How to Write a Chapter Synopsis for Your Book Proposal

A Step-by-Step Case Study on How to Write Your Chapter Summaries

It’s the oldest trick in the book for a cave tour guide. Ours, who halted us deep within Mark Twain Cave (near Hannibal, Missouri) shut off the lights and talked about how utterly dark it was. “To demonstrate,” he said, “try waving your hand in front of your face.” He was right, we couldn’t see a thing. Just then he turned on the lights, and we all looked rather silly waving our hands in front of our faces.

In your chapter-by-chapter synopsis (aka chapter summaries), you are giving the reviewer a tour of your book. Your role here is to shed light on each chapter in a way that will keep the reviewer reading. But how do you do that?

Courtesy of Unsplash to go to yahoo. You simply: Specify the target in the

Courtesy of Unsplash

Brief setup: In December 2012 I started a series of posts on how to create a book proposal. I wrote two posts before realizing the series would be far more helpful to folks if I actually coached a writer through the process of crafting a book proposal. After a brief contest of sorts I decided to work with Gary Neal Hansen. My strong hope is that others will be working on their book proposals as I coach Gary through this process. So far I’ve posted about motivation, concept, bio, platform, working title, brief description, and table of contents.

Let’s dive into Gary’s synopsis of his first chapter:

1. Community for Prayer — Benedictine Monasticism

While Protestants often dismiss monasticism as running from community and service, for the medieval followers of Benedict of Nursia (c. 480 – c. 550) the opposite was the case.  Entering monastic life was an intense immersion in community life where the purpose was to fit each member for heaven and much of the means was a shared life of prayer.  Monasteries became the training centers for remarkable leaders who were then called to the world as the missionaries and bishops that brought Christianity to Europe–where they created new monasteries to train the next generation. The chapter will tell the stories of Benedictine monasticism and some of the notable leaders it produced.  It will also draw out ways monastic life built community and discipleship through prayer, through its clearly defined roles, and through formal practices that encouraged humble service, mutual accountability, and individual growth.

Not bad at all, I’d say. Gary gives us the gist of the chapter in relatively succinct form. I would encourage:

  • Being even more succinct
  • Referencing at least one narrative per chapter
  • Including one sentence about the history of the group
  • Including one sentence about the historical importance of the movement (i.e., what did it accomplish?), and
  • Making at least one reference to what we can learn from the movement

Generally speaking, a synopsis should:

  • use the present tense (“This chapter explains…,” not “This chapter will explain…”)
  • not be an exhaustive description (That’s what chapters are for!)
  • entice the reviewer to keep reading (think: narrative references!)
  • highlight the most marketable/saleable features of each chapter

Following is my revision:

1. Community for Prayer — Benedictine Monasticism

Opening with an engaging narrative about Benedict himself, this chapter counters the frequent Protestant error of equating monasticism with running from community and service. For the medieval followers of Benedict of Nursia (c. 480 – c. 550) the opposite was the case. Entering monastic life was an intense immersion in community life where the purpose was to fit each member for heaven largely through a shared life of prayer. Monasteries became training centers for remarkable leaders who then went into the world as missionaries and bishops. They did nothing less than bring Christianity to Europe, and we have much to learn from them about prayer and discipleship.

Bonus Content: Even more important than your synopsis are the chapter titles and subtitles you include in your book proposal. For a brief video training on how to develop compelling titles and subtitles, including a sample Table of Contents makeover, click here.

How to write a chapter synopsis for your book proposal #amwriting via @ChadRAllen

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Question: Are you working on a chapter synopsis? Drop it in a comment, and I’ll do my best to help. You can leave a comment by clicking here.

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44 thoughts on “How to Write a Chapter Synopsis for Your Book Proposal”

  1. Thank you so much for your blog. I’ve recommended it to many people. I have been a published author for years (novels, memoirs), but a book proposal (my first) for a non-fiction project is giving me fits. I have an agent who is proving patient, but I could use a tad more guidance in how heavy to inject narrative into each chapter (in the chapter synopsis). Aso, could I trouble you for a couple of examples? Many thanks, Dee

  2. Chad, Great chapter that I’ve just used to write this chapter synopsis for a book titled Re-imagining Executive Development, thank you. I’d welcome any comments you may have :

    Where do executives in emerging markets learn their leadership?

    Saudi Arabia is positioning itself to become a strong economic, political, social, cultural and religious centre for the region and on the global stage.

    This chapter brings together three perspectives – first, what do we know about adult development as essential to design of executive leadership programs; second, we describe Saudi culture as the context for leadership here; and third, what do Saudi’s say has been most significant in forming their current leadership style and, what are their priorities for future learning? Presenting the results of a small group interview of emerging, mid and late career Saudi leaders we discuss their perceptions in the broader organizational, cultural and regional context. Providing a bridge between theory and reality as perceived by the Saudi Executive we argue a bias towards ‘critical learning experiences’ grounded in the cultural context as an essential ingredient in future executive education program design in emerging markets.
    You can drop me an email if convenient so I don’t miss your great feedback at johnread.sg@gmail.com. Thank you really!

  3. Hi Chad! I’ve been reading a ton of your articles as I write my book proposal—thanks for the great content! I’ve read various places (now I can’t remember where, of course) that you shouldn’t use “This chapter explains” or “This chapter will cover” etc. in summaries and instead just jump into an abridged version of the action/subject matter. It’s a variation of the show don’t tell thing. Thoughts?

  4. Question from a newbie: I know that the ms itself always has to be double spaced. But are chapter summaries also double-spaced? My understanding is that the double spacing is so that an editor can make suggestions re changes, and my other understanding is that no one is reading chapter summaries for that purpose. I find double-spacing difficult to read and prefer single or 1 1/2 spacing when I am reading for content. Thanks!

  5. Wonderful insight! I always place stock in reading published books on anything I’m researching, for pleasure or otherwise, but your wisdom is invaluable.

  6. This is so helpful! I was under the impression each synopsis needed to be one or two sentences, so I’m glad to know I have more freedom to share meat of each chapter!

  9. Hi Chad,

    I have been writing and rewriting (then rewriting some more) my book proposal and really cannot get over the trepidation of an agent or publisher actually seeing my measly work. I randomly stumbled onto your site and would adore some constructive criticism!

    I. Introduction: Fully Awake

    In our nation, life is moving so rapidly that we have lost touch of the intrinsic value of each God-formed day. With the birth of my son, Jack, I travelled to Hell and back standing by his side through open-heart surgeries, near death and daily chemotherapy. It was not until I swallowed a daily dose of the real possibility of his death, that I learned to savor every moment. Life with a terminal child has taught me that God calls us to live with purposeful intentionality. To do otherwise would be ignoring the sanctity of every moment.

    • Introduction: Fully Awake
      Life is moving so rapidly we have lost touch with the intrinsic value of each God-formed day. With the birth of my son, Jack, I traveled to hell and back, standing by his side through open-heart surgeries, near death, and daily chemotherapy. It was not until I faced the real possibility of his death that I learned to savor every moment. Life with a terminally ill child has taught me that God calls us to live with purposeful intentionality. To do otherwise would be ignoring the sanctity of every moment.

      And here’s another possible direction:
      Sometimes it takes a close brush with death to really live. Mine came in the form of a terminally ill child. As I stood by his side through open-heart surgeries, near death, and daily chemotherapy, I learned to savor the sanctity of every moment. In facing his imminent death every day, I learned something important about how to be alive.

  11. Good morning Chad. Thank you for helping in what I considered one of the most challenging stumbling blocks in writing a nonfiction book proposal. I had to keep telling myself “describe don’t summarize.” Sounds simple right? Not! Thank you.

  12. Pingback: How to Write the Marketing Section of Your Book Proposal | Chad R. Allen

  14. The “fiction-based-on-truth” book synopsis is different. It’s not chapter by chapter but rather several pages, so I understand. My main question is point of view of the synopsis. The book is written from a dog’s point of view. From what POV should the synopsis be written?

  15. It’s amazingly helpful to see how you rewrote that. Fantastic example. It said the same thing but made me have to think a lot less about the key points and intrigued me to see how I can learn from them. Is there a firm guideline for how many sentences these should be (e.g., 3-5)?

  17. Since I write fiction, I do a “big picture” synopsis and outline, as I work, where each chapter is headed. Out of my element a bit in the world of non-fiction, but I’m finding this process fascinating.

    Gary, how do you decide to title your chapters? Do you decide what it is you’re going to address in each individual chapter and then go from there? It truly seems like such a God-inspired process!

    I have to admit…title chapters as questions will always encourage me to read more.

    Chad, what’s an appropriate length (page wise) for a non-fiction synopsis? I suppose it would depend on the number of chapters to be covered within the book, and perhaps, you’ve mentioned this and I missed it…

    Thank you! Love this learning curve! (And wow. I guess there’s a reason I’m not a seminary student. 🙂 )

  18. I LOVE this whole project, so thank you, Gary for your humble willingness to go along, and thank you, Chad, for your humble servant spirit. Here’s my chapter summary, but first… The SETUP: I’m working on a project about modern incarnations of the battle between legalism and grace. The working title is “Grace-ology.” I’m using the terms “traditional legalism” and “nouveau legalism” to distinguish old-time rule-bound legalism from today’s more subtle version with its stealth requirements. In a series of chapters, I critique nouveau legalism.

    The chapter summary:
    6. Shallow: A mile wide and an inch deep.
    Tozer affirmed, “the most important thing about us is what comes to mind
    when we think about God.” Dorothy Sayers warned our grandparents, “It is worse than useless for Christians to talk about the importance of Christian morality, unless they are prepared to take their stand upon the fundamentals of Christian theology.” Incarnation? Trinity? Redemption? Justification? Propitiation? Theology? Who needs it. The germs of nouveau legalism proliferate in the dank cellars of biblical illiteracy. Having relegated theological depth to picky, irrelevant seminary professors, the church’s puppet-masters can yank our behavioral strings with impunity. “Control the story, control the world:” when the biblical story devolves into an endless succession of self-help hints and evil-whitewashing crusades, God gets relegated to a sub-plot, and humans become stars in their own tragic comedy. This chapter explores the indispensable links between theological thinking and grace-oriented living.

    Thank you.

    • “…God gets relegated to asub-plot, and humans become stars in their own tragic comedy…” Wow, Bill. I love that. And I like the way you summed up the entire chapter in the last sentence. Oh, but for grace!

    • So, in light of later comments, I think I’ll cut everything before the word “Incarnation.” And tighten it up like this:

      Incarnation? Trinity? Redemption? Justification? Propitiation? Theology? Who needs it. The germs of nouveau legalism proliferate in the dank cellars of biblical illiteracy. When the biblical story devolves into an endless succession of self-help hints and evil-whitewashing crusades, God gets relegated to a sub-plot, and humans become stars in their own tragic comedy. This chapter explores the indispensable links between theological thinking and grace-oriented living.

      • Bill, try:

        Tozer affirmed, “the most important thing about us is what comes to mind when we think about God.” The germs of nouveau legalism proliferate in the dank cellars of biblical illiteracy. Having relegated theological depth to picky, irrelevant seminary professors, the church’s puppet-masters can yank our behavioral strings with impunity.When the biblical story devolves into an endless succession of self-help hints and evil-whitewashing crusades, God gets relegated to a sub-plot, and humans become stars in their own tragic comedy. This chapter explores the indispensable links between theological thinking and grace-oriented living.

  19. Chad, I’m working on a book proposal for a fiction novel. Would you encourage a chapter by chapter synopsis. I thought this would be relevant for non-fiction, but just checking.

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