Writing a synopsis is just plain difficult. I compare it to going through labor and then discovering you've given birth to a bowling ball: it's painful and the results aren't what you wanted or expected. I find the synopsis much harder to write than the book.

Author Josh Palmatier (a.k.a. jpsorrow) has started a wonderful project that demonstrates how much writers help other writers. He's asked published authors to post examples of the synopses they used to sell their books. With the zeal of good neighbors after a house fire, that's just what a boatload of folks have done. You can see a list on Josh's blog at the above link, or you can do a Google blog search for "synopsis" and "project" in case he missed someone. I really liked Maria Snyder's post, because she had two different examples and some useful info on how to write a synopsis, and also Mindy Klasky's entry (mindyklasky mostly because I had read the book and she helpfully pointed out the things she had left out as well as the things she put in.

Cool idea! Kudos to jpsorrow !