Part 6 - Cocktail party pitch and North Star check
Now that I have brainstormed chapters and put them in order in a Table of Contents, it’s time to go deeper with outlining the structure of each chapter.
To outline each chapter, identify each of these elements:
- Hook - Getting the reader’s attention. This can be a personal story, historical anecdote, question to reader, or attention grabber.
- Thesis of chapter - Repeated from the table of contents
- Supporting content - List all the key points/evidence for argument/factual content. Be specific. Ordered in a logical way. This is for the reader, not you.
- Stories - These should be specific and highly relevant. Why are stories listed separately in the structure? The “story” is separated from “content” to make them clear in your mind. You will integrate them when you write the chapters.
- Reader’s key takeaway - Summary at the end of the chapter that clearly lays out what the reader needs to take from that chapter.
- Callback to setup and segue - You can call back to a story or wrap something up, but the only requirement is just a link to the next chapter.
Don’t write the book in the outline. The outline tells you what to write.
Once your reader buys the book, your job is not done. You need to continually sell the reader to get them to finish the book. To me, this means frontload the good stuff and continue to deliver value each and every chapter until the end.