It Was The Middle One

We’re out of practice with the whole marketing side of things and have been voraciously consuming webinars and agent blogs and all kinds of other resources to bring our knowledge up to date.

The happy news is that there’s so much more information out there now. (Too much, maybe.) We used to be stuck with hard-copy guidebooks, and just had to hope the address was still current for the agent we wanted to query. Now we can cyberstalk potential representatives, and they can do the same to us. The relentless march of progress!

The less-happy news is that we’re relying on advice again, which means we have to be wary. One authority tells us to write the synopsis in objective, straightforward language, while another says infuse it with the voice of our writing. Likewise with just about any aspect of marketing and publishing. Some common threads are apparent, but often we have to read between the lines.

And that’s what it comes down to — reading between the lines. None of these teachers are trying to sabotage anyone. They’re each telling it as they see it, based on their experience. Naturally, they’ve hit upon various approaches that have worked in various circumstances. Then they have to shape that information for our consumption. To second guess them just a little, they’re probably second guessing the students. “If I tell them to make it sound like the book, they won’t be able to construct a cogent and functional synopsis.” “If I tell them to stick to the facts, the result will be flat.”

So, at least as far as the synopsis is concerned, our takeaway was somewhere in between. Of course the style of the synopsis will influence requests. But it has to be an orderly and complete telling of the main arc, or it’s not a valid synopsis.

Not all advice is right for every occasion, or for every author. That doesn’t make it bad per se, but it might be bad for you. Don’t jump at the first tip that sorta makes sense. Seek a couple of takes, and if they contradict each other, think about the subtext. Rather than just looking for a tiebreaker, look for a way to synthesize meaning out of the conflicting ideas.