schemes are conventions rather than rules, but a book should pick one and never vary it.
Why is page 1 always on the right?: Odd-numbered pages are right-hand pages — the recto — and even-numbered pages are left-hand. The counting starts at the half title on page i, and the arithmetic that follows puts every odd page on the right. Chapter openings traditionally fall on a recto too, which is why fine editions burn a page to force it.
Do I number the front matter?: Front matter is numbered in lowercase roman — i, ii, iii — starting from the half title, and the numbering usually becomes visible only partway through, most often at the contents or the preface. The pages before it are counted but carry no number. The first chapter then starts at arabic page 1, and the count starts over.
Why does my first chapter page have no page number?: Display pages drop their furniture. A chapter opening carries the title and the white space the design gives it, and adding a number at the foot competes with the page's one job, which is to announce the chapter. The page is still counted — the next page is 2 — it just does not print the number.