Non-fiction books fail, quietly, in one of two ways: they try to say too much, or they never decide who they are for. Both are planning problems, and both are easier to solve before you write than after.
1. Define your reader
Write down, in one or two sentences, exactly who this book is for. Not "anyone interested in business", but "managers who have just been promoted and have never led a team". The narrower the reader, the easier every later decision becomes.
2. Make one clear promise
Complete this sentence: After reading this book, the reader will be able to... or will understand... One promise, stated plainly. Every chapter should serve it, and anything that does not can go.
3. Check there is a gap
Look at the books already on the shelf for your topic. What do they miss? What can you say from your own experience or knowledge that they do not? Your difference does not have to be dramatic, but you do need one.
4. Outline the journey
Think of the book as a route from where the reader is now to where they want to be. Break it into steps, and make each step a chapter. Put the chapters in the order that the reader needs them, not the order in which you thought of them.
A simple shape:
- The problem: why it matters, and why now
- The framework or method: your core idea
- The steps: one chapter for each
- The obstacles: what goes wrong, and how to deal with it
- The next step: where the reader goes from here
5. Give each chapter a job
For every chapter, write one sentence: By the end of this chapter, the reader will... If you cannot finish the sentence, the chapter is not ready or not needed.
6. Plan the pieces inside each chapter
Decide in advance how a typical chapter will work. For example: an opening story, the main idea, an example, a practical exercise and a short summary. A consistent pattern helps readers, and it makes writing faster.
7. Decide on length
A book does not need to be long to be valuable. A focused book that delivers its promise will be better received than a padded one. Fix a rough target for the whole book, and divide it between the chapters.
8. Write one chapter and test it
Before you write the rest, write one chapter and share it with a person in your target readership. Ask what was clear, what was missing and what they would do next. It is the cheapest feedback you will ever get.
Examples, stories and exercises
Readers finish books that help them, and they remember books that show them. For each chapter, decide what your example, your story and your exercise will be. A story gives the idea a human shape, an example shows it in use, and an exercise lets the reader try it. You will not need all three in every chapter, but a book with none of them can feel abstract.
Using feedback
Show your outline, then your first chapter, to people in your target readership. Ask what they expected, what they would skip, and what is missing. Their answers will tell you whether the plan works before you have written the whole book.
When you are ready to describe the book to readers, how to write a book blurb that sells builds on the same reader and promise. If you would prefer to talk it through with a writer, see how ghostwriting works.
Where it can go wrong
- Writing for yourself rather than for the reader
- Including everything you know
- Overloading chapters with several ideas
- Skipping the examples
Our book writing service can help with planning: a chapter-by-chapter outline, a clear reader and a clear promise before a word of the manuscript is written.
Want to know where your book stands?
Submit your manuscript for a free book review: the whole book, or at least the first three chapters. We'll read it and send you our feedback. There's no obligation.