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How To Write A Non-Fiction Book Outline In Two Days

April 26, 2019 by Creative Guest Leave a Comment

Writing a non-fiction book can be as challenging as writing fiction, but in different ways. How do you organize all you know in a way that will assist your readers? Esbe van Heerden shares some great tips about a quick method to create a comprehensive and easy-to-use outline.

Outline in 2 daysIf you’re in the early stages of planning out your book, you probably have a really good idea of what you want your book to be about, but when you sit down to write it you feel totally overwhelmed.

You know that all the information on your topic is in your head, but you have no idea where to start or how to put it all down into a logical order.

But what you can already do, is summarize what you’d like your book to be about — what you’d like it to teach others, what you want your readers to get out of it.

Based on this summary, you can reverse engineer exactly what specific information to include in your book so that your readers reach the destination you’d like them to reach by the time they’ve finished reading your book.

That’s why we call this system of outlining your book the Reverse Summary Technique.

This technique can also be used to create the outline to your audiobook, keynote speech and even a course!

I’m going to show you how to create an outline that will be the backbone of your entire book as you go through the writing and editing process — in 2 days.

How You Can Use The Reverse Summary Technique

After using the Reverse Summary Technique, you can easily make:

  • Your sales copy for the blurb on the back of your book and your Amazon sales page
  • A complete working Table of Contents
  • A list of all the points you want to make in each chapter, including back up statements and arguments, and which stories you want to place throughout your book
  • A catalog of materials you want to reference as downloads to gain email opt-ins
  • A guide for exactly what to write as you move into the writing process, and for how to organize your finished book during the editing phase

Lay a solid foundation using the Reverse Summary Technique that will support you, and will make what could be the very difficult steps of writing and editing much easier

The 5 Steps to Using the “Reverse Summary Technique” to Build the Backbone of Your Book

number fiveThere are 5 steps to the Reverse Summary Technique:
Step 1: Summarize your book
Step 2: Breakdown your summary into a Table of Contents
Step 3: Summarize each chapter
Step 4: Break down each summary into supporting points
Step 5: Write out questions that will help prompt you

Step 1: Summarize your book

There are a number of ways you can pull out your book’s summary — below are some prompts to help you really think about what you want your book to achieve in your reader’s lives. Answer any of the following that resonate with you, there is no need to answer all of them as you will find the answers repetitive!

What will your book be about?

  • What is your expertise in?
  • Why are you qualified to talk about this topic?
  • What are you hoping the reader will get out of your book by the end of it?
  • Why would a reader want to pick up your book?
  • What journey will your reader go on?

What are the main ideas and take away points you foresee in your book?

  • Are you trying to convince your readers of a certain view?
  • Are you opening up your reader’s mind to something?
  • Do you want them to know exactly what action steps to take next?
  • What will your audience specifically get by reading your book?
  • Describe how you want your audience to feel at the end of your book, what do you want them to get out of it?
  • How would you want someone, who has read your book, to summarize it to their friends in only a sentence or two?
  • If someone had your book, and a friend asked them what your book was about, how would you want the person to answer? eg. “Jane's book is about…”

woman thinkingUse all of your answers above to get your main ideas for your book. Aim for 3 or 4 main take away points, themes or ideas here.

You may come up with something like this:

My book’s four main takeaways should be:
1. My methodology, what it is and what it means to families.
2. Skills and tools to apply immediately in order to contribute to their loved ones and their own recovery.
3. Understand the family’s role in a loved one’s recovery and what it takes to contribute to recovery.
4. How my philosophy and method brings love alive in their own and their family’s lives and empowers the growth of recovery.

Step 2: Breakdown your summary into a Table of Contents

Now that you have your book summary, take the three main points/takeaways that you came up with, and explain each point in 3 or 4 sentences.

From each of these sentences, there should be a main idea — use these ideas as chapter headings!

For example, you may explain the first point above as follows:

The main takeaway: My methodology, what it is and what it means to families.

The summary: My Methodology is not tough, conditional, or complicated. It is not enabling or steeped in denial. My Methodology is peaceful, clear, based on facts, aware of reality, and willing to quietly risk all for a better tomorrow, while staying grounded in today. This is the most powerful path to walk with a struggling loved one and the most promising. This is My Philosophy.

Take each sentence you used to summarize the takeaway, and pinpoint the main idea — the bolded terms above show the main points, and can be used to make chapter titles, for example:

  1. My Methodology — What Does it Mean?
  2. The Power of Today to Create a Better Tomorrow
  3. The Promise of the Path
  4. My Philosophy

hands on laptop keyboardIf you’d repeated this process for each takeaway point, already, you would have progressed so far from just an idea of the transformation you want your readers to go through, to an established Table of Contents. But we aren’t stopping there!

Step 3: Summarize each chapter

In order to get even more granular, create your supporting arguments by summarizing each chapter. Just as you wrote down a summary of your book in the last step, now do the same for each chapter.

As an example, taking the first chapter from step two:
Chapter 1: My methodology — what does it mean?

Summary: My Methodology is all about walking the loving path from chaos to sanity, it gets you from overwhelmed, worried you’re going to lose your loved one, to a place of control. It’s about selfless love, truly selfless, which is so scary. I want to show you how to take that risk of loving someone selflessly. I want to show you how to use the calendar so that you can continue to be present in order to stay on this path.

Move on to step 4 to see how to use this summary to get your chapter’s supporting arguments.

Step 4: Break down each summary into supporting points

Once you’ve summarized each chapter, find the key arguments and turn them into your main supporting points. In the summary above, these have been bolded.

Turn the key arguments into subheadings, for example, from the summary in Step 3:

  • From Chaos to Sanity
  • Selfless Love
  • How to Take That Risk
  • Use the Calendar

Use these subheadings to easily get into the zone — with them, you’ll never sit down for a writing session just to wonder what you should write about.

To take this one step further, add prompts in the form of questions. Read on to Step 5 to see how. This way, when you go to write each chapter, all you’ll have to do is answer each question you’ve written to get the content to flow from your head. You’ve got the information in there, and now you’ll be asking yourself the right questions.

Step 5: Write out questions that will help prompt you

Smart Phone With Notebook And Cup Of Strong CoffeeFor each point, what would you need to ask yourself in order to talk about that particular point? With each point you want to make, try to write questions that will not only answer what that main point is, but also why that point is important to the reader.

For example, for each point you may ask yourself:

Why does the reader need to know that?

What happens if the reader doesn’t know that, if they tried to do XYZ without that information.

With this question, the answer you’re aiming for will paint how bad it is when the reader doesn’t take your advice, and then paint how good it can be when they do take your advice.

For example, taking Chapter 1 and a couple of its subheadings from the steps above, it might look something like this:

My Methodology — What Does It Mean?

From Chaos to Sanity

  • What is My Methodology?
  • What does it mean to be in chaos? What does that look like for the reader? What does sanity look like?
  • How does My Methodology get the reader from chaos to sanity?
  • Why is it important to have a path that gets you from chaos to sanity?
  • Is there a story I can think about, either in my life or the life of someone I know, that exemplifies what chaos looks like, and how this path helped move someone from there to sanity?

Selfless Love

  • What does it mean to selflessly love? What does that look like?
  • What does selfish love look like?
  • What are some examples of both?
  • Why is it important for the reader to learn what selfless love is, how can it help them on their journey to family recovery?

This entire process will probably take you a few hours, but I recommend coming back to it again in day 2, just in case something comes to you overnight!

Writing questions like will make life so much easier when you come to writing your content. Just by answering the questions you come up with in step 5 in a few paragraphs, suddenly you may have a 50,000-word manuscript, filled with all the important information.

And just as importantly, because it was planned so well from the start, your first draft will also be filled with only the important information.

Planning your book’s outline using the Reverse Summary technique, will allow you to be as efficient as possible in the writing phase, which will make editing a breeze!

It ensures that you don’t repeat information, and don’t have to spend a long time cutting your manuscript back down after you’ve waffled on about things that just don’t matter to your book’s main thesis.

Most importantly, you will never sit down behind your keyboard and draw a blank. You’ve always got your cues waiting for you so that the information will flow through your fingers and onto the page.

[Note from Joanna: You can find lots more help on how to write non-fiction here. ]

Do you outline before you write non-fiction books or articles?

Please leave your thoughts below and join the conversation.

Esbe van HeerdenEsbe van Heerden heads up Author Success over at NonFiction Audiobook, where she’s in this to make a difference, to help you create an audiobook you truly love — one that is one-of-a-kind, unique and brilliantly made by you.

Whether you want your message to reach the masses, whether you’re starting or growing your business, or whether you just want to charge more so you can work less, Esbe is here to help you reach the highest levels of your creative potential and tap into the deepest wisdom within you while she takes care of the complicated processes.

Esbe is an unshakable yeasayer dedicated to helping you make your best audiobook — so that it’s sound and sophistication honors your story within. To find out more about making your audiobook, visit NonfictionAudiobook.com

Maybe There Are Two Separate Muses? Writing Fiction And Non-Fiction From The Heart

September 21, 2018 by Joanna Penn Leave a Comment

I do lots of interviews on other podcasts, but there are some interviewers I really connect with, and Caroline Donohue at The Secret Library Podcast is one of them, so we get really honest in this discussion about writing non-fiction from the heart.

write non fiction from the heartListen to the episode with the player below or click here to subscribe to The Secret Library Podcast on iTunes or Stitcher.

Here are the highlights and the full transcript below. You can read Caroline's notes on the podcast episode here.

  • How to choose a non-fiction subject to write about
  • Two different approaches to tackling writing a non-fiction book
  • Scheduling time to write different books for different author names
  • Exploring all parts of our personalities through writing
  • Leaning into creative direction
  • On turning a blog post into a full-length manuscript
  • Digital age advantages of writing a series of shorter books rather than one tome
  • Using book material in multiple ways
  • Surveying your audience to see what questions they have that you could answer with a book

Check out The Secret Library Podcast website or here on iTunes. You can also connect with Caroline on twitter @carodonohue

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How To Write Non-Fiction: Turn Your Knowledge Into Words. Out Now!

May 31, 2018 by Joanna Penn 3 Comments

My latest book, How to Write Non-Fiction, is out now!

Do you want to write a non-fiction book but don't know where to start? Or perhaps you worry that you're not an expert or have enough authority in your niche to write a book on it?

How to Write Non-Fiction CoverAre you ready to help other people and change your own life with your words?

Available now in ebook, print, Large Print, and Workbook editions. Audiobook coming soon!

AmazonKoboB&N

The first non-fiction book I wrote changed my life back in 2008. Sure, it helped other people, but mostly it altered the course of my life – so much so that 10 years later, I make a living with my writing.

In this book, I'll share everything I've learned along the way and save you time, effort and frustration on your author journey. Watch the video of me talking about what's in the book below, or watch here on YouTube:

 

The book includes:

Part 1. Before You Write: Mindset

  • Why write a non-fiction book?
  • Can I write a book if I'm not an expert?
  • Originality. Or, “there are so many other books on this topic”
  • Who are you? Personal stories and the writer's voice
  • The day a non-fiction book changed my life
  • Fear and self-doubt

Part 2. Before You Write: Business

  • Types of non-fiction books
  • Business models for non-fiction books
  • Who is your book for? Identify your target market
  • Decide on the topic for your book
  • Decide on your book title
  • Your author name and pseudonyms
  • How long does your book have to be?
  • How long will it take to write the book?
  • Your perspective on time
  • Writing a book proposal

how to write non fiction joanna pennPart 3. Writing and Editing

  • Gather and organize existing material
  • Research, interviews, surveys, and social listening
  • Structure and organize the book
  • How to write the first draft
  • How to dictate your book
  • Turn your blog/podcasts/videos/talks into a book
  • Speed, quality and perfectionism
  • Focus and shiny object syndrome
  • Writer's block
  • Co-writing a non-fiction book
  • How to turn a boring book into an engaging read
  • Elements of fiction in non-fiction
  • Does non-fiction have to be true?
  • Legal issues: Using real people, quotes, lyrics, images, and citing sources
  • Self-editing a book
  • How to find and work with professional editors

Part 4. Publishing and Product Creation

  • Your publishing options
  • Use different formats to create multiple streams of income
  • Non-fiction book covers
  • Book formatting for non-fiction
  • Pricing your book
  • Your book sales description
  • Categories and keywords
  • Turn your non-fiction book into a multimedia course
  • Updating your books over time

Part 5. Marketing Non-Fiction

  • Two models of marketing and the importance of mindset
  • Book-centered marketing
  • Paid advertising for non-fiction books
  • Author-centered marketing. The power of a personal brand
  • Build your author website
  • Build an email list
  • Integrate email marketing with your book
  • Content marketing for non-fiction books
  • My non-fiction marketing journey

Conclusion and your next steps.

It's time to (finally) write your non-fiction book!

Available now in ebook, print, Large Print, and Workbook editions. Audiobook coming soon!

AmazonKoboB&N

Also available in a Workbook edition

You can buy a Companion Workbook, which contains all the questions asked in the book and has space for you to write the answers. Click here to buy in print only on Amazon.

write non fiction workbook

Want more! Also available as a multimedia course

write non fiction multimedia courseIf you'd like to take your learning and development further, I have a multimedia course on How to Write Non-Fiction. I'll take you step-by-step through the journey of planning, positioning and writing your book.

Click here to learn more about the course

LIMITED TIME LAUNCH SPECIAL:

Use discount coupon code: LAUNCH on checkout to get US$50 off the full price/payment plan before June 30, 2018. Or just hit reply to this email if you have any questions.

How To Build A Youpreneur Business Around A Personal Brand With Chris Ducker

February 26, 2018 by Joanna Penn 9 Comments

https://media.blubrry.com/thecreativepenn/p/content.blubrry.com/thecreativepenn/Podcast_ChrisDucker0218.mp3

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:07:46 — 55.1MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | TuneIn | Spotify | RSS | More

How do we stand out in a world where everyone can write a book or upload a photo or start a YouTube channel or podcast? How can we share our stories in an authentic manner and still make a living?

Youpreneur Personal brandIn today's show, I discuss the Youpreneur business model with Chris Ducker, where building a business around your personal brand is key. It's certainly how I have built The Creative Penn, so I hope it helps you too!

In the intro, I mention Google's blog post about the next billion internet users changing the internet in three key ways: a mobile-only mindset, an instinct for ubiquitous computing, and a demand for localized content. 

Plus, my personal update on How to Write Non-Fiction.

kobo writing lifeThis podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors.

chris duckerChris Ducker is the bestselling author of Virtual Freedom, and the Founder of Youpreneur.com, a mastermind community for entrepreneurs. He's also an international professional speaker and podcaster. His latest book is Rise of the Youpreneur: The Definitive Guide to Becoming the Go-To Leader in your Industry and Building A Future-Proof Business.

You can listen above or on iTunes or Stitcher or watch the video here, read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.

Show Notes
Rise of the Youpreneur

  • What exactly is a Youpreneur?
  • Recommendations for introverts who are building their personal brand
  • Thinking long-term as an entrepreneur
  • How to identify the community we want to serve
  • Changes in Chris' writing process since ‘Virtual Freedom', including dictation
  • Turning a non-fiction book into multiple streams of income
  • The ongoing importance of live events
  • Previous episode with Chris Ducker on outsourcing – which directly led to me working with wonderful VAs 🙂
  • Why Chris chose to independently publish the book, and the different kinds of decisions he made around the publishing process

You can find Chris Ducker at ChrisDucker.com and on Twitter @ChrisDucker. You can find all the links to the book and more content at: RiseOfTheYoupreneur.com

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Secrets Of A Seven Figure Non-Fiction Indie Author With Joseph Alexander

October 9, 2017 by Joanna Penn 4 Comments

https://media.blubrry.com/thecreativepenn/p/content.blubrry.com/thecreativepenn/Podcast_JosephAlexander1017.mp3

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:05:59 — 53.0MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | TuneIn | Spotify | RSS | More

The path to successful self-publishing can come in many forms. Joseph Alexander went from teaching guitar in person to writing 40+ books on learning how to play the guitar, scaling his business and reaching a global market, primarily through print books. In today's show, he shares his secrets.

guitar non fictionIn the intro, I mention Amazon KDP's launch of X-Ray for Authors and Google's AI-powered translation in the Pixel phone.

Lots of writing news! Now available for pre-order – The Healthy Writer: Reduce your Pain, Improve your Health, and Build a Writing Career for the Long Term now PLUS/ Map of Shadows, a Mapwalker dark fantasy thriller also out on pre-order, and my story The Dark Queen out in the Feel The Fear anthology.

JoannaPennaudiobooksToday’s show is sponsored by my non-fiction audiobooks, How to Market a Book Third Edition, Business for Authors, How to Make a Living with your Writing and The Successful Author Mindset, available now on Audible. If you need some more inspirational audio that will give you actionable tips to make more money with your books AND stay sane while doing it, check them out here!

joseph alexanderJoseph Alexander is a musician and the author of over 40 books on playing the guitar.

You can listen above or on iTunes or Stitcher or watch the video here, read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.

Show Notes

  • Feeling self-doubt and writing prescriptive books anyway
  • guitarTips for writing non-fiction successfully
  • Why Joseph chose to write books vs. doing video courses
  • On print books and pricing
  • Book marketing tips, including email list building fundamentals
  • On co-writing, being a small publishing house, and a tight release schedule
  • The tipping point to becoming a 7 figure author

You can find Joseph Alexander at Fundamental-Changes.com and on Twitter @guitar_joseph

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Most of the information on this site is free for you to read, watch or listen to, but The Creative Penn is also a business and my livelihood. So please expect hyperlinks to be affiliate links in many cases, when I receive a small percentage of sales if you wish to purchase. I only recommend tools, books and services that I either use or people I know personally. Integrity and authenticity continue to be of the highest importance to me. Read the privacy policy here. I hope you find the site useful! Thanks - Joanna

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Most of the information on this site is free for you to read, watch or listen to, but The Creative Penn is also a business and my livelihood. So please expect hyperlinks to be affiliate links in many cases, when I receive a small percentage of sales if you wish to purchase. I only recommend tools, books and services that I either use or people I know personally. Integrity and authenticity continue to be of the highest importance to me. Read the privacy policy here. Read the Cookie policy here. I hope you find the site useful! Thanks - Joanna

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