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Who should you include in your book acknowledgement?
Short answer:
whoever you want.
Long answer:
whomever you would like to say thanks. Acknowledgments are not dedication, so you can include even people that aren’t close to you, or not anymore close to you, but you are grateful to have met them or to have learned from them.
You can include family members (spouse, children, parents), friends, colleagues, mates, buddys, editors, agents, publishers, managers, assistants, contributors, teachers, mentors, coaches, or even people who you don’t directly know but that inspired you or somehow helped you with their work.
Who should you include and why?
It really depends on you, your feelings, the project.
When I wrote my second book “MEET the meeting model: Art and science of meeting successfully — Leaders’ toolkit for successful meetings” I included three pages of acknowledgments with two and half pages full of names and the first half page of intro sharing for what I am thanking all these people. Sometimes, I am told I included too many people. Maybe is true. Yet, it is what I felt when I published and I thought it was the right thing to do.
Someone is a friend, someone has been supportive in particular moments of my life, someone inspired me and others encouraged me. Someone offered help, a couch, a meal, or a smile. Someone was there when I needed, someone had a huge impact on my growth and mindset or in improving some skills. Someone free their agenda and make time for me despite their busy schedule. People that care about you will find the time. Someone made you feel special. If you think about you can have so many reasons to be grateful. It is really up to you.
It is also legit not to thank all these people in your book. There are many other valid ways to thank them and let them know you appreciate them. You could limit the acknowledgement of the book to the people that specifically had a role or an impactful contribution to this specific work. That’s legit and perfectly fine. You can also have a more generic way to thank categories of people that for some reasons you can’t name and yet you would like acknowledge.
