About a month ago I promised that we were working on some new resources for you. We’ve been chugging along behind the scenes and I’m happy to say that today we’re launching our book outline template.
If you’re writing a book, the importance of an outline can’t be denied. The benefits are just too numerous to ignore: you’ll improve your book’s continuity, you won’t have to fight writer’s block as much (because your next chapter is mapped out!), the writing will almost inevitably be faster, and it frees you up to actually spend time on the craft versus the what of the book.
Not all outlines are created equally, though. Today, we’re releasing our non-fiction template. We also have a fiction template available.
It’s all set up in Google Docs for you. Click the button above, fill out the short form, and you’ll be emailed a link to a view-only Google Doc. (We ask for your phone number only for our internal records; we will not sell it to a junk call/text company.)
You’ll copy/paste the template into your own Docs and get working. What I love about this outline is that it includes the front and end matter that’s often so annoying to put together — introduction, acknowledgements, notes, etc.
This book outline template also helps you map out nearly every paragraph of the important stuff — your content! Use as much or as little outlining as you like, but you should definitely, at the very least, have an idea of the main thrust of each chapter and how to get there.
Give it a shot. Even if you’ve only been noodling with the idea of writing a book, this tool can help crystallize your idea and catalyze your motivation. If you’ve been writing for ages and don’t seem to be making headway, an outline can give you the push you need to finally finish.
Either way, I hope it’s a great help for your writing process.