Outline/Table of Contents
Outline
There is nothing more crucial to writing success than the quality of the outline you create before you start your expository prose. Every minute spent developing a logical, organized, detailed outline will pay huge dividends later on. Really spend time thinking out not only the chapters and the main points in each chapter but also the subtopics and sub-subtopics. Drill down thoroughly enough and the book will seem to start writing itself. Okay, you still have to write it, but it is a lot easier to know where you are going when you have the roadmap right in front of you. Run the outline past your colleagues. Have our editors here look at it too.
Table of Contents
Your initial table of contents should emanate directly from your outline. It will eventually also include other typical publishing elements. Anatomy of a TOC provides insight into those elements including things like parts divisions and appendices.