Dear Jamie, and Booksharian Friends, It's great when the Amazon blurbs are taken from the backs of the books, but if we don't know that for sure, we can't risk using them, because we risk violating the exemption to the law which allows us to quote copyrighted material in the first place. Citing the fair use provision of the copyright law to justify quoting from Amazon synopses and user comments or from any other reviews in the book or from other sources doesn't make us safe from violating the law because Bookshare isn't held accountable to that copyright law, but to a series of exceptions passed into law exclusively for Bookshare. We have no choice about what material we use for synopses. If we copy reviewer's quotes or Amazon's readers reviews, we put Bookshare at serious legal risk. Jim Fruckterman, CEO of Bookshare, stated this specifically in his address last night giving Amazon as an example. This isn't convenient for us in terms of finding quick ways to summarize a book, but we are bound to keep strictly to Bookshare's agreement with the government and publishers or risk Bookshare's very existence. To the volunteers in general, please don't jeopardize Bookshare because it's extra work to invent synopses when none are provided in the book. Bookshare isn't trying to add to our workload, but it must keep to its legal agreements.If publishers feel Bookshare has violated their trust, they have the clout... the resources to shut Bookshare down. While I'm at it, I'm grateful to every volunteer each time I read about a book on the new books list with a short synopsis which gives me clues as to whether I want to investigate it further. Then I appreciate the long synopses which help me make my final decision as to whether or not I'd like to read a book. Synopses make browsing informative and fun. They are well worth the effort you make to include them. Always with love, Lissi ----- Original Message ----- From: Jamie Yates, CPhT To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2008 5:47 PM Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Publisher Quality Books needing synopses Many times one of the blurbs on Amazon are actually the same thing that is on the inside flap of the book or the back cover of the book. You can use those for the synopsis. You cannot use like a review written by somebody else. On Amazon if you click on see all editorial reviews the one that says book description is usually the one they take right from the cover of the book. Jamie in Michigan Currently Reading - Portrait in Death by J. D. Robb I'm an eBay affiliate, click here before you bid! Click here for eBay!