Sylvia MelenaWatch the Video for a Quick Demo on How to Structure a Q&A-Based Book
What's a Q&A-Based Book?
A Q&A-based book is a nonfiction book that’s structured using the Question & Answer (Q&A) style. The author uses the book to answer a specific number of frequently asked questions on the book’s topic.
An Example of a Q&A-Based Book
Here’s an example of a Q&A-based book: How to Live with Bipolar by Sally Alter, R. N.
Sally, who happens to be one of the members in my Nonfiction Book Accelerator Facebook community, wrote powerful book called How to Live with Bipolar: 125 Questions and Answers. As you can see by the book’s subtitle, Sally structured it as a Q&A-based book.
The video gives you a peek inside her book and explains how you can use this structure for your nonfiction business book. However, here are some highlights:
✔️Overall Nonfiction Book Structure
The table of contents, which includes the chapter titles, make up the overall structure of a nonfiction book, so it’s a great way to quickly identify book structure. Sally includes 125 questions in her table of contents, which is a quick giveaway regarding her structure: Q&A.
✔️How Many Questions Should You Answer in a Q&A-Based Book?
Sally answered 125 questions in this great example. However, I recommend that, for your first nonfiction book, you answer either 30 or 52 questions. This number helps you give your readers something they can implement in 30 days, which is roughly a month, or in 52 weeks, which is about a year. This smaller number also helps you get your first book done fast. But it’s completely up to you.
✔️Using Sections and Parts to Further Organize Your Book
One hundred and twenty-five (125) questions are a lot to answer in a book, but Sally breaks it down into sections. She organizes it in parts. Part one is Bipolar Basics, which includes the questions and answers related to the topic. Her book has other parts as well.
✔️The Questions are the Chapter Titles
In a Q&A-based book, the chapter titles are simply the question. Here are Sally’s first two chapters:
🔹How Do I know I have Pipolar?
🔹Are There Any Laboratory Tests for Bipolar Disorder?
You can frame your book the same way by putting the question as a chapter title.
That’s the overall structure of the book.
✔️Nonfiction Book Chapter Structure
In addition to overall structure, your book needs a consistent chapter structure. Let’s look at how Sally structures her chapters so you can see how easy it really is.
Each chapter starts with the chapter title, which is just one of the questions, and the chapter content is simply the answer to the question. And the answers don’t have to be long. Check out Sally’s book and you’ll see that her answers are fairly short.
Here’s how sally does it. The title for chapter one is the question “Are There Any Laboratory Tests for Bipolar Disorder?” For the chapter content, all she does is answer the question.
Question. Answer. Chapter done!
The remaining chapters have the same structure, which gives Sally’s book the consistency readers expect.
✔️The Q&A Book Structure is Simple But Effective
The Question & Answer (Q&A) Nonfiction Book Structure is a simple but highly effective way to organize your nonfiction book. It helps you organize your business book in a matter of minutes.
So, if you’re struggling to start and finish your nonfiction book, simply create a list of your ideal client’s frequently asked questions, answer them one a time, organize them into a book, and you’ll be done fast.
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About the Author
SYLVIA MELENA is the Founder & Principal of Melena Consulting Group, a company specializing in leadership and organizational development and business book writing and publishing. Sylvia is a two-time international award-winning and three-time best-selling author and publisher. She is also the former Vice President of the San Diego Book Awards Association and a four-time marketing judge for the National Association of Hispanic Publications’ José Martí Awards. Her leadership philosophy has been featured in the Society of Human Resources Management HR Today, the Human Performance Association, Entrepreneur, LEADx, My Quest for the Best, and other outlets.
