A Day in the Life- #IndieAuthorDay

International Indie Author Day happened Saturday, October 14th. It was a day for Indie Authors around the world to get together.

I'm proud to say myself and poet Kate Marsh visited with our local Harney County Library and set up an author day at the library. We invited authors and writers from the area to join us for a two hour discussion of writing, publishing, and being creative.

We had nearly 20 people present, which I feel was a good number considering the small community of Burns, Oregon. Authors brought books to set up and sell.The books ranged from Children's, YA, Mystery, Sci-fi, Romance, Poems, and Nonfiction. 

We had refreshments of pumpkin and sugar cookies, coffee, tea, and juice.

The authors were asked in an email who would like to be part of a panel. We had Kate, myself, and four other authors as part of the panel. Most were Indie authors. Three had been published before going Indie. One had never published a book but wrote screenplays, and one was Indie all the way.

The event started with everyone present who considered themselves a writer to stand up, say their name and what they wrote.  It was fun to meet some people I'd only heard their names and see the passion in everyone of them for the story they were writing.

Good questions were asked and discussions were engaging and enlightening. Everyone was patient with those who took longer to tell their writing journey and when the event ended at 4, most people lingered to talk more. We were finally kicked out by the library staff because the library had been closed for half an hour!

Everyone who participated in the day had a good time and enjoyed talking with other writers and learning about the struggles and the triumphs.  It was wonderful to see young people as well as the geriatric set there to talk writing and learn from one another.

The one thing I came away with is the need to have a writing workshop of some kind at the library possibly every other month. I'll be headed into the library to talk with the director of the library and see what we can do.

If you are an author, did you participate in any events for Indie Author Day? If a reader, do you like to hear how an author struggles not only with getting words on paper but the business of writing, or do you just like reading the books for enjoyment without wondering about how the story went from a writer's  brain to the book page? 

Stages of Writing

This is a talk I put together some years back when I was first published and started talking to writing groups. I've added in about self-publishing and online groups.

 Believe – Believe in your abilities as a writer

Perfect – Take classes and workshops – read what you write

Network – get involved in writing organizations – online chats

Submit or self-publish – find the right agent, editor, market or do it yourself

Publish –  Now what

Promote – Put you and your work out there

Never Forget – who helped you along the way and give back

Believe – Believe in your ability to write a poem, tell a story, or depict events. If you don’t believe in yourself no one else is going to believe. Be convincing when you say you are a writer. You may not be published, but if you are writing anything other than grocery and to-do lists, you are a writer. Be it poems, lyrics, essays, short stories, novels( fiction or non-fiction), memoirs, or biographies – you are a writer.   

Perfect -  Take classes, learn all you can about your craft and the area you are writing. Subscribe to the Writer’s Digest, or any magazine or ezine in your genre of writing. These days there are many online groups, blogs, pages for like genre writers to discuss writing and keep abreast of the markets. Along with learning to write, you need to read. Read the genre you write.  See what others are doing and how they do it.  The various genres hold conferences all over the US. When I belonged to RWA I attended at least one conference a year to meet other authors, publishers, and editors and to learn craft and keep up with the business. I belonged to the Salem RWA chapter as well as National RWA. Now I belong to EPIC(Electronic Publishing Industry Coalition), Central Oregon Writers Guild, Sisters in Crime, Oregon Writers Colony, Harney County Writers, and a couple of others I can't think of at the moment.  There are many groups to join to learn craft and the business of writing.  

• Colorado Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers 
• Pacific Northwest Writers Association
• Willamette Writers
• Western Writers of America
• Women Writing the West
• Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
• Romance Writers of America. 

These are all good organizations to become familiar with even if you don’t join.  They are the people who know the people you need to know if you are trying to get a novel published through the traditional route or through Self-publishing.

      If you are a freelance writer wanting to break into the magazine market, you need to read the magazines you are interested in writing for and learn what style and stories they like.  Other freelance writers attend multi genre events such as the PNWA and WW. 

Another source for connecting to writer groups are yahoo and FB groups. Get on Yahoo or FB and search for the genre you write and groups will pop up.

Networking –Networking is something you do all the time as a writer. You network with other writers, finding critique partners, talking to people about editors, agents, helping at conferences, or becoming an officer or board member in a writing group.  Attending conferences is a good way to network with other writers, editors, and agents.  If you help at the conferences it also gets your name out in front of a lot of people. Part of networking is learning where your writing fits and connecting to people within that area. The other part of networking is visiting with people, letting them know you are a writer or author. If you have a published piece tell people and listen for places where you could read, do a signing, or even sell your book.  And you never know when you will also come across a person who will spark a great idea for a story or book. It is through my networking I first was asked to submit my work to The Wild Rose Press and subsequently became an editor.   Again if you are writing freelance articles, it never hurts to let people know. They may contact you with an interesting subject or someone who you spoke to comments about your work to a person who is looking for that subject. Networking is important not only for getting your work noticed, but also for learning where to send it and even getting ideas for stories. And again, connecting through Twitter, FB, or other social media sites is networking.

    

Submit or self-publish – Once you believe in your writing, have perfected your craft, and have networked and know where you need to submit your work- you submit or you learn all you can about self-publishing and take that plunge. ;)    

     If you want to go the traditional route: You go to either the agent or editor’s website or magazine submission guidelines and found out how they like to be queried or you look this information up in the Writer’s Market place, Writer’s Digest, or wherever you have found the information. Remember you put your best foot forward by submitting either a query or partial the way the editor or agent wants it, not the way you want to send it. If they ask only for a query letter, you keep it to the point. What your book is about, who you are, and what qualifies you to write on this subject, and thank them for considering your book or article.  If they request a partial or full, send a cover letter, again be brief, what the story is about, why you wrote it or were qualified to write it and again thank them for considering your work.  Unless a house says they do not take simultaneous submissions, you may send out to more than one place at a time, but do make sure that somewhere you state it is a simultaneous submission. And if someone does buy it, you follow up with a letter to the other people letting them know it was picked up.

     Rejection letters are a given in this business. If you don’t have a tough skin you won’t make it as a writer.  I threw away a file 3 inches thick a couple years ago.  Rejection letters can’t be taken to heart. It may be your subject isn’t what they are looking for or they just bought a book or story close to yours.  It’s hard to take a photocopied rejection that you know was sent to thousands of other writers, but the one that says, loved it, but- That’s a keeper.  That means what I stated earlier. Either they just bought something that was similar or they don’t have slot to fill it with- which is why I like Ebook.  They don’t have to worry about shelf space and they will purchase similar books simultaneously.

     If you decide to go the self-publish route, make sure you have taken craft classes, have had your stories edited and proofed, the stories are formatted correctly and learn what you need to know to upload.  There are many books, websites, an blogs out there with information on self-publishing. Here are some books I recommend: Secrets Every Author Should Know: Self-publishing Basics by Maggie Lynch and Secrets to Pricing and Distribution: Ebooks, Print, and Direct Sales by Maggie Lynch

Publish – You get the call! The editor loved your book and they want to publish it. If you don’t have an agent to help you through the contract (if it is for a book) you might want to get help from a lawyer who knows literary contracts. If you have sold a short story, or an e-book the contracts are pretty cut and dry and you don’t need any mediator to complete the transaction. With a book, you will get your manuscript back with the editor’s comments, they will give you a certain length of time to get it revised and you will send it back. Then they will send it to you in a galley. This is the last time you get to make any changes. Then it goes to print when it is scheduled. Usually if you are with an e-book/print publisher, the e-book will be out 6 months to a year before the print version.

    Magazines can be up to a year or better.

    If you are self publishing, the book will be out within 72 hours of hitting the publish button on most ebook vendors. 

Promote- You believed in your abilities, you perfected, you networked, submitted, and now you have a published book. Unless you are with a large NY publishing house and they paid monstrous dollars for your book, you are on your own to promote your work. If you can get on a local TV station talk show to promote an upcoming book signing or reading that’s good, as well as contacting your local book store and arranging a book signing, or  if you purchase books at the author’s discount you can set up book signings anywhere an establishment will let you.I have had book signings at Wine stores, chocolate shops, flea markets. The skies the limit for where you can sell your print books if you look for them. If you do have an event coming up, send PR to the local paper and always have your promotional packet up to date to send to the establishment where you are having the event. Try to set up book signings or readings in the area where you live, where you grew up, and where the story takes place. If you have an e-book - joining online readers and writers groups is a way to promote. They have chats with authors and highlight specific authors on specific days. Always be looking for an opportunity to promote your book.  Another form of promotion are blogs and websites.

I also purchase or make items to hand out at book signings and to send to conferences when they are looking for promo items for goodie bags to be given away at conferences.  I also have a monthly contest on my website and give away a book, chocolate and other small western items.  I am always on the look out for little things I can tuck into envelopes and send out as prizes.  When I do online chats I hold a contest and give away an ebook or print book I’m promoting.  You have to have people read your work to build a readership.

Never Forget- Never forget the people and organizations who helped you get where you are. Give back by talking at a meeting, giving a workshop at a conference, and telling others who helped you along your way. Remember those who helped you perfect, network, submit, publish, and promote - you didn’t get there alone. 

LIST OF WRITING ORGANIZATIONS

Pacific Northwest Writers Association

www.pnwa.org

Issaquah, WA

Willamette Writers

www.willamettewriters.com

Portland

Newport

Eugene

Medford

Romance Writers of America

www.rwanational.org

chapters all across the U.S.

Western Writers of America

www.westernwriters.org

Women Writing the West

http://www.womenwritingthewest.org/

Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers

www.rmtw.org

Colorado

Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America

http://sfwa.org

Sisters in Crime (Women Mystery Writers organization)

http://www.sistersincrime.org  

Horror Writers Association

www.horror.org

   

Places where you can find information on submitting your work.

Writer’s Market Place

www.writersmarketplace.com/

Publisher’s Market Place

www.publishersmarketplace.com/

Children’s Writer’s Market Place

www.write4kids.com/wmarket/

Freelance Writer’s Market Place

www.ebookcrossroads.com/freelance.html

  

Sources of writing information

Writer’s Digest

www.writersdigest.com/

Poets & Writers

www.pw.org/mag/

The Writer Magazine

www.writermag.com/

Writer’s Journal

www.writersjournal.com/

Magazine Writers

www.magazinewriters.com/

KidMag Writers

www.kidmagwriters.com/

A Day in the Life

This week has been a little slower but not much. I finished a book last week and am starting into a new one this week. I have it fleshed out, the pre-writing steps taken, and  started to put the story onto the document. Only struggling with the first 500 words, I realized I was telling the wrong story and now, my fingers are flying and I'm excited about the book. That is how the process works for me.

This installment of A Day in the Life happened last Thursday.

We awoke and were eating breakfast when I asked my usual question of my hubby. "What are your plans today?"

He said, "We're going to get some bluegrass hay."

George

That meant I wasn't going to get to my chores for a bit. We finished eating and while I cleaned up the dishes he made sure the back of his pickup was empty.  I walked down and fed the horses before we all (dogs included) climbed in the pickup. The hay was only about five miles from our house. we loaded the twenty bales onto the back of the pickup and brought it home. Then we had to re-stack a small hay stack that had started to tilt. After it was back in place, we unloaded and stacked the bluegrass. After all the problems with our daughter's pony, it was finally diagnosed as needing a low calorie, low carb diet which means we scrounge up bluegrass straw hay for him and it is doing George some good being on the same diet. ;)


When the hay was all stacked I asked, hubby if he needed me for anything else. He replied, no.  I spent the rest of the morning working on the book I finished until he arrived and said it was time to go to town.  I'd mentioned the day before I wanted to attend a meeting of the Historical Society. It was a luncheon. Hubby dropped me off. I attended the meeting. Some of it was interesting and some wasn't. I've found so far that these luncheons are never about what I thought they would be from the write up int he newspaper.

I also had an appointment with another writer and the head of the Harney County Library to set up an Indie Author Day at the Library in October. Between the luncheon and the meeting I had some time to kill and used it browsing through the local quilt shop that is closing and has their fabric for half off. I picked up some fun pieces and then headed to the library.  The meeting went well. We are sending out invitations to local writers to be on a panel to talk with the public. It should be a fun day!

We returned from town with a few groceries. I made dinner and hubby said, he needed my help after dinner. While in town he'd picked up new nozzles for one of the dairy irrigation pivots. He needed to change the nozzles and needed me to read the numbers and pick out the ones he asked for and hand them to him.  The dogs hopped in the work truck and we went out to the North Pivot.

Dogs hoping a rodent will be drowned out of its hole

Putting in the new nozzle

Hubby turned the water off and we walked through knee high wet alfalfa as we walked along the pivot changing out the nozzles. Mikey was racing around through the wet plants having fun cooling off.  Tink jumped back in the pickup. She is a diva and didn't like getting all wet.

Mikey all wet after his run through the alfalfa

When the nozzles were done, the sun was setting and the sky was turning a fire season orange.

The sprinkler ready to go.

We went home, took showers, and settled in for a couple hours of TV before going to bed. We live a laid back lifestyle and I like it!

Always a Book or Two Ahead

I don't know how other authors operate but my mind is always working on the next books I'll be writing while I'm working on the current work in progress.

Even though not all my books are in a series, I like how I can think about the next book as I write a book in a series and drop in a little nugget that gives the reader an idea of what the next book in the series might be about.  It works well for the Shandra Higheagle books. I either leave a nugget about Shandra and Ryan's relationship or the possibility of who might be involved in the next murder that happens.

The same goes for series that are set in the same area or with the same ongoing secondary characters. While writing a book, I can think of a good premise for another book. It may not always be the next book, it could be one or two down the line, but I jot down the information and use it when I'm ready for that book.

Right now as I'm writing the first book of the Silver Dollar Saloon series and the secondary characters are coming to life, I can visualize the type of man each saloon girl will have for her hero, and I'm getting a good picture of the woman who will capture the heart of saloon owner, Beau Gentry. But he won't have his happy-ever-after until about book four. Why? Because the reader needs to get to know him better before they see the woman he falls for. ;)

Not only am I seeing the books that will come from the Silver Dollar Saloon series, I'm planning the next mystery and a contemporary western Christmas novella.

Lewis

The next mystery will have a Halloween theme, with Lewis, the cat, mixed up in the murder. So be prepared for that one!  I have the premise sketched out and will be working on the suspect chart soon. I'm also figuring out how to work in a secondary character in a future Shandra Higheagle book who can be used in a new murder mystery series. It's the logistics I'm working on and whether to make the main amateur sleuth a male or female. Any suggestions?

And the contemporary western Christmas novella. I'm still puzzling that out. I'd like it to have something to do with the National Finals Rodeo because it happens in December but at the same time, I'd like to write a story that sticks to what I know, cattle. So it may be a story set on a cattle ranch. Any preferences?

That is how my brain works. Constantly flipping story ideas and characters around in my head, assessing whether they will work and if I can pull off what I'm aiming for in the story.

As I've heard several times from friends and family after I've talked about the process of writing a book, "I never realized how much goes into a story other than writing it." 

Stages of Writing

There are stages every writer goes through while on their way to being published. Here is a brief list and what to expect.

Believe – Believe in your abilities as a writer
Perfect – Take classes and workshops – read what you write
Network – get involved in writing organizations – online chats
Submit – find the right agent, editor, market
Publish - (for self-Publishing) - this is the stage where you make your work shine
Publish – Now what
Promote – Put you and your work out there

Never Forget – who helped you along the way and give back

Believe – Believe in your ability to write a poem, tell a story, or depict events. If you don’t believe in yourself no on else is going to believe. Be convincing when you say you are a writer. You may not be published, but if you are writing anything other than grocery and to-do lists, you are a writer. Be it poems, lyrics, essays, short stories, novels( fiction or non-fiction), memoirs, or biographies – you are a writer.

Perfect - Take classes, learn all you can about your craft and the area you are writing. Subscribe to the Writer’s Digest, or any magazine in your area of writing. If you join Romance Writers of America you'll get the Romance Writers Report. Subscribe to the Romantic Times or Publisher Weekly magazines to not only learn about different aspects of writing, but to also keep abreast of the markets, see what others are writing. Along with learning to write, you need to read. Read the genre you write. See what others are doing and how they do it. If you google a genre and your area or just writing conferences in general, I'm sure some kind of conference that has workshops on craft will come up. Look for Writers Guilds in your area. They usually have speakers at meetings and will hold Saturday workshops on craft. These conferences have workshops given by authors, editors, and agents. This is where you learn craft and work on the next stage. Networking. There is also the Colorado Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers conference, the Pacific Northwest Writers Association, Willamette Writers, Western Writers of America, and Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Not to mention the Romance Writers of America. These are all good organizations to become familiar with even if you don’t join. They are the people who know the people you need to know if you are working at getting a novel published.

If you are a freelance writer wanting to break into the magazine market, you need to read the magazines you are interested in writing for and learn what style and stories they like. Other freelance writers attend your multi genre events such as the PNWA and WW. 

Networking –Networking is something you do all the time as a writer. You network with other writers, finding critique partners, talking to people about editors, agents, learning the ins and outs of the self-publishing world, helping at conferences, or becoming an officer or board member in a writing group. Attending conferences is a good way to network with other writers, editors, and agents. If you help at the conferences it also gets your name out in front of a lot of people. Part of networking is learning where your writing fits and connecting to people within that area. The other part of networking is visiting with people, letting them know you are a writer or author. If you have a published piece tell people and listen for places where you could read, do a signing, or even sell your book. And you never know when you will also come across a person who will spark a great idea for a story or book. It is through my networking I first was asked to submit my work to The Wild Rose Press.And it was networking that gave me the push to try self-publishing. Again if you are writing freelance articles, it never hurts to let people know. They may contact you with an interesting subject or someone who you spoke to comments about your work to a person who is looking for that subject. Networking is important not only for getting your work noticed, but also for learning where to send it and even getting ideas for stories.

Submit (if going traditional publishing)– Once you believe in your writing, have perfected your craft, and have networked and know where you need to submit your work- you submit. But first you have gone to either the agent or editor’s website or magazine submission guidelines and found out how they like to be queried or you’ve looked this information up in the Writer’s Market place, Writer’s Digest, RWA site, or wherever you have found the information. Remember you put your best foot forward by submitting either a query or partial the way the editor or agent wants it, not the way you want to send it. If they ask only for a query letter, you keep it to the point. What your book is about, who you are, and what qualifies you to write on this subject, and thank them for considering your book or article. If they request a partial or full, send a cover letter, again be brief, what the story is about, why you wrote it or were qualified to write it and again thank them for considering your work. Unless a house says they do not take simultaneous submissions, you may send out to more than one place at a time, but do make sure that somewhere you state it is a simultaneous submission. And if someone does buy it, you follow up with a letter to the other people letting them know it was picked up.

Rejection letters are a given in this business. If you don’t have a tough skin you won’t make it as a writer. I threw away a file this thick a couple years ago and have another one this thick now. Rejection letters can’t be taken to heart. It may be your subject isn’t what they are looking for or they just bought a book or story close to yours. It’s hard to take a photocopied rejection that you know was sent to thousands of other writers, but the one that says, loved it, but- That’s a keeper. That means what I stated earlier. Either they just bought something that was similar or they don’t have slot to fill it with- which is why I like Ebook. They don’t have to worry about shelf space and they will purchase similar books simultaneously.

Publish - (for self-publishing)If you've decided to go the self-publishing route, you need to find a cover designer, have your work read by critique partners or beta readers or both. Have the book edited by an editor or someone you know will do the right job. While the book is with the editor, you need to write a back cover blurb, discover your keywords, decide if you will format for ebook and print or source it out. learn how to upload to the ebook vendors and Createspace or Ingrams. Purchase ISBN number or decide if you want to use the free ones from the vendors. When the book comes back edited and you've made another run or two through it. You will either send it out to be formatted to format it yourself  and upload.  

Publish – You get the call! The editor loved your book and they want to publish it. If you don’t have an agent to help you through the contract (if it is for a book) you might want to get help from a lawyer who knows literary contracts. If you have sold a short story, or an e-book the contracts are pretty cut and dry and you don’t need any mediator to complete the transaction. With a book, you will get your manuscript back with the editor’s comments, they will give you a certain length of time to get it revised and you will send it back. Then they will send it to you in a galley. This is the last time you get to make any changes. Then it goes to print when it is scheduled. Usually if you are with an e-book/print publisher, the e-book will be out 6 months to a year before the print version.

Magazines can be up to a year or better.

Promote- You believed in your abilities, you perfected, you networked, submitted, and now you havea published book. Unless you are with a large NY publishing house and they paid monstrous dollars for your book, you are on your own to promote your work. If you can get on a local TV station talk show to promote an upcoming book signing or reading that’s good, as well as contacting your local bookstore and arranging a book signing, or if you purchase books at the author’s discount you can set up book signings anywhere an establishment will let you. another author and I had a couple signings at a wine store, I've also been with a group of authors at a chocolate store, and I set up at the Sumpter Flea Market once a year. If you do have an event coming up, send PR to the local paper and always have your promotional packet up to date to send to the establishment where you are having the event. Try to set up book signings or readings in the area where you live, where you grew up, and where the story takes place. If you have an e-book - joining online readers and writers groups is a way to promote. They have chats with authors and highlight specific authors on specific days. Always be looking for an opportunity to promote your book. Another form of promotion are blogs and websites.
I also purchase or make items to hand out at book signings and to send to conferences when they are looking for promo items for goodie bags to be given away at conferences. I am always on the look out for little things I can tuck into envelopes and send out as prizes. When I do online chats I hold a contest and give away an ebook I’m promoting. You have to have people read your work to build a readership.

Never Forget- Never forget the people and organizations who helped you get where you are. Give back by talking at a meeting, giving a workshop at a conference, and telling others who helped you along your way. Remember those who helped you perfect, network, submit, publish, and promote - you didn’t get there alone.

What to Know When Writing a Synopsis

Compiled from various author websites and workshops by Paty Jager

Synopsis in the dictionary means – a condensed statement or outline (as of a narrative or treatise)

When an editor or agent asks for a synopsis, whether one page or seven pages, they want a comprehensive view of your story in a narrative form that shows your voice, not an account of the story in a monotone line by line description.

A synopsis needs to tell the editor: Set-up, major developments, and resolution, all the while providing internal conflict, external conflict, and the black moment.  You must always give the resolution. Nothing has an editor rejecting a work more than a writer not tying up the loose ends in a synopsis. They don’t find it cute to be left hanging. It makes them wonder if you really have a satisfying ending.

Not only does the synopsis give a brief description of the story, it should also reflect your voice or writing style. If you have a humorous book, the synopsis should be humorous, if it’s a suspense there should be a feeling of suspense in the synopsis.

You also need to decide ahead of time what you want to devote the most attention to, especially if you are writing suspense. Will the editor jump on the romance angle or the suspense angle?  You need to make the decision and focus on that angle.

In a synopsis, you don’t have room for details. Don’t include secondary plots or characters unless they are necessary to understand the resolution. Don’t use multiple points of view in a synopsis.

Write in present tense. It provides a sense of urgency.

A synopsis should be formatted just as you would a manuscript:

• Double Spaced
• Mono-spaced font such as Courier, New Courier or Times New Roman (sized to give you no more than 250 words per page)
•  Header on every page, (book title, upper left – last name and page number, upper right) formatted so synopsis text begins no less than 1 inch from the top
• It begins at the beginning of your story and goes to the end of your story

Questions you need to answer in your synopsis:

• WHAT – happens (Story)
• HOW – it (story) happens (Plot)
• WHO – it happens to (Main Characters)
• WHY – it happens to them (Conflict)
• WHERE – it happens (setting/location)
• WHEN – it happens (Time – Seasons , day, night , year)

Writing the Synopsis

Be sure you include Action, Growth, and Romance(if you’re writing a romance) in your synopsis and no back story.

The first paragraph of the synopsis should be a hook. Either a situation, story statement, or story theme.  You should choose the first sentence of your synopsis just as you would the first line of your book. You want to grab the editor’s attention from line one and keep her or him interest to the last line.

·         Mark Smith lost his wife and is trying to raise two children by himself. This is not the way to start.  An attention getting first line would be: Mark Smith wishes every day  for his life to return to normal, but with two matchmaking, teenage daughters, he knows it won’t happen any time soon. This grabs the editor’s attention and sets up the conflict, all in one sentence.

The second paragraph should show the heroine’s motivations, goals, and character traits, succinctly.

The third paragraph should show the hero’s motivations, goals, and character traits, succinctly.

The body of the synopsis should tell how they meet(if a romance) and all pertinent information to the romance, mystery, or suspense  and plot without minute detail. Pick the turning points and emotional highs and lows.

The Black Moment should also be short and to the point.

And then the satisfying resolution.

Always remember to use good grammar and the writing needs to be tight. Editors don’t want pages of beautiful prose. They want the plot, the romance, and whether or not you have put together a saleable book.

The purpose of the synopsis (for an acquiring editor) is to determine whether or not you have a solid plot and it is something that piques their interest.

What don’t you put in a synopsis?

Do not put description of either the setting or characters. No bulging muscles, crimson sunsets, or love scenes. None of that influences an editor. What they are looking for is plot and how well you’ve woven one.