Hey there! I’m your author coach Candice L Davis and this is Nothing but the Words.
In the previous episode, I made my case for why you should outline your nonfiction book. IN this episode, I want to give you some practical ways to do that without a lot of stress.

We’ll talk about what to include in your outline and 5 tools that can help you get it done. And you only need one of them.

I just got off the phone with a new coaching client who’s so excited about writing her book that she already has momentum. Part of the reason she’s so ready is because she’s been keeping notes for her book on her phone for the last year. She knew she wasn’t ready to write it yet in 2019, but she kept track of her ideas and the questions she wanted to answer so now that she’s ready to write, she has a lot to work with.

If you’re in that position, if you know it’s not time to write your book yet but it will be soon, I highly recommend you follow her example and jot down those ideas and questions as they come to you. Just make sure, wherever you’re taking notes, you’re backing it up.

Let’s start with 3 things you should keep in mind when you create your outline.

If you’re not sure what to include in your outline

Keep in mind:

  1. Who you’re writing for

  2. What you want your readers—your one perfect reader--to get from your book

  3. What kind of book you’re writing

What to include in your outline depends on what kind of book you’re writing.

Let’s look at some examples of how you might outline each kind of nonfiction book.

How-to books – 

Often broken down by steps

List the steps, 

Underneath each step list any baby steps

List the questions your readers will have that you’ll answer.

List the frequently asked questions for each step for each step, 


Memoir – Personal or professional (Coaching client story, each chapter is a different Air Force base)

Each chapter might be a time period in your life or written around a specific theme

Make a list of major time periods

List the events 

List the insights

Subject-Matter Expert – 

Each chapter might be a subtopic

In each chapter, you can niche down to subtopics, so list those

in each chapter list any stories or case studies you want to include.


Those are just examples. The beauty of writing your own book is that you get to design your outline. And if you’re really stuck and don’t know where to start, jump on Amazon, or even better, head to a local bookstore or library and look through books in your genre. 

They don’t even have to have the same subject matter as your book. You’re not going to copy their structure. You’re just looking for inspiration. 

Examine their table of contents. Flip through the chapters and see how they’re structured. Keep your topic in mind.

Finally, I want to Share some Practical tools for Outlining

  1. Just make a list—Bullet points

  2. Mind-Mapping

But after you mind-map, put it into order 

  1. Post-It Notes (Client story- VIP day)

  2. Trello (as digital post-it notes)) (Client story – Video VIP day_

  3. Bonus Tool: Scrivener (traditional outline, index cards, easy to move around and creates a document within the document for each one)

Thanks for listening to Nothing but the Words, if you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts so you never miss an episode.

I’m your Author Coach Candice L Davis, and I’ll see you next time.