Write Your Book in Under 30 Days: A Sample Book Outline

Outlining Your Book

You may have heard the phrase "measure twice, and cut once." It's an old saying of tailors advising how to avoid mistakes and get your best results as quickly as possible.

And so it is when writing your book.

The more your plan out the topics of your book and its structure, the easier it will be to write. The best news it that you don't need to hire an expensive company to help you write your book.

The outline I've shared is discussed at length below.

Write the Future Course is Online Now

If you should feel you need more information and guidance on writing your book, I am excited to announce that The Futurist Institute has released a course titled Write the Future to help leaders write their books about the future to share their vision and build their brand.

Sharing A Sample Outline

In order to help you measure twice and just cut once, this article includes a sample outline.

I call that book, The Future of Squirrels.

But it's an outline for a book that doesn't exists.

I haven’t written a book about the future of squirrels; nor do I intend to.

But maybe someone, somewhere, someday will write it.

Until then, the concept of The Future of Squirrels as a book is my own template when writing a book.

If you end up hiring a project manager, share this with them. And then just substitute the word squirrel for whatever your subject matter is — and for whatever topics your target audience would like to read about.

I know you may think that writing a book should be a Kantian-level lofty endeavor.

But it most certainly need not be.

Your Goal: Write a Practical and Useful Book

Writing something practical and useful can have a material impact in helping others. And that, in turn, is likely to be a benefit to you.

Don’t get me wrong.

I love reading books with big ideas — especially for pleasure reading.

But this book is about helping you share your vision of the future to build your brand and elevate your leadership visibility in under 30 days.

Don't Write Game of Thrones

The first George R.R. Martin book in the Song of Ice and Fire series, on which the HBO TV show Game of Thrones is largely based, was published in 1996 — 24 years ago.

And there are still two books left that haven’t been published yet.

If you’re writing a book to be seen as a technology, business, or management expert, I imagine you don’t want your audience to wait two and a half decades for the punchline.

And surely you would much rather share and monetize any innovative visions you have about the future of your industry or technology long before they actually have time to fully come to fruition.

Am I right?

In short, you need to get your book done with speed and agility and not get mired in your idea of what a book is supposed to be.

Don’t overthink the importance of your project.

It’s formulaic.

Outline for The Future of Squirrels

I now want to share with you the outline for my fictitious nonfiction tome, The Future of Squirrels.

So, here it is:

Table of Contents for The Future of Squirrels

The Future of Squirrels

I. Overview / The Beginning / What I’m Going to Tell You

 1. Preface

 2. Introduction

 3. The Importance of Squirrels

II. The Past of Squirrels / The Middle — Part 1 / Tell It

 4. Ancestors 

 5. Migration

 6. Evolving Diets and Habitats

III. The Present of Squirrels / The Middle — Part 2 / Tell It

 7. Red Squirrels

 8. Gray Squirrels

 9. Fox Squirrels

 10. Flying Squirrels

IV. The Future of Squirrels / The Middle — Part 3 / Tell It

 11. Geography and Urban Density

 12. Predator Risks and Land Encroachment

 13. Urbanization and Driverless Cars

 14. Overpopulation Ahead?

 15. Pandemic Vector Risks After COVID-19

 16. Climate Change Disruptions

V. Looking Ahead / The End / Here’s What I Told You

 17. Unavoidable Outcomes?

 18. Becoming a Change Agent

 19. Conclusion

 20. Bio, Author Info, Publisher Info

Structure of the Book

The beginning of the book should be pretty clear.

You could just as easily substitute any word for squirrels in section 1, chapter 3, and it would fit. 

The end of the book should be clear as well. To write on any subject, you don’t need to change a word at all.

As for the “meaty middle” of the book. That includes three sections about the past, present, and future of squirrels. You may need to make more substitutions to get to a solid outline here.

But you get the point:

You need to break down your book into easily digestible, easily consumable, and — most importantly — easily writable sections.

Page Count and Work Count

In terms of book structure, I like to preemptively pick the page count; that way I have a goal to work toward as I’m writing, rather than leaving the length of the book open-ended.

For me, the preferred page count is 180 pages.

That shakes out to about 30,000 words the way I write and given the font, font size, and format I use.

It’s a page count that I know I can get done before I get overcome with boredom, and with 20 chapters in The Future of Squirrels, that means each chapter needs to average only about nine pages.

In fact, it’s usually much less than that with different pages being left blank.

It Sounds Easy

When I share this outline with people, I invariably get the same response. And I imagine you’re probably thinking the same thing.

People often say something like:

“You make it sound so easy. I bet I could write that book.”

And you know what? They’re right on both counts.

First, it absolutely is that easy. Furthermore, using this kind of outline template to write your book — the book in which you share your vision for the future with the world — should also be that easy.

Second, they absolutely could write The Future of Squirrels.

You could too!

But if you do, I just kindly ask that you give me a shout-out in the preface — and maybe send me a signed copy.   

Write the Future — Previous Articles

In case you are writing along this month with me, here are the articles I've shared so far to help you write your book in under 30 days:

• Writing Schedule on Day 1 — https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/how-write-your-book-under-30-days-writing-schedule-day-jason-schenker/
• Publication Schedule on Days 2 to 5 — https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/write-your-book-under-30-days-publication-schedule-2-5-jason-schenker/
• Identifying Your Audience — https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/write-your-book-under-30-days-identifying-audience-jason-schenker/
• The Audience of One — https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/write-your-book-under-30-days-audience-one-jason-schenker/
• The Secret Formula — https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/how-write-your-book-under-30-days-secret-formula-jason-schenker/
• Picking a Book Cover and Title — https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/write-your-book-under-30-days-picking-cover-title-jason-schenker/
• How Can a 30 Day Book Not be Junk? — https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/write-your-book-under-30-days-how-can-day-junk-jason-schenker/
• Building a Team with a Hype Man - https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/write-your-book-under-30-days-building-team-hype-man-jason-schenker/

Write the Future

This article draws on content from Jason Schenker's book Write the Future, which was released on 24 June 2020.

Write the Future is online here: www.WriteTheFutureBook.com

Jason Schenker is one of the world's leading futurists. He is the Chairman of The Futurist Institute and the President of Prestige Economics. He is also an instructor for LinkedIn Learning.

Tags: #Disruption, #Technology, #Innovation, #Business, #Finance, #Strategy, #Career, #Economy, #Economics, #LinkedInLearning, #Coronavirus, #COVID19, #Leadership, #Future, #Futurist, #BecomeAFuturist, #ContentMarketing, #Management

Image sources: Adobe Stock