First time authors sometimes get confused as to what a proposal outline really is. It consists of your chapter titles and one to three or more paragraphs that tell about each chapter. It is a selling outline that stresses what the chapter is going to do for the reader.  In general the first few sentences explain what the chapter is about, the remaining material stresses what the reader can get out of the chapter.

How to start:

Think about your material and try to come up with chapter titles. These can be very rough.  Don't try to polish them at this point.  Here are the ones we came up with for The Single's Guide to Home Ownership:

• Getting a regular mortgage
• The first price is not the final price
• Consider the neighborhood
• Closing
• Other Ways to Finance
• Is that all?
• Getting it inspected
• Choosing your realtor and other players
• What is your lifestyle like
• Should you own a home?
• Can You live there…How much
• What is your lifestyle like? Buying for You?
• How much will you have to spend?

Now start thinking about this and put your first choices in logical order.

Here are the chapter titles for The Single's Guide to Home Ownership. In order.

1. Should you Own a Home?
2. How Much Can You Afford?
3. Can You Live There?
4. What is Your Lifestyle Like
5. Consider the Neighborhood
6. Choosing Your Realtor and Other Players
7. Getting it Inspected
8. The First Price is Not the Final Price
9. Getting a Regular Mortgage
10. Other Ways to Finance
11.  Closing
12.  Is That All?

 Finally refine your chapter titles to make sense and attract readers. Here's the Final

1. Should You own a Home?
2. You Can Probably Afford More Than You Think
3. Think About Living Your Whole Life.
4. Tailor Your Choice to Lifestyle
5. Extend Your Family Through Neighborhood
6. Assembling Your Dream Team
7. Pre-Inspection Your Future Home
8. Everything is Negotiable
9. Mortgages the Old Fashioned Way
10. Creative Financing: Lease Options, Equity
11. The Closing: The Final Frontier
12. Afterward" After the Closing-- Insider Tips and Helpful Moving Hints

As you can probably see you're going to do a lot of thinking at this part. Sometimes it takes me quite a few hours. Just work with it until you are satisfied

Now add the explanation of text to the chapter titles.

1. Use the first paragraph or two to explain what the chapter is about. Then
2. in the last paragraph or two stress what this chapter will offer the reader.

 Here is an example from the first three chapters.

Chapter One: Should You Own a Home?

1.Ninety-two percent of all singles want to own a home, 20 percent actively buy homes each year.  Money is the largest perceived obstacle for those singles who want to own a home. Following this, the restraints are personal and professional lifestyle considerations. The possibility of job relocation, for example, may keep a single person from buying. Some singles like being able to move to a different apartment whenever they wish, or the want someone else to take responsibility for upkeep and repairs.

But for hundreds of other singles the choice they want is homeownership, as it allows them to put down roots and control where they live and for how long. Homeownership also gives them a chance to plant a garden and to paint the walls whatever colors they choose.  

2. Readers are given a detailed evaluation chart which will help them examine their lifestyle issues and to decide if they are among the many singles who are ready to choose owning over renting.

Chapter Two: You Can Probably Afford More Than You Think!

1.A home is not as far out of reach for most singles as many might think.   Pre-qualifying for a mortgage loan (no house purchase necessary) is a great way to find out how you measure up to conventional-loan standards and what a lender thinks you can afford. If you don't measure up by lender's standards, there are numerous creative-finance options. In a lease-option, for example, the buyer rents the home for a period of time while a portion of the rent accumulates as a down payment. At the end of the lease's term the renter can purchase the home at an already agreed-upon price.

2. The author provides readers with an interest-rate chart which will show readers the amount of income they can confidently allocate for housing, and, if they are renting, how much house they can buy based on what they are presently paying for rent.

Readers are also provided with a fill-in-the-blank credit worksheet to help compare the debt ratios with lender's guidelines. This worksheet will give singles the information they need to combat the subtle, virtually invisible bias of lenders toward single buyers. If the credit worksheet raises any "red flags" such as over-extended credit card debt, readers are given advice to help them become "home-purchase ready."

It includes numerous possible creative financing options, such as equity-sharing as well as buying tips. For example, one of the best times to buy is between Thanksgiving and New Year’s; the sellers, feeling holiday spirit, are often more willing to negotiate.

Chapter Three: Think About Living Your Whole Life

1. Chicagoan Dan Talbot fell in love with a townhouse and its garden.   He imagined himself sitting on the terrace on Sunday afternoons reading the paper.  A stockbroker, he needed a home office, but the townhouse had only one bedroom and one bathroom. Despite the beautiful garden, the townhome just didn't fit Dan. He Wisely didn't buy it.

Experts say our lives change every seven years, but buying a home is a long-term commitment as well as an emotional experience. It is entirely possible to fall in love with the wrong house. Examining one's lifestyle before buying a home is invaluable. As one single said, "Homeownership is an investment in myself." Readers are encouraged to think about all aspects of their lives. Do they work out of their homes or will they do so in the future? Will children or elderly relatives live with them? Do they have or have they ever wanted a pet?

2. Readers are then provided a check list to help them think about what they want now or at some future time in their homes--from the mundane (number of bedrooms, bathrooms and closets) to the exotic (a media room). Readers also learn how to "live the floor plan" of a home before buying it--a method used to check travel paths and furniture arrangements. Such practice living helps homebuyers know if the furniture they have, or plan-to-purchase, will fit, or if the floor plan is suitable for their present and future needs.

Finally put your entire Chapter Outline together like this. This is not a working outline from which to write the book. It is a selling outline that is used to convince the editor and the editorial board to buy the book. Now put your entire outline together. I generally do this first, since it lets me see how everything else fits together.

Assignment

1. I want you to make up an outline for your own book. Start with what amounts to a table of contents. Just jot short titles for your chapters. Four to five word titles are fine. Some of your titles will refer to the subject of the chapter like An Investment in Yourself.  Some should compel your readers to action like: Tailor Your Choice to Your Lifestyle or Extend your Family Through Neighborhood. 
2. Don't worry if you don't get the titles right in the beginning. Just work with them until they seem right.
3. Write 2 to 3 paragraphs under each chapter title/ Explain the chapter in the first paragraph, tell what that chapter will do for the reader in the next one or two paragraphs.
4. At your option add 5 to 6 points at the end of each chapter explanation, like this.

•  Putting down roots
•  Personal & professional lifestyle consideration
•  Negatives that keep singles from buying
•  Owning or renting?
•  The detailed elevation chart