Getting the synopsis right

A good synopsis can be a major selling point when you submit work to a publisher. True, we probably won’t even read it if the writing’s no good. There is a slight irony in that; it’s always easier to fix bad writing than it is to mend that a story that isn’t working. Editors tend, anyway, to know more about editing than story-telling even if they can recognise a good story when they see one. So it may seem that under-par writing could be improved. Yes, most likely, but we just haven’t got the time to do it. The writing must go somewhere else to get fixed. So, it’s not even worth looking at the synopsis just yet.

Sadly, much writing passes muster and then is rejected because it seems from the synopsis that the writer just has no story to tell. Even more sadly it’s highly likely that they do have a good story but have failed to crystalize it well in the synopsis.

We ask a lot, we know. We usually want no more than 500 words and frequently less. It takes quite a lot of skill for the writer to represent their novel effectively in that space. And it is reassuring to us that the writers we decide to publish do have that skill.

So what should writers do?

Here a few things to avoid:

Writing the synopsis like a blurb

We do need to know the whole story and it needs to be told in a business-like manner. One or two rhetorical questions might be all right – particularly if they’re actually from the point of view of the protagonist – but if you don’t feel confident with this, don’t do it.

Writing in a quirky way

You might be writing a book that is quirky in style and you may wish to represent that style in your synopsis. It is great if you can pull it off. Most people don’t manage to and then it just becomes extremely irritating.

Creating a list

Avoid:” this happens and then this happens, then this happens and then that”. The commissioning editor needs to get a feel for where all of the drama and the tension is in the plot. Don’t overwhelm her with details.   

Getting the balance wrong

Don’t have too much of any of the following though you probably need some of each of these:

·         Backstory

·         Character description

·         Setting description

·         Action

·         Exposition

·         Justification (Yu actually shouldn’t need any of this in a well-written synopsis.)  

Writing in the past tense

Normally a synopsis should be written in the present tense. After all, the book remains the same each time it is read.  

Avoid overwriting

Keep your sentences succinct and to the point. Allow that word count work for you. Make sure your style is a tight as can be. You are using a completely different writing muscle here from the one you need to write your novel. No “The reason he is here is because….”

So, what should you do? Try this:

Recipe for a synopsis

1.      Define the novel in two or three lines. What type of novel is it? Which sub-genre? What happens to the main character?

2.      Say a little about the main characters and the setting, weaving in any backstory only if it is really important.

3.      Identify the main actions – usually no more than three or four - until you reach that all important crisis point.

4.      Describe the crisis point, perhaps giving it a paragraph all of its own.

5.      Define what happens in the car-chase moment – that gap between the crisis point and the resolution.

6.      Describe the new point of stasis that your protagonist has reached. Here you may hint at a follow-up story if appropriate.

And a hot tip. Read Nicola Morgan’s excellent book about writing synopses.     

The Economics of Author Events

Publishers take a financial risk when they organise an author event or attend one an author has organised, especially if a sale or return agreement has been made with a local bookshop. Sometimes when books are returned they are no longer sellable.

Here are some case studies:

Case 1

Three writers were show-cased at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation, a tastefully converted mill in Manchester, just behind the Oxford Road station. I went along because I knew two of the writers – a poet who is a colleague and a novelist with whom I used to work.

It was a delightful evening. The third writer was interesting as well. I bought two of the books – I already had one of them. I think the publisher sold five of each title. This wouldn’t have even covered her traveling costs let alone the hire of the venue – which was packed, actually.

Case 2

I attended a launch of a collection of poems and short writings by someone I know. I was also interested in the publisher because he is young and produces the best covers I’ve ever seen. 

Again, the venue was packed. The writer clearly had a lot of friends and fans. The publisher sold twenty-five copies of the author’s book and a few other titles. I don’t know if they paid anything for the hire of the room – it was in a pub so sometimes this can be free as it’s a given that people will spend at the bar. Certainly the publisher would have covered his costs. But he’d hardly be paid for his time.

Case 3

The winner of one of our novel competitions was a young girl aged sixteen. She later confessed to having written the book when she was just fourteen. We had to make a fuss of this one. We paid for the hire of the venue - a quirky, independent café. We paid in effect the salaries of the waitresses. The girl’s parents bought cupcakes and a drink for all of the guests.

We sold all fifty books I’d brought along and some of the author copies the family had bought. We more than covered the cost of the room but our profit would certainly not have paid for drinks etc. Let alone the cost of my travel and overnight accommodation. The book has since covered those but my time remains unpaid for.

Case 4

An imprint of one of the big five launched a book by a mid-list author in a regional branch of a high street book store, but in a town not too far from London. The charismatic editor-in-chief, after whom the imprint is named, attended – he was rather fond of the author. Many people came to the shop – and about thirty of us even went out to dinner afterwards.

The book is still in print but it never did become a best-seller.

No doubt the editor covered his immediate costs that evening but sales probably didn’t pay for his time.      

Case 5

All of the delegates from a writers’ conference attended a book launch in a High Street bookshop. We were offered wine and snacks – not sure who paid. Few people bought books because it was just too crowded.

Case 6

The first book we published was a collection of short stories mainly by authors published for the first-time. Several authors held their own events and sold over 100 copies a time.

We held a get-together in London and charged the people who attended enough to cover the cost of a buffet-lunch, a drink and the hire of the room. The book sales on the day and the slight profit on the event covered my travel expenses.

Although the book was only out for six weeks before the end of the year, each author got about £25.00 royalties – quite unusual in a collection of unknown authors.

As we’ve moved on and those writers have come back to us, now with more experience and no longer able to sell to friends and family, and as we’ve attracted more established writers also, we’ve not been able to repeat that pattern.

Case 7

We launched a book at prestigious literary festival. We got some pretty decent high-profile media coverage. It is our bestselling book. All copies ordered by the festival’s bookshop sold and they ordered a few more than normal.

In fact, not all sold at the festival but the bookshop owner decided to keep the rest and even gave us a donation for the charity the book supports.

However, there were quite a few entertainment expenses.

Nevertheless the book continues to trickle out.

Book events aren’t just about selling books on the day

Book events are, in fact, a type of PR. It is fine for them to be loss-leaders. Frankly, my favourite type of entertainment is a book event. I’m probably pretty typical of all of those who work in the book industry. I love the whole process. I relish being around books and all those in the involved in the process of making them. What else would I do with my time? We have to make money and we have to be paid for what we do, but other than that … Even those involved with the big five would get far more return on their effort if they invested their business acumen in any other industry apart from farming. Theatre is probably on a par and possibly the other arts.

We feel, though, immensely privileged that we spend our time doing what we love.                    

 

Ten irritants that may stop us looking at your submission

1.      Your cover letter is too quirky. This can be just plain irritating. It has to be really good to work. Most writers who try to be funny in their cover letters are actually not. 

2.      Addressing us as sir or madam, or “to whom it make concern”.  We have real names and they’re not difficult to find out.

3.      Sending to us when we’re not open for submissions. We’ll simply delete your work.

4.      Sending something that just doesn’t suit our imprint.  Please, read one of our books before you send something. This isn’t a sales pitch. We don’t mind if you borrow or buy from the second-hand shop if you’re broke. But make sure you read something.

5.      Not following the submission guidelines. We ask for your work to be submitted in a certain way that is convenient to us.

6.      Not getting the age group right.  If it’s children. If it’s young adult, it’s young adult. If it’s new adult, it’s new adult. Keep the voice constant throughout.

7.      Not setting dialogue out correctly.

8.      Zooming in and out of point of view and constantly changing it.

9.      Including too much exposition. Let the story unfold. Show us what happens to your characters.

10.  Being impatient about a reply. We’ll decide when we’re ready to. Each submission must be considered really carefully.       

The price of e-books

I recently read a superb young adult book that I had loaded on to my Kindle. It was one of those rare books that took me out of my editing head – so well done that author. That is a real achievement when your reader is a writer, a writing teacher and a publisher. It got a 5* review on my blog, on Good Reads and Amazon. I was actually appalled when I posted the review on Amazon to find that its only tag was along the lines of “this is an extortionate price for an e-book” 

Hmm.

Well, anxious to counteract this negativity, straight away I put on some other tags. 

The Kindle edition on that day was £4.10.  The paperback retails at £6.99 so there is clearly still a saving.

Because we’re a small press we’ve done the Amazon Prime scheme. We’re set up financially so that we can’t lose money and this is a form of free publicity. Oddly, one recent promotion actually sold ten books that might otherwise have not been sold. The visitors got to the site too late or too early and thought “what the heck” and bought the book anyway. And we only do it occasionally.

It’s the 77p and 99p books that bother me more. They’re probably mainly self-published. I’ve read quite a few of them. I have to say, those by some of my writing friends and people I’ve actually published are pretty decent. A lot of the others are dire and make me cringe. But still there is the question of the economics of it all. The author will get about 34p to 74p on a 99p book. Think how many downloads a month you would need to make a living at that rate. Self-publishers will not have the marketing strength of the big publisher behind them.

Sure, the publisher no longer has the print or warehousing costs, or the wholesaler’s and retailer’s cuts. But for the big publisher these costs are not all that significant. A unit cost tends to be 20p, so the £6.99 rrp easily allows them to offer the 45% to 55% discount needed to please the wholesalers and distributors. The author is offered a 40% to 50% royalty on an e-book so often earns more than on a paperback. Some overhead costs are the same for e-books as for hard copy books: staff salaries, marketing and premises, for example. In addition, texts have to go through another level of design to work successfully as e-books. The designer for this process must be paid.    

Amazon and similar providers, of course, take their cut. And why shouldn’t they? They employ people. They have developed the technology. Yes, it could be better, but even to this stage has taken development and it works to a usable level. Possibly it will improve more rapidly if books are sold at a realistic price.

I’m afraid the public attitude that e-books should be free or very cheap irritates me. It undervalues the work not only of the writer but of editorial, marketing, publicity, design and IT staff.                   

Writers need never run out of ideas

There are thirty-nine dramatic plots, or twelve, or seven stories, or just one story shape according to which theory you follow. There are millions of themes. Writers can take a particular part of a known story and make it the whole story. They can clothe known characters in a variety of personalities. They can turn the stories they hear at the pub and the little articles in the local paper into major dramas. Never should a writer be able to say they are stuck for a story.

A new perspective on an old tale

Tell a well-known story from a different point of view. Perhaps tell the story of a footman or an ugly sister instead of Cinderella. Or bring the story right into the 21^st century. Perhaps Jack decides to try a GM crop much to the disgust of organic farmer mother.

Shakespeare is good for a story

The Bard has probably lasted not because of his elegant iambic pentameters and his use of the Warwickshire dialect but because he tells fine stories that resonate with humans. Tragedy, the bringing about of the hero’s downfall through his own unavoidable fault, is still valid. Impossible love affairs and mistaken identity still make for good reading material.

The Bible

This too is full of stories. They are quite intriguing – perhaps even more so if you don’t quite believe them. But it’s also quite a valid activity, finding out what really happened at the time. What would it have been like, being an Egyptian mother at the time when all first born were cursed? Or for that matter being a Jewish one who is tempted to hide her baby in the bulrushes? Who was that crazy teacher who gathered crowds to hear him talk? And what if it was happening now instead of then?

Down the pub

Can the gossip produce a story? Why exactly did the owner of the big hotel near the motorway roundabout run off with the Lottery money? What will happen now? What will happen to those families where the main earner has been made redundant? How is everyone going to get to the match on Saturday if it carries on snowing?  

Run over dogs

The small articles in the local newspaper. What about the little girl who lost her glove puppet three times in one week? Or the old lady living alone who took on the chance thief who broke into her home?  Not to mention the ATM that gave out £20 notes instead of £10.00.

If there’s a good story there we can normally fix the writing, time allowing i.e. if it’s not so dire that it would take too many man-hours to fix. Sadly no matter how great the writing we can’t take it if the story doesn’t work. Writers, there are so many sources of good stories.  Take the time to find yours.