Your Book Starts Hereby Scribe Media
Worksheet 2 of 5

Book promise worksheet

Your book's promise is the change the reader gets: where they are when they open it and where they are when they close it. This worksheet walks you from a rough before and after to a positioning sentence you can use for your subtitle, back cover and introduction.

Prints the worksheet only.

How to use it

Work top to bottom. The first two boxes are the raw material: be messy. The middle section turns abstract words into concrete ones. The last two lines are where you commit to a promise. The Scribe Method's chapter on positioning frames all of this as the answer to the question every reader asks, "Why should I read this book?"

The concrete-change check matters most. Most first drafts promise that readers will be "better", "more confident" or "more successful". Those words could describe any book, so they help no one choose yours. For each abstract word, ask: what would I see this reader do differently? Write that instead.

The North Star line comes from The Scribe Method's North Star check, which ties your reader, idea and goal into one sentence. The reader-facing statement underneath is our addition: the same promise, without your goal, ready to become copy.

A filled-in example

Before: anxious, guessing at a retirement date, afraid one bad market year will wreck everything, getting product pitches instead of a plan.

After: has a written income plan, knows which accounts to draw from in which order, and has picked a retirement date with their spouse.

Abstract word to fix: "secure" becomes "knows how much they can spend each year and where it comes from".

Statement: For married professionals five years from retirement who have saved but have no income plan, this book walks through the decisions in order, so they can write a plan and choose a date together.

An illustrative example.

Book promiseyourbookstartshere.com/worksheets/book-promise/

Book promise

BeforeWhat does the reader believe, feel or struggle with when they pick up the book?
AfterWhat can they do, decide or stop doing when they finish?
Concrete-change checkCircle every abstract word in your after (better, confident, successful, transform, potential, balance). Rewrite each as something you could see.
Is it deliverable?Can most readers who do the work get this from a book alone? Yes / Partly / No. If partly, what is the honest first step the book can promise?
North Star (from The Scribe Method)I will use my book to target ____ by teaching them ____, which leads to my goal of more ____.
Reader-facing statementFor ____ who ____, this book ____, so they can ____. Unlike ____, it ____, because ____.
Check:Could a reader tell whether the after happened? Does it use their words? Is the gap big enough for a book and small enough to deliver?

Common mistakes

  • Promising everything. One change, done well, beats five changes promised loosely.
  • Making it about you. "Lessons from my career" is a topic about the author. The promise is what the reader gains.
  • Overpromising. A promise the book cannot keep turns into disappointed reviews.
  • Forgetting the before. Without it, readers cannot tell whether the book is for them.

The full guide is How to write your book's promise. When you are ready, test the promise with the idea test worksheet, or enter it in the book idea starter, which flags vague afters automatically.

Questions

Do I need the reader profile first?

It helps a lot. The before half of the promise comes straight from the reader's situation, problem and what they have tried. If you have not done it, start with the reader profile worksheet.

My after sounds vague. How do I fix it?

Ask what a reader could show you, tell you or stop doing when they finish. Replace each abstract word (better, confident, successful) with the specific behavior or decision that would prove it.

Based on The Scribe Method, chapters 5 and 9, checked October 20, 2026. Published by Scribe Media. Free to print and share.