Cindy,
I have to politely disagree with you. It is the long synopses, or, lack
thereof, that has been the problem with many recent submissions. People
write a very poor short synopsis, and then, do not write anything in the
long synopsis field. So, you basically have no idea what the book is
about.
Honestly, I think a long synopsis should be required. As Donna pointed
out,
it's usually right there, on the back of the book, and can be easily
scanned.
So, while I do understand what you're saying about the character
restriction
on the short synopses, what I've observed is that people seem to have no
problem coming up with those. They seem to have problems supplementing
them
with long synopses.
Shannon
Women will starve in silence until new stories are created which confer on
them the power of naming themselves.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Cindy Rosenthal" <popularplace@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, January 01, 2009 4:26 AM
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: An observation about synopses
Unfortunately, Julia, we're not supposed to copy the
synopses on Amazon or of any of the reviews like
Publishers' Weekly, we've been told, because they're
copyrighted. We can paraphrase them, and if Amazon or
B&N allows us to see the back cover of the book and
that has something useful, we can copy that--or
something from the book cover flaps. The long synopses
aren't as much of a problem as the short synopses
because of the limit of 250 characters in the short
synopsis.
Cindy
--- Julia <julia.kulak@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I've had to make up a synopsis, I like doing that, I
think its fun. Lately
though, I just go to amazon and copy theirs.
But its good to know about the back cover one, I'll
do that if amazon
doesn't have one. Julia
----- Original Message -----
From: "solsticesinger" <solsticesinger@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, December 28, 2008 12:40 PM
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: An observation about
synopses
> Thanks for the tip about upping the resolution, in
order to get a better
> scan of the back cover. Sometimes, they scan very
well at 300, but, other
> times, not so much.
>
> I don't think I've ever had to make up a synopsis,
to tell you the truth,
> which is part of the reason this puzzles me.
>
> Shannon
> Women will starve in silence until new stories are
created which confer on
> them the power of naming themselves.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Donna Smith" <donnafsmith59@xxxxxxxxx>
> To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Sunday, December 28, 2008 10:27 AM
> Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: An observation about
synopses
>
>
> I second Shannon's concern. I can't remember the
last time I had to
> make up a long synopsis. It's right there on the
book, either on the
> dust cover or back of the book. Cut and paste is
all that is
> required. Sometimes you have to up the resolution
on your scanner if
> the description is on the back of a paperback
book, but it's still no
> big deal. I scan the whole book on resolution 300
and then when I
> reach the back, I stop and up the resolution to
500 or 600 and scan
> the back cover. With all the other work that goes
into scanning a
> book for BookShare, this piece is really very
simple.
>
> And Shannon is absolutely right that it is hard to
decide whether to
> read a book when we don't have full access to the
information
> available to anyone else holding the book and
looking at it.
>
> Donna
>
> On 12/28/08, solsticesinger
<solsticesinger@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> Good morning, all.
>>
>> It is rarely my intent to come in here and
complain, but, this morning,
>> as
>> I
>> was browsing the new books page, something really
irked me. In truth, it
>> has
>> irked me for some time, but not enough for me to
actually come in and
>> write
>> about it.
>>
>> There seems to be a problem with certain
submitters and long synopses.
>> They
>> will write something very vague in the short
synopsis field, which is
>> fine,
>> providing you can get more information from
reading the long synopsis.
>> However, in the case of a few submitters, you
can't. The short and long
>> synopses both have the same, very vague,
description of the book.
>>
>> I do understand why we keep the "short" synopsis
brief, but I do not
>> understand the lack of a longer, more detailed,
synopsis. If the
>> submitter
>> can't come up with one, can't the validator do
so? It makes it very hard
>> to
>> decide whether or not a book is worth reading
when you have very little
>> information to go on.
>>
>> Shannon
>> Women will starve in silence until new stories
are created which confer
>> on
>> them the power of naming themselves.
>>
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