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Self-help book outline template

A self-help outline names the reader's problem, explains why it happens, states one core idea, and turns that idea into three steps. It then deals with what goes wrong, shows the whole method worked through once, and ends on how to keep doing it.

A tangled problem becomes a path through three practical steps toward a lasting habit.

When to use it

  • You have a method you teach and want it in book form.
  • Your draft is all advice and no argument. The core idea chapter is the argument.
  • Readers ask what to do when it stops working. Plan that chapter now.

The 10 chapters at 55,000 words

The marks assume 55,000 words, because self-help books usually run 45,000 to 65,000 words. Each chapter starts at an even share of the whole; yours will run longer or shorter. The story structure calculator works them out for any length.

  1. The Problem 0% · word 0 Name the reader’s problem better than they can.
  2. Why It Happens 10% · word 5,500 The cause, so the fix is not arbitrary.
  3. The Core Idea 20% · word 11,000 The one thing this book is actually saying.
  4. First Step 30% · word 16,500 The smallest action that starts it.
  5. Second Step 40% · word 22,000 What builds on the first.
  6. Third Step 50% · word 27,500 What makes it stick.
  7. Common Obstacles 60% · word 33,000 What goes wrong, and what to do then.
  8. Putting It Together 70% · word 38,500 The whole thing, worked through once.
  9. Keeping It Going 80% · word 44,000 How it survives contact with an ordinary week.
  10. Conclusion 90% · word 49,500 What changes if they do it.

A worked example

Ten-Minute Mornings, for people who have failed at every morning routine.

  1. The Problem. You have tried routines. You keep them for nine days.
  2. Why It Happens. Routines are built for good days, and most mornings are not good days.
  3. The Core Idea. Design the routine for your worst morning, and good ones take care of themselves.
  4. First Step. One action you would do even with a fever.
  5. Second Step. Attach a second action to the first, and only one.
  6. Third Step. Make the ten minutes impossible to skip by putting them before the phone.
  7. Common Obstacles. Travel, children, illness, and the day you skip anyway.
  8. Putting It Together. Three readers' first thirty days, day by day.
  9. Keeping It Going. What to change after a month, and what never to change.
  10. Conclusion. A year of ten-minute mornings is sixty hours.

Open this template in Tabularia

Tabularia opens a new Book on the Self-Help shape: its acts and a chapter for each section, named for it, with each note pinned beside the chapter it belongs to. The book's word goal is set to 55,000 words. You name the Book before anything is created.

Open in Tabularia

Or take it away

The Word file has every chapter with its note and mark, a line under each for your own plan, and the example above. It opens in Word, Google Docs, Pages, and LibreOffice.

Download for Word