The Pitch: Your Synopsis is Everything

“What's it about?” is almost always the first question you're asked when you tell people you've written a book. How long you have to explain depends on the person asking. Perfecting a synopsis is key to getting a publisher's attention.
But there's always some confusion as to what a synopsis is and how much it should divulge. It's sometimes confused with a blurb, which I feel should be succinct without giving up vital moments in the plot. A friend may only want to know some key points, so when you are writing a blurb, consider it a quick summary you'd give a friend, only punchier. Going online and reading other blurbs is usually the best place to start.

A synopsis should contain the most basic outline of your story. Most publishers request these be roughly 300 words long. That's not a lot of time to cover everything, so make sure you consider the essential points. A good writer's tip would be to consider this your “elevator pitch”, as it's called in the movie industry. You're in an elevator with an influential person in the industry, the editor of the publisher in this case, and you have five floors before they get off for you to get your pitch across. Long-winded explanations will most likely bore the listener. The more of these you write, the better you'll become, and submitting to publishers more than once is good practice for writing these. Always keep a copy for each manuscript and modify it to suit.

 

Don't use any kind of marketing language, like comparing it to other books or movies. If a submission guideline is asking this question, it's usually separate to the synopsis so they can get a better idea of marketing your book in terms of other popular titles. 

When I submitted Live to Tell, I didn't intend on using this exact synopsis as my blurb for the book. I've written many blurbs for my self-published titles, and I consider this one of the entertaining aspects of publishing. Coming up with an inventive and captivating blurb is vital when you're marketing, especially on Amazon and other online bookstores. A longwinded blurb might put the reader off, but you still want them to have a good idea of the story they're about to read. I probably agonised the most over my blurb for Into the Other, as I was concerned I was giving too much away, and put my poor cover designer through a couple of versions, so I was lucky she was amenable to my edits. You can't spend forever perfecting these, either. Try it out on friends and see if they're interested as well. You're not asking them to read the whole book, just if they'd be willing to buy it based on the blurb.
Crafting the best synopsis for publishers is a skill in itself. I'd advise you write this and not ask for assistance on it. Do drafts as you'd do with your manuscript, read it over and over, proof it to perfection and hold on to it for all submissions.