The last page is read in the only quiet the book gets. The photographs are done, the reader has been through the whole thing, and there is nothing competing for attention.
That makes it the right place for the longest and most personal writing in the book — and almost every photo book puts that at the front instead, where it delays the thing the reader opened it for.
Put the letter here
If you have something long to say, this is where it goes.
The reader has just seen everything you are referring to. A sentence about a particular year lands completely differently on the last page than it does on the first, because they have just looked at that year.
Nothing follows it. Whatever it says is the last thing the book does, and it is what the reader is holding when they close it.
Three hundred to six hundred words is comfortable here, where a hundred and fifty is the ceiling at the front. What to write on the first page →
Three endings that work
The forward-looking one. Not a summary of what the book contained — the reader just read it. Something about what happens next: a plan, an invitation, a year you intend to have.
The one that names what is missing. “There is nothing here from the year we did not speak.” Honest, and it makes everything before it more believable. What to leave out, deliberately →
The very short one. After forty pages, four words carry more than four hundred. A single line on an otherwise empty page is the strongest ending available and the one people are most afraid to use.
What not to end with
| Avoid | Why |
|---|---|
| A summary of the book | They have just read it |
| “And here’s to many more!” | It is a toast, not an ending |
| A quotation | Somebody else gets the last word in your book |
| Trailing off | An ending that stops is not an ending |
| Anything unresolved on purpose | It reads as a draft |
The last photograph matters as much as the words
Choose it deliberately. It is the image the reader is left with, and it should not be whatever was left over.
The two that work: the most recent one, which puts the reader in the present, or a deliberate echo of the first photograph — the same place, the same people, later. Photo book layout: how spreads actually work →
If there is no last page
Ask for one. A book that ends because the pages ran out feels unfinished, and adding a closing page usually costs nothing — page counts move in steps, and there is often a page spare. Album page counts →
Frequently asked
What should the last page of a photo book say? The longest, most personal writing in the book. The reader has just seen everything it refers to and there is nothing competing.
Should the letter go at the front or the back? The back. At the front it delays the photographs; at the back it lands on everything the reader has just looked at.
How long can it be? Three hundred to six hundred words comfortably, against a hundred and fifty at the front.
What is a good ending? Something forward-looking, or something very short. Four words after forty pages carry more than four hundred.
What should the last photograph be? The most recent one, or a deliberate echo of the first. Not whatever was left over.
Part of our guide to captions and messages. See also: what to write on the first page and short captions and long ones.
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