The idea you’re excited about, that other people seem to be interested in, and that you’re convinced could be a bestseller, is almost never a full book. It’s a chapter or two, at best.

A typical nonfiction book is 40,000 to 60,000 words. So, you’re going to have to take that idea and develop it, test it, stretch it, and support it from multiple angles. If you don’t do that work, what you usually end up with is a collection of loosely-related chapters that all orbit the same theme, but never really build on one another.

That’s not inherently wrong; there are plenty of books where each chapter is an individual topic loosely connected to the book’s idea. Morgan Housel’s “The Psychology of Money,” for example, is a collection of blog posts that has sold more than 10 million copies! But in general, it doesn’t make for a great book, and readers can tell when you’re adding irrelevant chapters just to hit a word count.

Organizing your idea means figuring out all the different aspects of it that will be helpful and interesting to talk about. You’ll start by breaking it down into separate sections and chapters. This will eventually be your table of contents, but it doesn’t have to be yet. Right now, it can just be scribbles and notes in your phone. It’s breaking down your idea into its most basic concepts.

In my experience helping new authors, many either skip or struggle with this step. You’re excited. You’re in a hurry. You’re already thinking about the title and the cover, and you’re hoping you can have everything finished in time for Christmas so everyone will buy copies as gifts and you’ll be rich and famous. You’ll quit your job and buy a cute vacation home somewhere secluded, where you’ll write all your future books.

Slow down. We’re not even sure we have enough for a book yet. If this thing is going to be as good as you think it is, you’ve got to keep drilling until you know there’s oil there. There’s no official rule, but just as a reference, once I’m certain of my topic, I give myself a minimum of 4 weeks, but usually 3 months, to organize my idea before I type a word. There’s simply no good reason to rush it.

Let’s revisit our book on parenting, which evolved into a book on how technology is changing modern life. What are some of the big topics or questions related to this topic? Off the top of my head, I can think of a few:

• What is the history of technology? 
• What does technology actually mean? 
• What are examples of technology and its adoption in history?
• Roads were a technological advancement, and so were trains. Are we considering things like that, or are we talking more about computers? 
• How has technology changed in the last 50 to 100 years?

That’s interesting to me. So that could be one major section of the book. What are some others?

• How does modern technology affect our lives?
• Are smartphones good for our mental health?
• Does a shorter attention span make it harder to succeed?
• What about reading?
• What has ease and convenience done for our personal development?
• How much is the success of our economy based on getting people addicted to their phones?

I think there’s something there, so we can write that in for now. Here’s another thought:

• What rules should we set for our personal technology use?
• Should teenagers have smartphones?
• Should we monitor browsing history?
• How much screen time is acceptable?

I’ve given this hypothetical book about 60 seconds of thought, so I’m not saying these are great ideas, but I think you see the point. How can you break up your compelling idea into smaller, still compelling, ideas or questions?

Based on the examples above, my first draft of an outline might look something like this:

Section 1: The History of Technology
Section 2: Society and Modern Technology
Section 3: How To Have a Healthy Relationship With Technology 

That’s not bad. It’s not great either, but it’s a start. I will certainly need to work on the language to make it more appealing—this is a book, not a research paper. But you get the point. I will hit some roadblocks. Something I thought was interesting will not be, and other things will surprise me. I’ll also get a brilliant idea when I’m 75% finished that will make me go back and rework things. This is all part of the process.

With my sections sketched out, I could pencil in some chapter ideas underneath. If I can come up with five chapters for each section, I will have a 15 to 17 chapter book including the introduction and conclusion, and if each chapter has 2,500 to 3,000 words, I will have a 40,000- to 50,000-word manuscript. Not bad.

What you do next is up to you. Every author has a different process. You can start writing a first draft for some of the ideas now that you have a little structure. You can start researching and reading books now that you have a list of topics to explore. You can test the ideas if you want. These are all good next steps, but I do something different. I write an introduction.

Challenge:

Make a list of interesting questions and observations about your book idea. Use the example in this chapter as a reference.

Create three to four sections for your book. These are the three to four ways you’re going to prove your point or teach the lesson you’re trying to convey with your book.