Saturday 9 August 2014

The Synopsis


It's a tough call but we all have to write the synopsis. It's not as difficult as you think. Having said that, you need to write it with dedication and thought. Redraft as often as necessary until you're happy with it. The point of a synopsis is to tell your proposed publisher or agent what the book is about. Only they, and you, will read it. It's not for the general public.
If you're polished your manuscript to an inch of its life and you've written your synopsis, you're probably ready to submit to your chosen agent/publisher. What then....? You wait. Then you wait some more.
Agents and publishers are busy people. They receive thousands of submissions every year and can only take on a small percentage of those. If you receive one, two, three, forty, four hundred rejections then you may have to consider the possibility that something's not quite right with your work. There are various reasons why this might be. Here are just a few:
  • Your work isn't good enough - harsh but possibly true.  Have another go and study the marketplace. See what's selling well in your chosen genre, study that and see if you can learn anything from the authors already making a success of writing.
  • There isn't a market for your work. Is your novel a cross-genre? Think about where it would fit on the book shop shelves. If you're struggling to answer that question, chances are, the agent/publisher is also struggling, and therefore can't sell your work on easily.
  • The agent you've chosen doesn't have an immediate place to sell your work to.
  • The publisher you've chosen is already committed to too many other authors at present and has no space to take you on.
Read interviews by other authors. They've all had a long journey, even those who appear to have arrived overnight. It's not an easy job, but it's very rewarding so don't give up. Keep going and trying hard, and one day you'll get there.

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