You’ve pushed yourself and come screaming in to the end of your book. All of your thoughts and opinions, analysis of research and statistics, and heavy substantive discussion having been wrung out of you onto the page. Now what?
Well, just conclude your book and send the reader on their merry way with some key action points or takeaways. Wrap it up with insights and chapter summaries, sprinkle in a little inspiration and you’re good. Sounds simple, right?
It’s not. A good conclusion not only has to summarize your entire book, but it needs to do so in the same tone and voice of the rest of the book, even if it is just you yammering away at your readers. And, unless you are writing something dark and depressing, it should also uplift your readers and prompt them to go out and conquer the world, or at least their corner of it. So how do you do that?
Let’s start with the basic building blocks of a good conclusion.
- Review and restate the main argument. This is the big picture, the umbrella overarching the theme and message of your book. This should cover the elements you’ve introduced as your main argument in your introduction.
- Review the supporting evidence. Next, review the pieces from your chapters that supports or refutes your main argument. This is the summary part. You want to hit the highlights without rearguing your position and/or just regurgitating what you said in the chapters. Your readers got all the way to the end of your amazing book, don’t turn them off now right before the finish line.
- Discuss personal impacts. As with any chapter, you always want to be sure that you and your narrative are present. This part of the conclusion can cover: how you changed while writing the book; how your views changed; how the impact of writing a book impacted you; or how your outlook has changed since starting the book.
- Inspirational Cheer aka Call to Action. This is the section where you wind your readers up and let them go. Give them next steps, ideas for how to implement what they learned from your book, or other resources they can turn to as they continue their journey. This is the big finale, the music is swelling to a crescendo and the battle is being won. Don’t leave your readers with a limp ending or hanging with no idea where to go next.
And don’t forget a conclusion to your conclusion. Every chapter, including the conclusion, needs its own wrap up paragraph.
There are many great conclusion chapters out there for you to look at and get some ideas for how to finish your book, so read, and read some more, to figure out what you want yours to look like and sound like. You can also be more strategic about it – start and end the same way, coming full circle in the book’s journey. This could be a personal story, a personal journey, a not great work story that morphs into a successful work story by the end of the book, etc. Or you can start with good quote and end with one.
No matter what you do, make it as powerful as the rest of your book. It is the last impression the reader has of you and your thoughts. Make it a good one.