I’ve had a little success in the self-publishing space, and as a result, quite a few people talk to me about their book ideas, which I absolutely love. But, how do you know if it’s a book, or just a nice idea, or a blog post but nothing more?
The answer is – write your table of contents. Mind map out your book idea. What are the main sections? What chapters would you put under each section? Could you write 1,500 words under each of those chapter headings? As you do it, are you gaining energy and momentum for your idea, or are you running out of steam? That’s how you know.
When I wrote How to be a Chief Operating Officer, I knew I had enough content, because I counted 16 different disciplines that I had observed a COO needed. When I sketched out How to be a Chief Risk Officer, I could visualise the cascade of twenty different risk areas and how I wanted to lay them out.
If you can sketch out the table of contents, you can write the book.
