Background: How did you come up with the idea for the book and why do you think it was needed in the first place?
Ex. We came up with a book , “How to write a self-help book” for we saw that there was no concrete framework or guideline available.
Relevance: What kind of a reader should read this book and how will this book be beneficial to the person?
Ex. A subject matter expert who is interested in becoming an author would like to know how a book can be written. It will help the person find the relevant elements to include and the process to follow.
Core concepts: What are the main ideas, theories, models, principles, methods, etc. on which you have based your book?
Ex. It covers concepts of storytelling, empathy, principles of writing, author development framework, and so on.
Benefits: What ways will your reader be benefitted personally, professionally, socially, physically, mentally, emotionally, etc.?
Ex. A reader would be able to write a self-help book to find professional success. The experience of writing would be transformational and would make a person better at managing and using emotions for good. The person will develop empathy and learn how to use one’s experiences and skills to create knowledge to help the world.
Evidences: What is the proof that your methods or concepts discussed in the book actually work in practice?
Ex. The framework offered has been tested by the author when writing books for others as well as has been introduced to her students who have successfully completed and published their books.
Author’s potential: Does author carry the relevant knowledge, experience, and skills to help the reader in the area?
Ex. The author has more than 15 years of experience in writing and is an author of several books. She is also a trainer and has trained many writers across the globe on content writing, business writing, and book writing. She has worked with close to 100 companies to create website content, training documents, and eBooks for them.
Outcome: What change will reader experience after completing the book and how will it affect one’s life?
Ex. A reader would be able to convert knowledge into a book and complete writing it within 60 days. The book will be unique and of high quality, enough to get a publisher. The book will be published and launched on popular platforms like Amazon that will create a personal brand for the reader. The reader would be respected as an expert of the topic in the industry and would be sought by others seeking advice in the arena.
Inclusions: What key content is included in the book? Does it contain theories, models, stories, examples, case studies, frameworks, etc.?
Ex. The book contains descriptions, logical explanations, writing principles, worksheets, practice assignments, visuals, and elements of a diary that author can maintain to capture book ideas.
Flow: How is the book structured? How are chapters connected to each other? How is an individual chapter shaped and why?
Ex. The book begins with concepts and then gives exercises. It then takes the reader through examples and provides a worksheet to practice. At the end is provided a diary with sections to document ideas, record research findings, maintain industry vocabulary, and so on.
In our courses and workshops, we cover these elements in detail but for now, if you are planning to write a book, you can keep this list in mind when writing your introduction chapter. It doesn’t matter in what sequence or ways you over these elements but cover them all in your introduction if you want to give your reader all the reasons to continue reading your book as these are essential elements. There can also be some hooking elements to engage readers and advanced elements to add more perks but they are not in the scope of this article
If you want us to help you discover more and become an author, join our next live demo and find out what we can do for you.