Chris Webb

When considering a non-fiction book proposal, the draft outline ranks as one of the most critical sections. In my opinion there are 3 things that make for a good outline:

1. Details
2. Structure
3. Did I mention details?

A great outline might tell me a few key things about an prospective author:

• They understand the topic of the book in a deep and detailed way and are able to communicate that understanding to readers
• They are committed to their book enough to have carefully thought it out to certain level of detail
• They are able to organize their thoughts

The more detail you can get into your draft outline the better. (read that sentence again – I am looking for details.) I almost always work with a potential author to further develop outlines for books I want to publish, but the further along you are with the first draft the faster I can get a proposal approved. Therefore its good for everyone when your proposal includes a detailed, well conceived outline. Here is a list of items I look for in a tech book outline:

1. Each chapter title is “active” and accurately describes what we are doing, discovering or learning in the chapter. We should be building, creating, programming, developing, understanding etc.
2. Each chapter has an estimated page count
3. Each chapter has at least 2 levels of headings and should clearly be broken into main headings, and then into subheadings where possible. A third level of detail gets you bonus points.
4. The outline should flow either chronologically or in increasing difficulty of topic. The flow of the book should be logical.
5. Chapters are grouped logically into Parts
6. Bonus if you include a short descriptive paragraph with each chapter that indicates what will be covered in the chapter and what the reader will learn
7. Are series elements included? For instance, all Wrox Beginning books use 3 mandatory elements in each chapter – “Try it Out,” “How it Works,” and “Exercises.” If you are submitting a proposal for that series, I expect you to know this either because you read the series guidelines I sent you, or you are already familiar with the series through your research.

In addition, there are a few tips to pass along:

• Don’t use the Microsoft Word outline feature. I know it is technically correct, but we editors like to see things like Chapters and Parts
• Parts have more than one Chapter
• Chapters have more than 1 subheading

And last but not least, don’t forget the details.