If you haven’t already done so, now’s the time. Your novel is finished, edited, and ready to submit to potential publishers. Your query should include a short synopsis. In fact, most publishers request a synopsis in your query. And, if you don’t need it right away, you will need it before the novel goes to press. The synopsis is the short blurb at the back of the book, the blurb that helps promote and sell your book.

A synopsis is a condensed statement of your book, a compendium of an overview, a summary. It’s short. Sweet (or blunt). To the point. It should be easy enough to write, right? Well, actually, it’s not quite so easy to write as you think. It has to be kept short, circumspect, brief, and not give away too much, but, at the same time, entice the potential reader.

Too many authors write way too much and they end up telling the entire story in the synopsis. Now, what’s the point of that? If the reader knows what’s going to happen in a story, including the ending, what point is there is reading the book itself?

It’s important to remember that the synopsis must be short and concise and it mustn’t give away too much. There should be a hook in the synopsis, perhaps a question that makes the reader ponder the issues and want to read the book.

The best way to develop your talent in writing synopses is to study synopses from books you’ve read, books you might be planning to read, or even books you’ve never considered reading. A good source of synopses is any online book venue: Amazon, Goodreads, etc. They all present the book’s synopsis in the product description. Then as yourself:

What captured your attention in each of the synopses? Or, did it capture your attention? 

How long was each synopsis? (Number of sentences and paragraphs.)

Are these synopses just the right length? Would you add or delete sections in any of them? Why?

What techniques did each of the authors use to write their synopsis?

When I started publishing novels, I wrote lengthy synopses:

Martha Kapakatoak is a young Inuit girl with a passion for music. She has a talent and an instrument that was passed down to her by her ancestors. She is a self-taught pianist because, in Iqaluit, the capital city of Canada’s newest territory, Nunavut, there are no piano teachers. In fact, her piano is the only real acoustic piano in the entire community and it is sadly in need of repair and good tuning. A square piano, the instrument was brought over to Canada’s far north in the mid-1800s and dragged across the tundra on a dogsled. It is the family’s most treasured heirloom, and part of the music world’s greatest unsolved mysteries. Autumn is Martha’s story, a story that takes music from the concert hall to the vacant spaces of the northern tundra. It is a story that interweaves with the other stories from The Four Seasons series and its characters. Melanie Harris, the famous violinist from Spring (PublishAmerica, 2005), the first book in The Four Seasons series, and Hope Jones, the Gitxsan fiddler-turned-classical violinist from Summer (Baico, 2008), the second book in The Four Seasons series, join Martha in an adventure of music and mystery in a race to discover the piano’s true history and its hidden secrets before someone else gets hurt. Emily-Jane Hills Orford’s Autumn is the third book in The Four Seasons series. It follows rave reviews of the first two books, which were described as having “a classic charm” (Strings May 2008) with a plot that “grows on you with its deepening chords and situations” (Writer’s Digest 2009).

This one is a bit long and gives away too much information, not just for the novel itself, Autumn (Baico 2009), but also for the previous novels in the series. It does include some review quotes, but these can be listed on a separate page inside the front of the book, rather than taking up valuable space on the back cover. 

Now, I find it’s better to keep the synopsis really short, just a teaser to pull the reader in. For one of my recent novels, Mrs. Murray’s Home (TellTale Publishing 2020), I was very brief and to the point:

Home is where the heart is, or so they say. It’s also been said that a home is a person’s castle. But home is also with family and friends. Mrs. Murray longs for home, the family home, a castle an ocean away. The Brownies also crave for home, the same castle Mrs. Murray considers home. And Granny? Mary’s Granny hasn’t been home since she was Mary’s age. It’s time to visit the homeland, Scotland. Mary’s excited to tag along with Granny, Mrs. Murray, and the Brownies. And then there’s the witch. The one they thought they’d killed. And the treasure. The one they had found. And it all ties together, for better or for worse. Join the adventure in book 3 of the popular Piccadilly Street Series.

I like to think that I’ve provided the potential reader with just enough info to pull them in. Here’s another recent example, for Queen Mary’s Daughter (Clean Reads 2018):

There are so many possibilities that affect the course of history. One change, one small item overlooked, can make a world of difference, not only in a person's life but in the history and well-being of an entire nation. And then there are those multiple scenarios of what if? What if King James VI of Scotland didn't succeed in amalgamating Scotland with England? What if there had been another heir to the throne of Scotland? One who would secure its independence? Would Scotland have remained free and independent and a nation of its own well into the twenty-first century? And would Scotland, this independent version, make its own decision to join the European Union when its southern neighbor was choosing to pull away? Queen Mary's Daughter presents another plausible timeline, one that incorporates both historical fact and fiction with the endless possibilities of time travel. 

Both recent synopses are about 100 words less than my earlier one. Ideally, the synopsis should be between 50 and 150 words.

So, how do you write it?

Make a list of important details, events, or themes in the novel.

Highlight the key points.

Write the first draft.

Now, be brutal in your cutting. Get the number count down to a maximum of 150 words.

Have others read the synopsis to get feedback.

Even after you’ve fine-tuned the synopsis, used it in your query letters to potential publishers, there may be further edits and cuts. Once you’ve lined up a publisher, they’ll want some input in what you’ve prepared.