Two pages,
whole book.
Nothing in a submission gets rewritten more anxiously than the synopsis, and nothing needs to be less mysterious. Here is what we are actually looking for when we read one.
No agent required · No author fees · Initial response within 30 days
What a synopsis is for
A synopsis is not a blurb. A blurb sells the book by withholding; a synopsis earns trust by disclosing. Its job is to show that the book holds together: events cause one another, the middle does not dissolve into episodes, the ending lands somewhere the beginning made possible.
Your opening sample proves you can write. The synopsis proves you can build. A publisher needs both: a wonderful first chapter on a book that never resolves is the commonest disappointment on any reading desk.
The rules that never change
- One to two pages. If a publisher names a length, obey it; if not, stay under two
- Present tense, whatever tense the book is in: she finds the letter, not she found it
- Third person, whatever person the book is in
- The whole arc, including the ending. Named, on the page, no teasing
- Main plot first. Include a subplot only when the ending makes no sense without it
- Plain, clear prose. The sample carries your voice; the synopsis carries your structure
Formatting stays ordinary: the same font as your manuscript, your title and name at the top. Some houses like character names in capitals at first mention. Do it if asked, and do not worry about it otherwise.
A structure that works
The situation: who we follow, where they stand, and the event that breaks the pattern
The escalation: the choices that raise the stakes, and what each one costs
The turn: the point after which nothing can go back to how it was
The resolution: how it ends. Actually how it ends
The consequence: one line on what the ending means, so we see the book knew where it was going
Write a paragraph for each and you have your page. Notice what the structure forces: every sentence is about causation. The words so and but should be doing constant work, and the words and then almost none. If two events in your synopsis could swap places without anything breaking, the synopsis has not yet found the book’s spine. Occasionally that is the synopsis’s fault, and occasionally it is the book’s, and it is worth a minute deciding which.
For non-fiction, the synopsis is an argument
A non-fiction synopsis, often called a chapter outline, does the same job with different material. What it must prove is that the book is an argument that accumulates, not a subject with chapters stapled to it.
Open with the question the book answers and the answer it gives, in a paragraph. Then take each chapter in one or two lines: not what the chapter covers, but what it does, what the reader believes at the end of it that they did not believe before. Close with a line on where the whole book leaves the reader. Your credentials, the readership and the comparable titles belong in the proposal around it, not here.
Where synopses go wrong
- Blurb language. A heart-stopping journey of betrayal tells us nothing about what happens
- Withholding the ending. It reads as distrust, or as the absence of one
- And-then plotting: events in a row with nothing causing anything
- The full cast. If a name appears once and does nothing, it goes
- Three pages and climbing. Length usually means scene summary has replaced shape
- Reviewing your own book. This powerful debut is our judgement to make, not yours
Questions
Do I really have to reveal the ending?+
Yes. No publisher can take on a book whose ending it has not weighed, because the ending is where books most often fail. A synopsis is a working document read by the few people deciding on your manuscript. Spoiling the book to us is the point.
How long should a synopsis be?+
One page is usually enough and two is the ceiling, unless a publisher asks for more. Ours: one to two pages, and shorter done well is never held against a book.
Does the synopsis need to be exciting?+
It needs to be clear. Causation done well is gripping on its own, and a plain page that shows a book building to something inevitable is more persuasive than any quantity of adjectives.
My book is quiet and literary. What is the plot of that?+
Change. A synopsis tracks what changes and what it costs, and interior change counts. If genuinely nothing changes across the book, that is worth discovering before you submit, and saying honestly if you do.
More for authors
How to get published without an agent
Which publishers read direct, what to send them, the fee traps to walk past, and what to check before signing.
How to write a non-fiction proposal
The seven parts of a proposal publishers weigh, how to choose comparable titles, and an honest word about platform. The book need not be finished.
What happens after you submit
The publisher’s side of the desk: what happens to your manuscript after you press send, at most houses and, step by step, at this one.
How we publish
What happens to a book here, from the day we say yes to years after publication. The process, stage by stage.
Two pages,
then send it.
The synopsis goes in alongside a covering letter and your opening sample, and that is a complete submission here. No agent, no fees, and an initial response within 30 days.
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