[bksvol-discuss] Re: synopses and reviews

  • From: Cindy Rosenthal <popularplace@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2009 14:22:24 -0800 (PST)

Monica,

I'm guess I didn't make myself clear. A synopsis is a summary of the plot of a 
book. I agree that only a person who has read the book should write a review, 
and that properly belongs with the book listing in the collection where there 
is a space for reviews. I didn't mean that anyone should take reviews from 
Amazon or B&N, I was recommending that people read them for information.

To say that a book, e.g., The Nightmare Game, is a "thrilling conclusion of a 
groundbreaking trilogy..." is not a synopsis but an opinion, and in this 
particular case it is taken directly from the publisher's product description, 
as is the rest of the synopsis; we aren't supposed to quote synopses  from the 
publisher, unless it's on the book jacket or flap, either for that matter.

I did try to indicate that I think many, perhaps most, people here on the list 
do write their own synopses. Some evaluative comments in synopses are clearly 
written by the volunteer; one can tell from the style. But even then it more 
properly belongs in a review. To put in a synopsis that a book "...is an 
intelligent first mystery book rich in language and ideas," although I know, 
after seeing who it was, that the person who wrote this is eminently qualified 
to make that judgment, perhaps more qualified than the person who wrote the SLJ 
evaluation, according to the bookshare guidelines as I understand them, that 
should be in the review accompanying the book and not in the synopsis, long or 
short.

I'm sorry if I offended anyone,and probably it wasn't my place to say anything. 
I know that a lot of the "wrong" type of synopses have been written by people 
or organizations to whom bookshare outsources work. But seeing those copied 
reviews or synopses or one-liners that aren't really synopses because they 
don't tell briefly what the book is about made me fear that some volunteers 
will think follow that example.

I'm probably digging the whole I put myself in even deeper. I'd better stop. 
rueful smile

Cindy



> Journal or an Amazon description. By rewriting
> someone's synopsis based on
> Amazon, you are communicating that the person doesn't
> know what they're
> talking about, even though they worked on the book.
> Bookshare asks us to
> describe a book in our own words rather than using a source
> like Amazon. So
> a description may look more like a review to you, but it is
> within
> Bookshare's guidelines. For that reason, I would be
> offended if someone
> spent time rewriting my synopses and would vigorously
> object to the
> practice. There are enough books in the collection with no
> synopses at all
> that need to be updated. Rewriting another volunteer's
> synopsis because you
> don't like it is a waste of our limited resources when
> there are so many
> things left undone at this point. If you don't like a
> synopsis, just write a
> review and describe the book in your own words. Then let
> the reader decide.
> 
> Monica Willyard
> "The best way to predict the future is to create
> it." -- Peter Drucker
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
> Cindy Rosenthal
> Sent: Thursday, February 05, 2009 3:07 AM
> To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [bksvol-discuss] synopses and reviews
> 
> 
> I have a habit of looking up books on Amazon and/or
> B&N, especially books
> for children through young adult levels, and also other
> titles sometimes to
> see what genre they fall into, e.g., science fiction or
> fantasy. I read the
> reviews, and sometimes they are in agreement, both
> professional review
> journals and customer reviews, and sometimes they are not.
> I think perhaps
> that is why the bookshare policy is that reviewers'
> comments, whether from
> the book jacket, where of course they're going to be
> favorable--can you
> imagine a publisher including an unfavorable review on is
> book jacket or
> inside the book--or from another source are not to be
> included in the
> synopsis.
> 
> From the synopses of bookshare books that I've read,
> while some are
> excellent, others are nothing more than reviews, and in the
> case of a
> children's book added to the collection recently, it
> was the opposite of
> School Library Journal's review. 
> 
> I've reached the conclusion that some people do not
> know what a synopsis it.
> Unfortunately, I think some of these people are not
> bookshare volunteers.
> For any of you who don't know, a synopsis is a plot
> summary. If any of you
> see synopses of books that need rewriting, I hope
> you'll take the time to do
> so and send the rewrite to Carrie or Allison to use as a
> replacement.
> 
> I've read customers' reviews online that differ
> markedly from each other,
> which is why I read the reviews before I decide to buy a
> book. There is a
> place on a book's bookshare site for readers to write a
> review. The good
> thing about that is that you can write what you think
> having read the book.
> Others can read your review and after a while they'll
> know whether your
> tastes are the same or different from theirs. I know some
> of us do write
> reviews and I hope others of you will, too. It really
> doesn't take very
> long.
> 
> Cindy
> 
> 
>       
> 
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