Being able to summarize a book is proof that the reader has understood the message that the author wants to convey. Indeed, the summarizer of a book is the simplified version of the entire book, that is to say that the contents of the book must be quoted all the important elements of the book in a clear way. So what are the steps to follow to summarize a book ?
The steps for a good summarizer
After you’ve finished reading your book, don’t just write an outline. It’s tempting to start right away, with the story still fresh in your mind. But it takes a step back to write it without saying too much. Your first objective : get out of the author’s shoes and put yourself in the shoes of your future readers. Indeed, to be effective, you must put yourself in the reader’s shoes to write your summarizer. To do this, put away your manuscript, forget it for 48 hours, and go for a walk ! Then you will start writing your summarizer with fresh eyes. Why should readers read summarizer ? It’s to find out if the story of the book makes them want to, if the author’s style makes them happy, and of course, if they will buy the book. Pay particular attention to the beginning of the summarizer, its tagline. The first line should be punchy and make you want to read more. The first word must challenge the reader by questioning or intriguing him. To do this, forget long or overly descriptive sentences. The best solution is to quote an inspiring text from the book, put it into context and introduce the protagonist. After reading your summarizer, readers need to know if the book is right for them. He must immediately determine the type of book in question (thriller, adventure, romance, etc.) to understand the tone and the emotion that it will bring to him. It is therefore necessary to highlight the strengths of your book, its unique elements : suspense, disturbing or endearing characters, original staging, humorous tone… and everything that can make the book unique and interesting for readers.
How important is a summarizer ?
It is a question of acquiring a global knowledge of the book by reading once (or several times, in complex cases) the basic document. This reading is not necessarily accompanied by note taking, it is simply an attempt to determine the volume, main structure and main points of the book. Its purpose is to provide an in-depth understanding of the text. It consists of breaking down the latter into its elements, ie listing the different ideas proposed by the author, as well as the relationship and sequence between the ideas. Naturally, this phase will become more important and longer as the text becomes more complex. What is important in the summarizer is to highlight the basic ideas and only underline them. Therefore, it is necessary to eliminate anything that is not relevant to the main reasoning of the author, in particular : minor details and examples, repetitions, emphasis, references and allusions, data numbers, transitions and irrelevant links that do not connect the main idea. Search for the correct words instead of phrases or groups of words. The success of the physical presentation of a book depends mainly on three elements, the title, the cover and the summarizer. The summarizer is as important as the other two. However, the author does not always sum up his book at best. Because he must be able to forget that he is the author and put himself in the place of the reader.
