How to Map Out Your Book from Start to Finish

A lot of people ask me how to begin creating the structure of a nonfiction book. I like to begin by creating a table of contents for a book. Once I have this, I can then create the content for those chapters. However, often I can do both of these activities at the same time. To accomplish this, I suggest spending time on a mind mapping exercise.

This exercise produces something akin to a book outline. When completed you will possess a “map” of your entire book.

There are many ways to mind map a book. You can purchase mind mapping software or download free programs, like FreeMind. You can use poster board or a white board. You can employs pens, crayons, markers, or sticky notes (which then can be moved around to organize your topics and chapters) for your key-words or phrases. The following process is the most basic; I use it often. I also like doing it with sticky notes rather than pens.

How to mind map your book

1. Get a large, blank piece of paper
2. In the center of the paper, print your book’s topic.  Draw a circle around the keyword or phrase. (For example, if you are writing a book on the topic of how to train dogs, you might use the key-phrase “dog training.”
3. Draw a line from your key word and write down the first word or phrase that pops into your mind. (For example, “stay.”) Circle the word or phrase. This is a sub-topic that may become a chapter in your book.
4. Now draw a line from that word and jot down the next word that comes to mind (For example, “tips.”) This represents a sub-sub topic, or a subhead in your chapter.
5. Repeat step four until you’ve run out of word associations.
6. Now, return to your key word or key phrase and repeat the exercise. Come up with another sub-topic, then as many word associations (sub-sub topics) with that sub-topic as possible, and then move on to another.
7. Continue until you have created 10 to 15 sub-topics, each with several sub-sub-topics.

Now, take the related sub-topics and sub-sub-topics and arrange them into a table of contents for your book. It will look like this:

Book Topic (or title and subtitle)

Chapter 1       Sub-Topic

Sub-sub-topic

Sub-sub-topic

Sub-sub-topic

Sub-sub-topic

Chapter 2       Sub-Topic

Sub-sub-topic

Sub-sub-topic

Sub-sub-topic

Sub-sub-topic

If you took the extra step of creating key word sentences, it will look like this:

Book Topic (or title and subtitle)

Chapter 1       Sub-Topic

Sub-sub-topic

Key word sentence

Sub-sub-topic

Key word sentence

Once you have your table of contents and your content mapped out, the structure of your nonfiction book lies clearly before you. You are ready to begin writing. Doing so should be quick and easy with this guide.

Note: This blog post was adapted from an excerpt taken from How to Evaluate Your Book for Success, A Step-by-Step Workbook for Conceiving a Successful Book Before You Give Birth to It.