Steal this classic outline for your nonfiction book

A book can mean so many different things to different people. For some, writing and publishing a book can be a dream come true. Others are on a mission to teach and educate their specialty. And some writers want to tell the story of what brought them to their knees—and how they overcame it to survive and thrive.

Yet, new writers often make this mistake: they fail to research their genre and to learn what other books are already out there. You’ll definitely want to know what the leading titles are in your category and a bit about their content. Use Amazon’s “Look Inside” to browse the top titles. And the fastest way to glean insights into any book is to examine the table of contents. 

The TOC represents the structure and organization of all published books and you’ll want to get yours dialed-in before you spend too much time at the keyboard writing pages. Failing to craft a detailed TOC and to outline your book usually leads only to heartache and rewrites. Whatever kind of book you want to write, the first steps are always the same: research, planning, and outlining.

It’s fine if you’ve been blogging, writing articles, and have captured some of your ideas in the early stages to begin your work. But once you’re ready to get serious about writing a book-length manuscript, it’s time for a serious outline.

A good outline helps you to structure and organize your work. An outline will focus your thoughts, and cover relevant topics, stories, and thought points so you can avoid straying off course. When you create consistency within your ideas, and smooth transitions from chapter to chapter, you’ll be better able to guide your reader toward the experience and outcomes you want them to have.

The two nonfiction categories that I work with most often, are:

•  Prescriptive nonfiction (Business, how-to, health & wellness, self-help, inspirational)

• Teaching memoir (Using your personal story to prescribe solutions for your readers) 

Today, I’ll write about prescriptive nonfiction. This type of nonfiction speaks directly to your readers about their lives. For example, you might offer a new technique for overcoming a particular challenge, a process for working through difficult conversations, or a series of practices intended to complete a project or improve their lives.

Your outline might take a variety of forms, depending on your subject. The number of chapters and sub-topics within each is completely dependent on the topic and your goals and objectives for your book.

Now on to the outline:

Introduction -  The Problem

• This is where you introduce the concept, theme, or problem to be solved. 

You want to give your readers the perspective of what’s possible for them if they read your book, what your readers can expect if they implement your information, how the book is organized, how to use the book, and potential outcomes for your readers. 

Include the parts of your personal story here if it helps the reader understand why they should read it, what it could do for them, and to make you more relatable.

First Chapter – Introducing Your Solution

• This is a great place for your opening story— what life is like before your readers learn the information you are about to explain as the solution. We all love a good story. Stories are engaging — and people remember lessons through story and example. These can be your stories, as well as the stories of others, which you can include to support your thesis.

Think beyond your own personal memories and feelings and begin to craft a journey of transformation that you can offer your readers. 

Next, you’ll want to include the overview of who, what, when, where, why, and how — with details to follow in subsequent chapters. Give your readers what they need to know to move forward. 

Last, each chapter will benefit from a summary along with a transition to the next chapter.

Second Chapter – First Step toward Solution

• For this chapter, choose an opening that shows what happens when your reader does what your book suggests using an overarching theme, with more specific details or subtopics underneath that. Introduce exercises or practices, if applicable, and be sure to end with a summary and transition to the next chapter.

Third Chapter – Second Step toward Solution

• Include another opening story along with a second action toward your book’s solution. Again, introduce the overview of the chapter, along with sub-topics that fit the theme. Add exercises or practices for your reader before summarizing and transitioning to the next chapter.

Fourth Chapter – Third Step toward Solution

• Include another opening story along with more actions for your readers to take  toward your book’s solution. Again, introduce the overview of the chapter, along with sub-topics that fit the theme. Add exercises or practices for your reader before summarizing and transitioning to the next chapter.

Subsequent Chapters – Next Steps toward Solution

• Repeat the structure and organization of your previous chapters as you build toward more effective solutions for your readers.

Conclusion/Last Chapter – How to take what they’ve learned into the world

• How to take what readers have learned into their lives and out into the world. 

Your conclusion should clearly support the chapters preceding it. Make sure the lessons are tied together at the end, and offer suggestions of a bigger picture, or more steps your readers can take from here.

Once you have a solid outline, you can start writing sections or chapters.

You can also use free writing or other right-brain exercises to bring more creativity and unexpected material to your work. Do your revisions chapter-by-chapter. To come back to a chapter months later is almost like starting over, and not very effective.

Try using your own customized outline following the structure I’ve suggested for your nonfiction manuscript to bring it up to the benchmarks of commercially published work. Your editor will breathe a sigh of relief when s/he opens up your document to find a well-structured, well-organized draft that s/he can continue to help you polish to a high shine!

If you have not yet downloaded or read my FREE GUIDE — this is the time! It’s an outline of my coaching framework with helpful info and budgets for your book…And it’s a great way to set a strong foundation for your whole project.

Plan for success...

If you’re not sure if your book is a good idea, or you don’t have a clear plan, schedule a FREE DISCOVERY CALL with me to see how I can help.