The Synopsis: a Powerful Marketing Tool for Writers

Ok, you’ve finished your manuscript. You’ve sent out query letters. You finally have a nibble! Someone wants to see a couple chapters and a synopsis. This is your last chance to reel them in. What do you do?

Simply put, a synopsis is a brief narrative summary of your manuscript. From a marketing standpoint, a synopsis is a finely tuned sales pitch. There is a standard format for a synopsis and it’s important that you understand it, your credibility as a professional depends on it, and so does the life of your manuscript.

Format your synopsis just as you would your manuscript:

• 12 point courier type
• Double spaced
• Top margin at ½” and all remaining margins at 1¼”
• Justify left
• First page contact and manuscript information
• Slugline and page numbers on every page thereafter

What is the contact and manuscript information?

Your contact information should be at the top of the first page, against the left margin and single spaced. It should include your name, address, and phone number. Just like the header of a business letter. The manuscript information is in the opposite corner and should include the manuscript’s genre, the word count, and the word ‘synopsis’.

What is a slugline?

The slugline is a header that contains your last name, the title of your manuscript (in all caps), and in this case, the word ‘synopsis’. Here’s an example: Author/TITLE OF MY NOVEL/Synopsis

How much of the story should I tell?

All of it! A synopsis is primarily a condensed version of your manuscript beginning, middle, and end. The average synopsis runs about one page for every twenty pages of manuscript (including the chapters you are sending with the synopsis). Don’t divide your synopsis into chapters, however, just tell a concise, unified story hitting the highlights. Dialogue is rarely used. You should also avoid the use of adjectives and adverbs, and referencing your clever plot devices. Stick to the action, emotion and motivation that move the story forward.

Another major difference between a synopsis and a manuscript lies in verb tense. A synopsis is written in historical present tense. You may remember historical present tense from your days as an English student, when you wrote about an author and his work in the present tense. For example: “Milton uses symbolism of both dark and light in his epic poem Paradise Lost.” If you’ve written a lot of Literary research papers, this will come naturally. If you haven’t it may take a little practice and you should definitely get someone else to proofread for consistency.

What are the vital components of the synopsis?

As I mentioned earlier, your synopsis is not just a summary but a sales pitch. Begin with a hook. Hooks begin with the lead character, the leads crisis and how the lead intends on resolving the crisis. The best way to understand hooks is to watch movie trailers:

AMANDA was a practical housewife who didn’t believe in magic, until the family cat was abducted by mischievous gnomes. To appease her distraught daughter AMY, Amanda must enlist the help of fairies.

If you haven’t established all of the lead’s vital statistics in the hook, make sure you quickly follow with the leads age, occupation, marital status or other pertinent details. Also establish the place and time of your story right away. (Think of the cliché trailer lines “In a world were. . .”/“In a time when . . .”)

When introducing new characters, use another film industry trick—all caps. That draws attention to the new player, and sets a precedent, so be consistent with the way you refer to each character. In the above example, Amanda should always be addresses as Amanda and not as Amy’s mom. Chances are your synopsis may get a cursory skim through and you want it to be as clear as possible.

Finally, revise your synopsis with the same diligence you gave your manuscript. It’s an important marketing tool that may be the key to publication.

Reference: Marshall, Evan. The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing. Cincinnati, Ohio: Writer’s Digest. 1998.