How to Create a Synopsis That Hooks Readers
When people pick up your book, they want to know what it is about. That’s why books have a synopsis or description on the back cover. But if the text on the back cover doesn’t grab the reader’s interest right away, they probably won’t buy the book.
After seeing your book cover or hearing your book title, the first thing readers do is pick up the book and turn it over to read the back cover, or if they’re online, they’ll look for the product description, also called a short summary. or synopsis (over a long paragraph). Some authors just put their biographies on their back covers. Depending on the book, the author’s biography can lend credibility, but the reader won’t just be wondering what the book is about; the author is also missing the best opportunity to hook readers. Here are some tips on how to write a synopsis with a hook:
1- Keep it short. Remember, the potential buyer won’t spend more than a few seconds looking at the back cover, so keep it sweet, short, and to the point.
2- Make it relevant. Most people are looking for stories relevant to their lives, so it’s important to show how the book can relate to current times in the synopsis.
3- Make it Credible. Even science fiction must sound believable to attract a reader’s interest. So make sure the way you describe your story (regardless of genre) sounds believable to the reader.
4- Make your uniqueness evident. What makes your story different from other books in that genre? That is the question to be answered in the synopsis.
To give an example of using the above tips to create a synopsis, here is the back cover/Amazon Synopsis of my book:
“Growing up under the Italian survivors of World War II was not easy. For Susan, the hardest part was the feeling of alienation as she desperately tried to relate to her parents without success. Through the years, Susan was able to relate to her mother , but his father remained an enigma until one day he handed over his five tapes containing his memories. Based on Nino’s first tape, Innocent War is a boy’s adventure, showing a boy’s point of view through the hardships, dangers and tragedies of war, combined with his own humor, innocence and awakening as he grows older, he accompanies Susan as she meets her father and finds herself inside the family she thought she knew.”
1- Keep it short: it has 114 words and establishes all the themes within the stories.
2- Make It Relevant: Says how I was trying to get to know my father (relevant for everyone with parents)… even though it’s about World War II, we’re currently at war with terrorists.
3- Make it Credible: I affirm that the story comes from first-hand accounts and there are tapes that support it…
4- Make evident its singularity: the Second World War from the Italian point of view, the experience of a child.
In the end, the best seller of a book is the author… and the best sales tool is the book itself!