![The template open in Strokes: the title “Book outline: [Working title]”, then a “The book in brief” box and a “See an example” box.](/_next/image?url=%2F_next%2Fstatic%2Fmedia%2Fhero-light.73ace3fb.webp&w=3840&q=75)
![The template open in Strokes: the title “Book outline: [Working title]”, then a “The book in brief” box and a “See an example” box.](/_next/image?url=%2F_next%2Fstatic%2Fmedia%2Fhero-dark.ef9c8f81.webp&w=3840&q=75)
When to use it
- Planning a how-to, self-help, business or idea-driven book before you draft
- Writing the chapter summaries for a nonfiction book proposal
- Testing whether the chapter order builds before there are 60,000 words to move
- Tracking the stories, studies and interviews each chapter still needs
- Rescuing a draft that has lost its argument by outlining what is already on the page
How to use this template
- Write the big idea before any chapter
The big idea is the book's argument in one sentence, and it should be a claim someone could disagree with. "Community gardens" is a subject. "A community garden lasts when it is organized around people before plants" is an idea, and it already tells you which chapters belong. Under it, write the promise: what the reader can do or understand by the last page that they can't today. If neither sentence will come, you are not ready for chapters. Read, talk to the people you are writing for, and come back.
- Describe one reader and their problem
Picture one person: a nurse three years into the job, say, or a first-time manager. Write their problem the way they would put it to a friend, what they have already tried, and what made them go looking for a book this month. Then list two to four comp titles, recent books this reader already owns. They show you what the reader has already been told, so your chapters can skip it and spend the space on what is new.
- Fill the chapter table, one claim per row
Write each key point as a full sentence that makes a claim, not a topic label. In the stories and evidence column, name the actual material: the client you will interview, the study you read last spring, the mistake you made in your first year. A blank cell is useful information. Copy it into the research table, where it becomes a task with a source and a status. The takeaway is what the reader can do or understand once the chapter is over, in their terms rather than yours.
- Plan the opening, the ending and the extras
Sketch the introduction now and draft it last, once you know what the book actually delivers. The conclusion returns to the opening story and hands the reader one first step. List the front and back matter too. Most of it is written at the end, but two items need lead time: a foreword, which someone else writes on their own schedule, and the notes, which are miserable to rebuild if you don't record sources as you research.
Why outline a nonfiction book first
Nonfiction rewards outlining more than fiction does. A novelist who discovers the story while drafting still ends up with a story. A nonfiction author who discovers the argument while drafting tends to end up with chapters that repeat each other, evidence spread thin across the middle, and a conclusion that promises more than the book delivered. In an outline, each of those problems is a row in a table. In a draft, it is 6,000 words of prose.
The outline also does a second job. Traditionally published nonfiction is usually sold on a proposal, and the proposal's chapter summaries come straight from this table: the key point, the material and the takeaway, written out as a paragraph per chapter. The book proposal template picks up where this one stops, and the guide to writing a book proposal covers the rest of the package.
Set a target length while you outline, because it decides how many rows the table needs. Josh Bernoff, an author and book coach who works with nonfiction writers, puts a typical nonfiction book at 40,000 to 80,000 words in a post on chapter length, and describes two common chapter patterns, with an awkward but workable middle.
| Kind of book | Chapters | Words per chapter | Bernoff's example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kind of bookHow-to | ChaptersMany, short | Words per chapterAbout 1,000–2,000 | Bernoff's exampleWriting Without Bullshit: 25 chapters, about 57,000 words |
| Kind of bookBig idea, business | ChaptersAbout 8–15 | Words per chapterLong (5,000–9,000 in his example) | Bernoff's exampleGroundswell (co-written): 12 chapters, about 65,000 words |
| Kind of bookIn between | ChaptersAbout 16 | Words per chapterAbout 3,500 | Bernoff's exampleHis hypothetical: 16 chapters, 56,000 words |
Whichever pattern you choose, keep chapter lengths roughly even. Readers settle into a rhythm, and a 2,000-word chapter next to a 9,000-word one reads like a mistake unless the reason is obvious.
Test the chapter order
An outline gets finished twice: once when every chapter has a row, and again when the rows are in the right order. The second pass is the one people skip. Run these checks on the table before you draft. They take minutes.
- Read only the takeaway column. Top to bottom, it should sound like a short version of the book, each line building on the one before. If two lines say the same thing, merge those chapters.
- Check what each chapter depends on. List the ideas and terms a chapter needs. If chapter 6 relies on a framework you introduce in chapter 9, one of them moves.
- Swap two neighbors. If chapters 4 and 5 can trade places and nothing breaks, they are not building on each other. That is fine in a modular book. In an argument, it usually means the order hasn't been decided yet.
- Find the first payoff. Readers bought the book for their problem. Count the pages of background that stand between them and the first thing they can use. History and definitions can often shrink to a few paragraphs inside the chapters that need them.
- Scan the evidence column. A row with only stories may not convince anyone, and a row with only data may not hold attention. Most chapters want both.
Big idea: A community garden lasts when it is organized around people before plants.
First order: 1. A short history of community gardens. 2. Why gardens fail. 3. Finding land. 4. Soil and beds. 5. Recruiting members. 6. Rules and dues. 7. Handling conflict.
What the checks found: Chapter 1 has no takeaway a reader can use. Chapter 2 blames failing gardens on thin membership and vague rules, then makes the reader sit through two chapters on land and soil before the book says anything about either. And the order itself contradicts the big idea: people arrive after land and soil.
Second order: 1. Why gardens fail in year two. 2. Recruiting the first ten members. 3. Finding land with a list of names in hand. 4. Rules, dues and the waiting list. 5. Soil and beds. 6. Handling conflict. The history became two paragraphs in the introduction.
A filled-in book outline example
The garden book's chapter table, after the reorder, starts like this:
| Chapter | Key point | Stories and evidence | Takeaway |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chapter1. Why gardens fail in year two | Key pointGardens rarely fail over soil. They fail when members drift away and the rules were never agreed. | Stories and evidenceTwo closed gardens, interviews with their founders | TakeawayThe three warning signs to watch for |
| Chapter2. Recruiting the first ten members | Key pointRecruit members before you look for land, because a list of names is what persuades a landowner. | Stories and evidenceTwo founders, the parks department officer | TakeawayA sign-up sheet and a script |
| Chapter3. Finding land with a list of names in hand | Key pointLandowners say yes to a group with members and a plan, and rarely to a lone request for a plot. | Stories and evidenceA church that lent its back lot, a city lease that fell through | TakeawayA one-page pitch for landowners |
Written as topics, row 2 would read "Members," "Research" and "How to recruit people," which tells you nothing about what to write.
Writing fiction or memoir instead?
This template is built for books that argue, teach or explain. For a novel, use the novel outline template, or the chapter outline template to plan chapter by chapter. Memoir is shaped by scenes more than claims, so the memoir outline template fits it better. History and biography work fine here: use the key point column for what each chapter reveals.
Frequently asked questions
How detailed should a nonfiction book outline be?
Detailed enough that every chapter has a claim, the stories and evidence that carry it, and a takeaway. A row per chapter, plus a few bullet points where a chapter is complicated, is usually enough. If you are writing finished paragraphs, you have started drafting.
How many chapters should a nonfiction book have?
It depends on chapter length. Book coach Josh Bernoff notes that many business and big-idea books have 8 to 15 chapters (his co-written Groundswell has 12, of 5,000 to 9,000 words each), while how-to books suit short chapters of 1,000 to 2,000 words. Pick one pattern, keep chapters roughly even, and check what your comp titles do.
Can I outline a book I have already drafted?
Yes, and it is one of the best ways to revise. Fill in the chapter table from what each chapter actually says, not what you meant it to say, then run the order checks. Repeated key points and empty evidence cells show up quickly.
Should I write the introduction of a nonfiction book first?
Plan it first and write it last. The outline's introduction plan (opening story, the problem and its cost, the promise, why you, a map of the book) keeps the chapters aimed at the promise. The finished introduction has to describe the book you actually wrote, and you only know that at the end.
