It’s been a while since I did a Book Blogger Hop. Since I was away on a short family vacation, I thought I’d find something lighter to post about while I get back into my routine.
The Book Blogger Hop was originally created by Jennifer @ Crazy-For-Books in March 2010 and ended on December 31, 2012. With Jennifer’s permission, Coffee Addicted Writer relaunched the hop on February 15, 2013. Each week the hop will start on a Friday and end the following Thursday. There will be a weekly prompt featuring a book related question. The hop’s purpose is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to your own blog.
The Book Blogger Hop post image was created by Coffee Addicted Writer.
This Week’s Question
Do you use a book’s synopsis for your review? (Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer)
Yes, I currently use a book’s synopsis for my review. When I first started reviewing on my blog I used to write my own synopsis. At the time I chose not to use the official book blurb because I wanted to try my hand at summarizing it myself. Long story short, it caused me a lot of stress writing my own book synopsis. It often took me nearly as long to write that first paragraph as the rest of the review.
To reduce my writing freeze about the synopsis, I decided to make it easier on myself and just use the official book blurb instead. (Remember, this is supposed to be a fun hobby, not a stressful one!) I figured the publisher already paid someone to professionally write it, so why not use it. Sometimes I just let the official blurb speak for itself. But lately I’ve been trying to include a lower key synopsis of my own at the beginning of my review. I feel it just flows better that way.
This is a great question. I write my own synopses but they can be stressful. I guess I’ve been doing it for so long I can’t imagine suddenly switching and using the publisher’s blurb. Also I don’t think blurbs always explain the story the way I interpret it, so it makes sense to me to write my own.
I agree that not all official blurbs explain the story well enough for the potential reader to get a good idea of what it’s about. In those cases I definitely make sure to sum it up differently. Other times if a blurb is a “what you see is what you get,” then I let it do most of the summarizing.
It really is a skill to write a useful and succinct synopsis! I use the official book blurb at the top of most of my reviews, as well. Whether I include my own summary varies depending on what I want to say about the book – I don’t always do that, so I include the book blurb for folks who might not have any idea what a book is about.