Develop a working title that clearly expresses the book's premise. Type a title page with your name, address and email address as well as your phone number.
Write an overview of your project. First write two or three sentences that set out the basic concept of the book, identifying the problem and saying what the book will do to solve the problem. Then identify what the reader will gain from your book, the benefits, and what features of your book will help them gain those benefits. Include specific examples of the book's features, perhaps a list of techniques you will discuss, review questions, personal stories or other features that will make your premise clear to your readers.
Write a table of contents. This gives you a chance to decide the overall structure of your book and how each chapter contributes to the whole. Each chapter title should summarize the premise of the chapter. The table of contents is a list of everything you want to include in the book. Once you have hammered out the contents, write a one-paragraph overview of each chapter. Then list special features such as charts, glossary, illustrations, photographs, resources and a bibliography, a list of your sources of information.
Estimate the number of pages, generally the number of chapters times the average number of double-spaced pages per chapter. Make a schedule, giving yourself deadlines for completing each chapter, completing the entire manuscript, editing and rewriting the manuscript. How long do you think it will take?
Identify the market for your book. Think about the demographics of your audience, which means the gender, age, level of education, geographical location, affiliations, hobbies and whatever else you figure that identifies your readers. Besides external, objective characteristics, think of motivation. What will motivate these people to read your book? Identify groups to which these people belong, magazines they read, radio programs they hear, careers they follow. These are all things that will help you or your publisher figure out how to reach your audience.
Identify your competitors. Find out what other books have been written on the same subject and clarify how your book will be different. Pinpoint what your book will have to offer that isn't covered in the other books.