Who would want to build a house without a plan?
Similarly, writing a book requires a plan. This plan is called a book outline.
A book outline is a road map that guides an author on how to structure ideas coherently.
Creating book outlines is fun, but not everyone is a skilled writer.
I always advocate that if you are not skilled and feel like outsourcing any part of the writing process to a ghostwriter, spend a few bucks and save your time.
However, if you wish to grow your writing skills, stick around this blog post as I reveal to you my book outlining secret blueprint.
The focus of this blog is to show you how to outline nonfiction books under the problem-solving, how-to-do or self-help catergory of nonfiction.
I assume that before you outline a book, you must have generated ideas beforehand. If not, take some time to generate ideas before you begin the outlining process. You can check here on how to generate ideas for a book.
For nonfiction books, I recommend two types of orders. The topical order and the problem-solution order.
Topical order.
It is outlining a book in a order of preference or in a logical sequence. That is putting ideas in a way that will give readers a memorable experience as they sail through with you.
It follows the popular pattern of a speech outline: introduction, body and conclusion.
For example:
Back to our example of racism in football, outlining could follow this pattern:
Point 1. Introduce an icebreaker to wet the appetite of the readers.
It could be a story, or a rhetorical question aimed at grabbing the attention of your readers.
- I will share a flesh and blood experience of racism in football
- I will include a few statistics of people who have suffered racial abuse in the past.
- I will include some negative consequences of racism in football.
Point 2. Define the purpose of your book.
If it is a problem you wish to solve, amplify it. The trick here is to tickle the emotion of readers to continue reading further.
- I will state why racism in football is still a problem today.
- I will share stories of actual life experiences to drive my point home
Story 1- it happened to X
Story 2- it happened to Y
- I will make a promise that reading this book will meet their needs.
Point 3: Introduce the new concepts you promised in the introduction.
List all the solutions to the problem using concrete examples, stories, analogies , visuals and data.
Examples
Analogies
Visuals
Stories
Point 4: Explain how everything fits together.
State more examples and testimonies of success in your process.
Point 5: Drive your point home.
Restate your main idea
Call to action
Problem- Solution order.
Ordering your ideas in such a way that the preceding idea explains the previous idea like a lock fitted to its key.
The problem-solution order follows this pattern:
1. State the claim or the problem
2. Support the claim
3. Provide a solution.
For example, if I wish to write a book on how to become an author, here is how I would outline the book.
Claim 1
You do not need to be a writer to be an author
Support your claim
- I will list examples of people who authored books using ghostwriters.
- I will talk about my flesh and blood experiences with authors.
- I will differentiate between writers and authors.
Provide a solution
-I will lead readers on how to work with a ghostwriter.
– I will explain to readers what it takes to publish their own books.
– I will help readers learn how to generate ideas and outline their books.
– I will guide readers on websites, apps and resources on how to revise and edit their own books.
Claim 2
You can take 60 days to complete your book.
Support your claim
- I will share testimonies and stories of people who used my 60 days process to complete their book.
Provide a solution
- I will explain the timeline on how to complete the process in 60 days
- I will explain to the reader their responsibility in ensuring that the process goes on successfully.
Claim 3
You can self-publish your book on Amazon for free.
Support your claims
- I will show them books I have published for free on Amazon KDP.
- I will talk about all the current stats of self-published books on different publishing platforms.
Provide a solution
- I will share stories of my firsthand experience in self publishing.
- I will share the pros and cons of self publishing.
- I will talk about how to get an ISBN
- I will show them how to go about the self-publishing process.
- I will help them with clues, tips and shortcuts to minimize the cost of self publishing.
Notice that each bullet point stated above could stand as a full chapter on its own, or even split into two chapters depending on the bulk of the content you are addressing for that idea.
Taking the case above, your book outline could look like this.
CHAPTER 1
- I will share a flesh and blood experience of racism in football
- I will include a few statistics of people who have suffered racial abuse in the past.
CHAPTRR 2
- I will include some negative consequences of racism in football.
CHAPTER 3
- I will state why racism in football is still a problem today
- –I will make a promise that reading this book will meet their needs.
CHAPTER 4
- I will share stories of actual life experiences to drive my point home
Story 1- it happened to X
Story 2- it happened to Y
CHAPTER 5
- I will share my suggestions to solving the problem
Solution 1
Analogies
Examples
Illustrations
Visuals
CHAPTER 6
Solution 2
Analogies
Examples I will use
Illustrations
Visuals
CHAPTER 7
Solution 3
Analogies
Examples I
Illustrations
Visuals
CHAPTER 8
-I will explain how everything fits together.
CHAPTER 9
I will state more examples and testimonies of success stories of my suggestions.
CHAPTER 10.
I will restate the main points
CHAPTER 11
I will drive my point home.
I will make a call to action.
Conclusion.
I wish to note that outlining a book is not writing the book entirely. It is simply plotting the points to lead your writing process.
Therefore, assigning chapters at the beginning of your book outline is not mandatory.
Secondly, your introduction should be like a sales presentation that urges readers to read further.
For me, I like to transform my introduction into chapter one or even two chapters depending on the bulk of the content.
This is because many people rarely read the introductory part of a book. They dive straight to the table of content and start with a chapter.
However, in deciding whether your introduction should be transformed into chapters, I’d say it’s a matter of preference, and not a rule.
If you need more help on how to outline your book, seek help here. We would help you outline your book.
To your success,
www.sheijini.com.
Shei Jini.
