Writing A Book Proposal - Step One Table Of Conents

Step one: The Table of Contents. Notice I didn’t start with the title, because titles are subject to change as the book progresses. So for that matter is the table of contents, but you start with a list of what you want to put into the book. You start with an introduction (which is where you can fit in a bit of your autobiography). You list chapter headings. You don’t list pages because you actually won’t know pages until you have pages and even then pages change when you go from the computer to the book. You actually reduce the number of pages by 1/3rd. Here’s the most important bit of information about chapter headings especially in non-fiction books. They should be stand alone catchy. The best chapter heading I ever wrote was for “Suzy Prudden’s One Stop Diet Revolution.” The chapter was “Why Sex And Exercise Are Best In The Morning.” I cannot tell you how many comments we got on that chapter which is actually about the lymphatic system. When a buyer (and remember it’s all about sales) comes in contact with your book there will be certain touch points. The cover, your name and reputation, the title and the table of contents. Your books stands a much better chance of selling if all of those ducks are lined up beautifully right from the beginning but I’ll get to cover and title last. This part is about Table of Contents. Spend time with those chapter headings. Get clever. It will pay dividends later.