Julie Broad walks through a four-part structure for nonfiction chapters: a strong title and opening, the main content, then a closing with an example and reflection. She recommends keeping the same format across all chapters so readers know what to expect.
Next to how long should my book be? The next kind of size question I get asked all the time is about your chapter length and book chapter structure. Well, if you want to make sure you're setting your book up for structured success, this video is for you. Hey there. I'm Julia, book broadtime author and founder of Book Launchers, a self publishing services company helping you write, publish and promote a nonfiction book to grow your brand and your business. Okay, once you have a great hook for your book and you've developed your table of contents, you're probably wondering what each chapter should look like. Well, first let's talk about what exactly a chapter is. A chapter divides a book into more consumable bits. It should be long enough to convey the point, but short enough to maintain reader interest throughout your book. Your chapter format should be consistent. This just means you don't want one chapter to be a poem and another to be charts and graphs and the other to be a fable. Have some flow and structure to what you're doing. And a big thing to do in nonfiction is use subheadings wisely to break up your content and re engage your reader. There are a lot of people who skim when they hit a section that's heavy or they feel like they know it. So your subheadings is how you'll bring them back in. So make them juicy enough that someone stops and dives back in. Now, what is a good chapter structure? Well, every book can be different and there isn't one single answer to this question. But here's a good solid structure for a self help, business leadership type book. First, start your chapter off with a chapter title that gets somebody's attention, introduces conflict or controversy, creates curiosity, sells a benefit. Basically make them want to read it, then kick it off to engage the reader using an engaging story or a statistic they don't expect or a super big promise. Tie that opening line into what they have learned and explain what is about to come and why it matters. After you've done that, get into the meat of this chapter, which could be your story, the process, or the steps, or just the content that they need in order to achieve the outcome you want for them from that chapter. This means you're diving in to provide the steps, stats, information that is needed for the reader to understand and implement what you're teaching and sharing. At the end of the chapter, offer a closing example or a case study or a reflection exercise for the reader. If you have a big book that is really content heavy like my book Self Promote and succeed. Summarizing each chapter could be really valuable for your reader. If it's a story, you can just bring it back to the start and set it up for the next one. Transition to the next chapter at the very end of the chapter, but with a reason why they need what's coming next. Open loops that you close in the next section because our brain it wants closure. Every book isn't the same, so you have to consider what experience you want to give your reader and then know that there isn't one way to tackle this. But taking a minute to think about your chapter structure and create the first chapter with this in mind will set your writing up for more ease and your reader experience up for more enjoyment. Want more tips on writing? A noboringbook can definitely grab, self, publish and succeed. It's written to help you with writing and publishing a book that is set up to sell. Now this video right here is all about whether you're ready to write a great book or not. And this video is on 5 Questions to Ask before you hire a company to help you publish your book. Both are going to be pretty awesome, so head over, watch them and say hi in the comments. After you do.
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