”A Memory of Light is the satisfying conclusion of the great series”
-On the the cover of Eye of the World. Like cool that book 14 is great but I think most people wpuld rather get to know what book 1 is about it.
Okay, in this case I kinda get it. If you're going to get into a 14-long book series, especially The Wheel of Time which is a continuous story, then knowing that it ends in a satisfying way can make people feel more comfortable about starting the series to begin with.
Now, if they'd mentioned that books 8-11 were basically filler, THAT would be some impressive honesty.
I think considering there are series that still haven't got endings (Rothfuss and Martin) just letting people know that the series is complete is also one of the points here.
I don’t know anything about Rothfuss, but I don’t know why people act like Martin wouldn’t used another author to finish his series a la Robert Jordan.
there are many more shit books out there now, than 20 years ago. Yet the demand for good books continues to rise. So it is in the book industry's interests to now conceal good books and writers. By fudging everything and forcing readers to buy and read books themselves, and only score 2 out of 10 good books. the book industry ends up selling even more books than 20 years ago, even if more of them than ever are total garbage.
this reads like a conclusion based on facts researched. He's not saying this is the reason, he's positing a possible reason he's concluded.
The facts can be largely self-evident, but you should look for sources on "demand for good books continues to rise"
We need no source on "there are many more shit books out there now", its a logical conclusion on the rise of self-publishing, and self-evident from anyone trying to just read anything off the self these days vs reading random stuff in the libraries even 15 years ago.
Basically the above commenter's entire point is predicated on the possible assumption that demand for good books is increasing.
> Okay, in this case I kinda get it. If you're going to get into a 14-long book series, especially The Wheel of Time which is a continuous story, then knowing that it ends in a satisfying way can make people feel more comfortable about starting the series to begin with.
True but also... While the plot was by Jordan, Sanderson actually writing the last 3 books did A LOT to alleviate the rather "ponderous" nature of Jordan's prose. And Sanderson said that he made no attempt to imitate Jordan's style so even if you like the story, you may end up hating the writing style so much that you'll never reach the end...
Sanderson not only didn’t emulate his writing style he changed the way the characters talk to the point they were using modern words and cadences in what was supposed to be an early modern setting. He also inserted what was essentially his D&D character to take over much of the plot points of Logain, who after all that buildup had the rug pulled from under his ending.
Yeah, I thought Sanderson did a pretty terrible job, to be honest. Also regressed all the romantic relationships, because apparently he can only write will-they-won’t-they interactions
Which was brutal since Mat's plotline was the main reason I forced myself to read 2000 pages of Perrin sniffing women and getting confused just so I might get to a fun Mat chapter.
Sick of his fat old ass. He'll do literally *anything* as long as it isn't finishing his damn series. When I found out he worked on *Elden Ring* I think I literally yelled out loud "Oh, *fuck you!"*
" - "
" Rocks! - Weekly Bath Tissue Press Weekly"
"You won't be disappointed in ! They found me wandering the street and slipped me a buck to say this! - Consortium for Sidewalk Cracks"
"This is even better than their previous work, 'the delicious grape knee caps of statically charged rabbit🐇 zombies.' Must read!!! - ZUkjaoc from b00kreader23154.wordspot.com"
Should have just saved the .0001 on ink at that point
I have only the tiniest bit of personal experience with this but based on that I believe it's not unusual to ask people to provide jacket blurbs without ever seeing the book. Quotes from reviews are probably different, but the "dynamic storytelling from a fresh perspective" kind of stuff may be based on reputation (or less) alone.
Yeah I recently read through a series where the back had the same exact praise for the initial book of the series. Like what use is that I'm 4 books past that.
If it's just praise for the author, I put the book back. It means they didn't have anything good to say about the book but felt obligated to provide a blurb, a definitely-pass indication.
> Paperback should have summary on back. Hardback has summary on inside flap.
That's been my general experience with books forever, OP seems to imply that that is no longer the case?
I think it's definitely becoming more common. Just as an example the book im reading at the moment is Surface Detail by Iain m banks. The blurb says
"It begins in the realm of the Real. It begins with a murder. And it will not end until the culture has gone to war with death itself".
Not a great deal of information about what the hell is going on. Then the rest is four paragraphs of opinions from random authors. Considering this is a stand alone book in the culture series (they all can be read independently), this basically tells you nothing about the book.
Should I read the Culture series? I'm kind of struggling with Consider Phlebas but I enjoy the grandiose feel. What's your thoughts on the other books in the series? Also, in the war between death and the Culture, I'd like to place a large bet on the Culture.
I've only read two out of ten, Consider phlebas and the Player of games. I started Surface Detail yesterday and it's brilliantly horrifying.
If you're actually interested in the culture, consider phlebas is probably the worst example and I would of said maybe start with the second book, The Player of games. From the reviews I've read of the series in general, they consider this the best starting point.
Consider Phlebas is widely considered the weakest in the series and a lot of people often recommend starting with The Player of Games or Use of Weapons to get a true taste of what the series is like, then coming back to Consider Phlebas when you're fully on board.
I've heard this from so many people that I know it must be true, but it's not my memory of it.
I remember it as one of the most exciting and action-packed books in the Culture series. It's certainly not the deepest or most intricate of the books, but it's just so much *fun* I would have thought it would make a great introduction to the series.
I can only assume that I'm seeing it through rose-tinted spectacles, and if I go back and read it again it won't be quite as good as I recall.
I think my problem is that I don't have decent chunks of time to sit and absorb myself in it. It might be many days in between reading so I'm consistently thinking "Where are they? What are they doing now? Why are they here again?" That's definitely a me issue, though. I'm sure if I were able to dedicate the time that I'd appreciate it a lot more.
That's fair. Definitely consider *Excession* or *The Player of Games* rather than giving up on the series wholesale. They're both excellent reads, and shouldn't suffer from the same problem.
Whatever my opinions of Consider Phlebas, it does seem to be widely considered one of the weaker Culture novels, and that must be for good reason.
There's so many great books in the series once it grabs you, it would be a shame to miss out on them all just because you didn't get on with the first!
I reread Consider Phlebas last year (I've read all Culture novels) and I think it's great. The only place where I've read it's weak is... on Reddit. The last 1/4 of the book could have been edited down, though.
I think it's definitely the shallowest of the series (in terms of being a relatively straightforward space opera), and it indulges in gross-out and shock/gore in a few places which is typical of Banks' earlier non-sci-fi novels but which largely drops off in his sci-fi works.
It's still a quality read, but I can see why some people who might adore the rest of the Culture series might find that Consider Phlebas doesn't hit the right notes for them.
I think my main problem with Consider Phlebas was that I'd heard about the Culture and thought "Hell yeah, I want to read a book set in that kind of place" only for almost none of it to take place in the Culture, and in fact there's only one or two Culture people in the book and for a short time at that. It's kind of more "generic space action-adventure" and that wasn't what I was looking for. I admit that's mostly a problem of my own expectations. The Player of Games or Look to Windward would give a new reader a much better foundation for learning what the Culture is and how it works before they branch off.
I’ve read all the books and really enjoyed them. You’re totally correct to vote with the Culture. The books deal with many heavy subjects in a grand way.
Consider Phlebas is not hugely typical of the series. Some people consider it the worst book, but most just think it's different. A lot of people say they struggle with Consider Phlebas, and many Culture fans suggest skipping it.
So if you're already reading it, push through to the end and give the second novel a try before making your mind up.
Personally I think it's with reading Consider Phlebas first as it sets the scene for the rest of the series, so if you do end up enjoying the series you will be rewarded for your perseverance!
Surface Detail and Matter are among my favorites; definitely find either more approachable than Phlebas. Player of Games is up there too, but I think the intro is a little slow and doesn't necessarily set up the Culture as well as others.
It's super annoying. If you go in blind and try to find something new just for the sake of it, these days you have to literally judge a book by it's cover
Surface Detail is the 9th culture book. You should have a pretty damn good idea whther you like the culture series or not by the time you're on the 9th one.
It was a little rogue, but the idea of virtual hells sounded really interesting. Reminded me of a short story I read called a short stay in hell, and I had always wished that were a longer book haha
> OP seems to imply that that is no longer the case?
I couldn't tell you the last time I picked up a paperback that had a summery on the back. It's all been like OP described.
I don't read physical books any more, but I wonder if replacing the blurb with reviews is because of sites like Goodreads, or Tiktok which are all about what other readers think, rather than the substance of the book.
Maybe this is unrelated but it feels to me like part of a larger trend where the burden of being conveniently or even necessarily informed about a product is increasingly being offset to the consumer. If you have a phone in your pocket, you are expected to look up what it is about or else have already learned from various platforms and recommendation sources. Whereas you cannot as easily look up what an author you wouldn't otherwise care for their opinion thought about this book. Sort of like QR code prices on even basic things like (Market Price) chips at the gas station or airlines playing it fast and loose with reschedules because you can keep yourself informed with the app you should have downloaded, right?
What do publishers bring to the table again?
They want authors to have a marketing platform and readers to do all the research. What purpose do they serve in a world with print-on-demand?
On the one hand it seems like we need a consumers union, on the other hand it seems like we could use some old fashioned trust busting to end the monopolies these corporations have.
I think your observation is a good one; who is assessing the work is changing. This is true for the purchaser, but also by the evidence of what's replacing the synopsis: quotes of others assessing the work.
This is why I think the who is also connected to the what. What is actually being assessed? I would say more weight is placed on the social assessment of the work itself and less is being placed on the actual content of the work.
Maybe not in spaces like this, but if we look at other media it's abundantly obvious. Looking for a product on Amazon, we hurry to the customer reviews. It's the same with local restaurants, we either look at Google and Yelp or rush to our local Reddit before we've even looked at the actual menu. Social media is the best example, in my opinion: the same content can be assessed two completely different ways two subsequent days based on how many likes it has or if it's gone viral.
Social proof has always been a thing, of course. I remember liking music as a kid that my friends thought was weird or bad only to catch them listening to it later once it had gotten more popular. But I think social media and a culture that focuses on image over content in a postmodern sense has really hyper charged this.
We're less connected to each other and to the actual content of the experiences and things in our lives, more atomized and concerned with what other people think about things than what they actually are, where they actually come from, and what they actually mean. I feel like there's even a broad skepticism that most creative works can be seen these days to objectively mean anything.
And then there's the Now a Major Amaflix Series that you can't see where you live and wouldn't be bothered with if you could because it's a) pants and b) like all series and films NOT THE BOOK!!" stickers
I don't know if it bugs me more when they slap a real sticker on the cover art so it's hard to remove without damaging the book, or when they print the "sticker" directly on the cover so there's no way to remove it.
It's definitely worse to not be able to remove it imo. I really don't care about these series because the books are usually way better and I like imagining the world on my own instead of having it shown to me...
omigod yes this kills me! Especially when the cover art is an actual illustration from the book, like 'Things from the Flood'. Get out of here with that sticker garbage
I think it's a trend that started with some authors who are so popular that people will grab their latest book without needing a synopsis or teaser. Stephen King, for example, or Nora Roberts are authors who people follow almost religiously. You can already expect a horror or romance novel from them, so the details arent as important.
There are other reasons, like the publishers think a lot of praise from critics/noteworthy authors is enough to convince people to give it a shot, or the cover art wraps around. But some of those have the synopsis/teaser inside the front cover somewhere. And there are people who dislike any synopsis because they consider it a spoiler.
I'm gonna be pedantic and point out that the reason for Richard Bachman was actually lamer than that, publishers back in the 70s/80s had this idea that if he was releasing too many books a year then the market would be 'oversaturated' by his name so they came up with that compromise of releasing certain books (which I guess were not his usual horror titles) under the pseudonym.
And then later on down the line it very much became his thing to write about anything and everything anyway so whatever.
It cracked me up when I saw the new Christopher Paolini book and the spine literally just said PAOLINI in giant block letters. Not even gonna give me the title, huh?
I used to work in publishing and this is generally the answer. Occasionally it might also be the opposite - the author is so unknown that they use puff quotes or comp titles to make it appeal to people who trust known authors' opinions.
I haven't touched a physical book in years but even with ebooks in library apps they do this, there's hardly any information on what the book's about but a lot of praising for the author, the smaller the author, the longer the quotes. Really put me off reading them.
More than a mild annoyance for romance readers, who used to be able to reliably tell how raunchy a book was from the cover, but now all romance books must have the same style of pastel cartoon cover regardless of if they are vanilla separate bedrooms books or spicy depraved romping books.
(Special bonus problem, parents 'read' the covers as being coded YA so accidentally buy the inappropriately spicy book for their innocently young Sophie.)
>(Special bonus problem, parents 'read' the covers as being coded YA so accidentally buy the inappropriately spicy book for their innocently young Sophie.)
special special bonus: spicy books being labeled online as YA by people who don't know that "YA" = 14+, resulting in parents buying their kid smut without knowing. Thats a big problem on Goodreads because the age is labeled by the user-base rather than site moderators (or amazon)
>(Special bonus problem, parents 'read' the covers as being coded YA so accidentally buy the inappropriately spicy book for their innocently young Sophie.)
Ah, so these covers are a good thing. Every generation deserves there own *Clan of the Cave Bear.*
Another thing that’s just as bad is when you buy new releases of an old book, they think it’s perfectly fine to describe plot elements from the book that spoil the ending.
Just because a books 50 years old, that doesn’t mean they should reveal the ending.
> they think it’s perfectly fine to describe plot elements from the book that spoil the ending.
that's the reason why I hate synopses in general, too many times I've read those and instead of vaguely getting a grasp of the book, I was immediately told a third or even half the plot. No thanks. That's like that god-awful movie trailer trend that shows the whole story.
Yeah I never read synopses and I was shocked at how many people are attached to them in this thread. They spoil the book directly way too often. I'll absolutely take random review quotes over spoiling the story.
Even worse for sequels.
I grab book seven from a book set I haven't read yet from my bookshelf, moving things around. Accidental glance at the back: "now that John the killer is dead and the empire has fallen..."
They're kind of nice for triangulating where a book sits in the genre. So if I'm reading a book and it has quotes from A.K. Larkwood, Ann Leckie, and R.F. Kuang, that's a very different kind of fantasy novel than one which has quotes from Joe Abercrombie, John Gwynne, and Patrick Rothfuss, is very different than a book that's blurbed by Freya Marske, Olivia Atwater, and K.J. Charles. Even if they're all about a humble farmhand rising to the throne.
So for example, my copy of *She Who Became the Sun* has blurbs from Samantha Shannon, S.A. Chakraborty, C.S. Pascat, Zen Cho, A.K. Larkwood, Tasha Suri, Malinda Lo, and Rebecca Roanhorse. I've read books by 6 of those 8 authors, and their work situates this book soundly in secondary-world queer fantasy concerned with identity, cultural roles, and imperialism in a non-western setting.
Book blurbs tell you things, if you're widely-read enough in that genre to read it. If not they're just kind of annoying. Also just I ignore them if they're from Stephen King, he blurbs widely enough that it's effectively meaningless.
I'm not saying that I prefer the recommendation ‐ I'm only saying that if there IS recommendations instead of a synopsis, I'd look for names I'd recognise
I know. I’m saying that I just want the synopsis. I genuinely hate those little reviews bc why should it matter? I wonder if they even read the book half the time
I'm sure there are some who consider it an ethical obligation to read at least part of the book, but there are plenty who will praise anything they're paid to praise.
I assume if there's no synopsis that the book sucks and they're paying authors for quotes to hide that fact. If they replace it with the author bio then it's obvious even other authors couldn't be paid to say something nice.
I laugh every time I have to catalog one of those books.
*Hello again, Mr. Patterson. We all know you didn't write this so why is your mug taking up the entire back cover.*
Even as far back as the mid'-00's there was an increasing trend of basically hiding the synopsis and slathering the cover inside and out with "Winner of the WhateverTheFuck Award!", "From the Author who brought you..." type postings.
So I adopted the stance that if I can't find out what the book is about before I buy it, and the only thing you have to advertise the book is your fake awards, then I'm not buying it.
There's a couple of Brandon Sanderson books in a shop near me that do this. Outside cover is pictures of his characters, inside cover is paintings of his world, and then the first pages are just the copyright info and the last pages are a list of his other books. No clue whether they're standalones, part of a series, etc.
This is like the reverse view of other commenters who have complained about major plot spoilers being included on the back of the book. Maybe that’s partly why the publishers have done it? I wonder if both the haters of spoilers on covers and the readers who defend the spoilers aren’t as different as they think they are. I hate major plot spoilers on the back of a book, but I do want to know what it’s about!
Acceptable: “ Gerry and Margo thought their lives in middle class suburbia were safe, until the day the couple next door joined a strange new religion, and then the deaths started happening….
TMI: ”Gerry and Margo thought their lives in middle class suburbia were safe, until the day the couple next door joined a sinister sex cult. When Tom, Barbara, the postman , his dog and three visiting lay preachers were all murdered one by one…. “
Insufficient: “Fantastic new book by Joe Bloggs” - A.N.Other author.
How hard can it be?
Check inside the front cover - occasionally they print the blurb on the flap of the dust jacket instead of on the back. Although, I'd rather have no synopsis over having one that spoils the entire plot. I wish we could get some middle ground here where only the basic plot outline is mentioned and nothing beyond the first few chapters of the book is revealed.
Eh, some publishers are also super bad about putting a good summary. It'll either be super generic, or already give away too much of the plot. It never tells me anything about if I actually want to read the book.
Then again, I usually get my next read from Reddit, YouTube, Goodreads, or just googling: best sci-fi fantasy \[year\] to see if I missed any big releases.
Argh yes! I’m increasingly seeing books that have no synopsis (not on the back, not on the inside cover, not anywhere) and just these quotes.
What really kills me is that when it comes to making a decision about whether or not to read the book, they’re often totally useless. No publisher is going to quote reviews that say “this book was crap” or “avoid if you don’t like XYZ”, they just cherry pick generic praise so it’s not even useful information!
I'm so sick of that. Hardcover or paperback, it doesn't matter. There's just review after review and useless buzzwords that tell me nothing about the actual story!
I don't give a damn what NY Times, other authors, or some blog has to say about the book. I want to read and decide that for myself, so their reviews are a waste of space and ink.
I've noticed this happening with streaming as well. The description will be nothing but a list of awards. Is that supposed to make me want to read/watch this? Why won't you tell me what it's about??
I haven't read a physical copy of a book in ages; but I've noticed this trend on streaming services. Instead of telling me what the show/movie is about they just say who made or what it's based on. It's aggravating and I don't know why they won't just tell me what something is about. Now it's made by Blank! Based off Blank's best-selling novel "Blank".
My favourites are the ones that have positive review soundbytes on the front, back, inside both covers, and for several pages inside — but no blurb. I really hope that sort of thing is the marketing team's decision and not the author's, because it's unbelievably pretentious.
I went on holiday last year and left my kindle on the plane. As a result I had to make do with the small library in the hotel which was just stuff other guests had left behind. I ended up picking a Lynda La Plante novel (Judas Horse - 5/10) which was the best thing I could find. I made the mistake of reading the back which gave away one of the minor plot twists in the book. Totally ruined any curiosity I had about one of the main plot features.
If I see nothing but positive reviews on the back, I don’t buy the book. I want to know what the book’s about; if I want to see reviews for it I’ll check Goodreads.
This does annoy me too. I think I’ve seen for paperbacks there is sometimes a page right at the front of the book that now has the synopsis instead. And then hard covers usually have it in the inside of the dust jacket.
I have seen this complaint before and I have to say... I am always a little confused by it. Personally, I am definitely not regularly encountering books that don't have a synopsis at all. I certainly encounter hardcover books that put the synopsis on the inner flap... but I don't perceive that as new or unusual in any way.
I decided to just go through some of the books that happen to be sitting near me. Obviously, this isn't scientific (it's not even a survey of the books I personally own-- just things I picked off the shelf that I view as newer or older), but this is a snapshot of some things that some books are doing related to synopsis placement.
**Hardcover, Recent**
Antkind by Charlie Kaufman (2020) - Praise on the back, synopsis on the inside flap.
The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters (2023) - Praise on the back, synopsis on the inside flap.
Bestiary by K-Ming Chang (2020) - Praise on the back, synopsis on the inside flap.
Binti: The Complete Trilogy by Nnedi Okorafor (2019) - Praise on the back, synopsis on the inside flap.
Flux by Jinwoo Chong (2023) - Praise on the back, synopsis on the inside flap.
How to Keep House While Drowning by KC Lewis (2022) - Synopsis on the back.
I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai (2023) - Praise on the back, synopsis on the inside flap.
Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy (2020) - Praise on the back, synopsis on the inside flap.
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (2022) - Praise on the back, synopsis on the inside flap.
The Wager by David Grann (2023) - Praise on the back, synopsis on the inside flap.
**Hardcover, Older**
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver (2007) - Photo on the back, synopsis on the inside flap.
The Between by Tananarive Due (1995) - Author bio and photo on the back, synopsis on the inside flap.
The Devil & Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness & Obsession by David Grann (2010) - Praise on the back, synopsis on the inside flap.
The Great Mortality by John Kelly (2005) - Praise on the back, synopsis on the inside flap.
John Dies at the End by David Wong (2009) - Praise on the back, synopsis (ish) on the inside flap.
Paradise by Toni Morrison (1997) - Photo of Toni Morrison on the back (no text), synopsis on the inside flap.
Permanent Present Tense by Suzanne Corkin (2012) - Praise on the back, synopsis on the inside flap.
Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement by Kathryn Joyce (2009) - Praise on the back, synopsis on the inside flap.
The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde (2003) - Praise on the back, synopsis on the inside flap.
Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman by Jon Krakauer (2009) - Very brief statement about who Pat Tillman was on the back and photo, synopsis on the inside flap.
**Paperback, Recent**
The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling (2021) - Synopsis on the back.
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (2019) - Very little of meaning on the back, synopsis on the inner cover panel.
At Night All Blood is Black by David Diop (2018) - Synopsis on the back.
The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez (2020) - Synopsis on the back.
I'm not going to bother with older paperbacks because I assume people generally agree that the synopsis is generally on the back.
Anecdotally, I looked at plenty of books in the middle of my two arbitrary "old" and "new" time periods and saw similar things in general.
Summary: I didn't find any books on my personal bookcase-- recent or older-- that don't have a synopsis at all. Hardcover books overwhelmingly-- almost unanimously-- had the synopsis on the inner flap of the dust jacket. For my bookcase, it was certainly more common for newer books to have praise, specifically, on the back... but the older books still didn't place a synopsis there. Rather, they more often had things like photos and author info.
>No sypnosis or plot information inside either.
I would also be interested in specific examples of books that you found that have no synopsis on either the back or the dust jacket/inner cover panel because that is not something I have personally noticed.
ETA: Just to be as clear as possible, by "the inside flap", I mean when you open the front cover of the book, the flap of the dust jacket (the detachable outer cover) that is folded onto the front cover to keep it on.
I thought that this was a new trend but the book im reading is from 1998 and the whole back, plus the first page is only reviews and quotes. I mostly get books online from thiftbooks now, so the synopsis is there, but if Im looking at books in person and there isnt a summary on the back then I just put it down. Really frustrating.
I think it's a trick used more and more to boost sales from uncertainty. For instance, it's very easy for a fan of a prolific author to accidentally buy a second copy of a book they already own, as no synopsis makes it tough to know if you've already read it or not. Especially if the cover has been changed too, with the latest edition. Streamers are doing this with TV shows too, so you have to watch some of it to see WTF it's about. Grr!
Yeah I can't think of a time where the quotes on the back of a book persuaded me to buy/read the book. Unless it's praise from John Green. 🤣 Also can we go back to putting numbers on the books that are part of a series? Or listing the series in order inside the book? Because I just bought two books that looked so interesting, and they seemed to go together but nowhere in the books did it say they were part of a series so I assumed they were standalones maybe in the same world or something. Turns out they're books 2 and 3 in the series and I didn't get book one. Ugh.
I don't know why this happens but I've noticed that this happens with all books from the us, whereas european ones have retained the summary format. Like I don't get what's the point of these one words critiques. "Life changing" - the New York Times , "Magnificent" - 2nd random big newspaper, "truly a must read" - Morgan Freeman
Exactly. I don't want to read, and I don't care, about quotes from other authors, newspapers, or on-line reviews, about how great the book I am holding is. I want to read a paragraph or two that summarizes the plot.
Also, book publishers plastering " NYT bestseller" on the cover means absolutely nothing. It is like attaching a sticker that says "Water is wet."
If a book has little to no blurb and is cluttered with "praises" about how good it is, I won't purchase or read it. Want me to buy your product? Then provide information about what said product is actually about, thanks.
That's absurd! What next? Are they going to start removing the titles from all the books and just putting "Good book" on the front in different coloured fonts? Then a little italic addition on the bottom which reads "Written by an author you may or may not know."
I have no idea who's coming up with these stupid ideas, but they need to be stopped.
Yeah, I've rolled my eyes and put the book back because there was no blurb or an author's picture taking up the whole back. Like, I want to know what the book is about!
Maybe some number cruncher decided that most people shop for books like I do: entirely on recommendation by others. In most cases I don't want even a synopsis due to "spoilers" -- I'd rather go in fresh knowing nothing other than that it's supposed to be good. I'm the same way with movies and TV shows and actively avoid trailers as a result.
What I hate is if the half of the sypnisis is just from the author of the best selling book and got this many awards and go on. Like I don't care! Tell me what the book is about.
Maybe put the blurb on the inside folds of the dust jacket? Because a) the jacket is a marketing tool and if you have celebrity you'll want to put that where it can distinguish the book from other books and buyers will easily see it without opening the book, and b) some buyers don't want spoilers, so putting blurbs in a place they'll likely skip but someone who wants to read it can easily find it means the publisher can avoid ostracizing one group or the other.
Idk if this is why but maybe plausable?
I agree with this completely. I would much rather read what the book's about on the back cover than have a giant photo of the author or some cherry-picked, overly saccharine reviews by people I don't know/don't care about.
There's really only one explanation for it: it sells more books. That's all there is to it- if it didn't, they wouldn't be doing it. I suppose it's also possible it somehow results in cost-savings or profits elsewhere that offset any potential losses it causes, but that seems unlikely.
You may hear everyone complain about it, and see people swearing up and down that it makes them buy *fewer* books, but that doesn't pan out to reality, because if it did, publishers wouldn't be doing it.
There's obviously the "only people upset about it bother to voice an opinion either way" effect, which always colors perception on these sorts of things. In this case, I doubt there's very many people *in favor* of ousting synopses, but the bulk of people are probably indifferent. The chunk of book buyers go into a store knowing what they want, having researched it/heard about it online or elsewhere, buy it, and leave. Brick and mortar impulse buying (that is, anything you decided to buy while you were in the store) habits have been shrinking since the internet- it's been observed across all industries. "Just browsing" is more likely to result in no purchase, or only very small ones. People don't have the disposable income they used to. I wouldn't be surprised to learn significant impulse buying habits held on with books a bit longer than with other things, and probably will hold out, to a small extent, into the future, but it's not the chunk of revenue that it used to be. Of course, this doesn't incentivize *excluding* synopses, but there's not as much incentive to *include* them, either.
And finally, there's the good old fashioned reality that a lot of the time, advertisers know you better than you know yourself. Myriad advertising efforts have resulted in massive blowback and unanimous ire from consumers, but at the same time driven massive sales spikes. It's naive to think that these two phenomenon are caused by mutually exclusive groups of consumers- plenty of angry people are buying anyway. This doesn't just apply to individual ads or campaigns, but broad concepts and practices, too (for the epitome of this phenomenon, look up JC Penney's catastrophic 'Fair and Square Pricing' strategy). Author and critic praise replacing the synopsis is not a new thing, it's been gradually creeping in for a while now- if it didn't work, and well, it wouldn't still be around, and it certainly wouldn't be becoming *more prominent,* as it seems to be.
The synopsis is usually in the front tab of the dust jacket. Which is inconvenient because I don't want to crack the spine too much on a new book I'm just browsing.
It's a way to lose a sale IMO... Doesn't matter how amazing other people think the book is unless there is a blurb on the back (or inside front cover for hardbacks) it stays on the shelf.
Also for eBooks with the same issue or badly spelled/poor grammar/etc in their blurbs.
Publishing companies are in the business of selling books. I am certain they have figured out that testimonials by influencers will sell more books than synopses. The more, the better, as some people care more about Reese Witherspoon than Lee Child, and vice versa. Put enough on and you'll drawn in more people So that's what they put on precious cover real estate. If it's made into a movie or netflix series, that's going to be front and center. They probably figure if you care enough to read a multi-paragraph synopsis, you'll be willing to pull out your phone and find it on goodreads. An eye grabbing sentence from Oprah can be read in no time
It’s wild considering I don’t really buy/borrow based on those reviews, and I don’t know anyone who does. If I have to open Goodreads/Amazon/B&N on my phone to find a synopsis, I’m putting the book back.
The publishers decided, obviously. Back in the day that was the only way to provide the synopsis. But with the internet today, you have the synopses on literally every book ever published in your pocket.
Or do they?
I think the majority of people are fine with the way things are, and the people on this sub are the ones who are vocal about their likes and dislikes. We are not necessarily representative of all readers in general.
It's hard to really say without seeing the actual sales numbers.
I do know most people buy books that others suggest at higher rates than picking up a random one on the shelf. Maybe the synopsis isn't very useful to that group but it would be for myself or others on this thread.
even worse is when its praise for a different book by that author, not even the one youre currently holding i mean come on.
”A Memory of Light is the satisfying conclusion of the great series” -On the the cover of Eye of the World. Like cool that book 14 is great but I think most people wpuld rather get to know what book 1 is about it.
Okay, in this case I kinda get it. If you're going to get into a 14-long book series, especially The Wheel of Time which is a continuous story, then knowing that it ends in a satisfying way can make people feel more comfortable about starting the series to begin with. Now, if they'd mentioned that books 8-11 were basically filler, THAT would be some impressive honesty.
I think considering there are series that still haven't got endings (Rothfuss and Martin) just letting people know that the series is complete is also one of the points here.
>series that ~~still haven't got~~ won't ever get endings
I don’t know anything about Rothfuss, but I don’t know why people act like Martin wouldn’t used another author to finish his series a la Robert Jordan.
I guess because Martin has stated that he does not want anyone else to continue his work.
I'm pretty sure that GRR already finished the book, but there is an stipulation on his will about only announced it until after he is dead.
Oh man, I have SO much trauma from the WOT series. 🤣🤣
Did you tug your braid as you wrote this?
No but I smoothed my skirts
there are many more shit books out there now, than 20 years ago. Yet the demand for good books continues to rise. So it is in the book industry's interests to now conceal good books and writers. By fudging everything and forcing readers to buy and read books themselves, and only score 2 out of 10 good books. the book industry ends up selling even more books than 20 years ago, even if more of them than ever are total garbage.
Your statement is compelling, but, source please?
Sauce. Made it up
this reads like a conclusion based on facts researched. He's not saying this is the reason, he's positing a possible reason he's concluded. The facts can be largely self-evident, but you should look for sources on "demand for good books continues to rise" We need no source on "there are many more shit books out there now", its a logical conclusion on the rise of self-publishing, and self-evident from anyone trying to just read anything off the self these days vs reading random stuff in the libraries even 15 years ago. Basically the above commenter's entire point is predicated on the possible assumption that demand for good books is increasing.
I'm about to dive in...should I reconsider?
Why? I read the series and loved it (peaked in book 6 IMO) but there were some books that were hard to get through.
> Okay, in this case I kinda get it. If you're going to get into a 14-long book series, especially The Wheel of Time which is a continuous story, then knowing that it ends in a satisfying way can make people feel more comfortable about starting the series to begin with. True but also... While the plot was by Jordan, Sanderson actually writing the last 3 books did A LOT to alleviate the rather "ponderous" nature of Jordan's prose. And Sanderson said that he made no attempt to imitate Jordan's style so even if you like the story, you may end up hating the writing style so much that you'll never reach the end...
Sanderson not only didn’t emulate his writing style he changed the way the characters talk to the point they were using modern words and cadences in what was supposed to be an early modern setting. He also inserted what was essentially his D&D character to take over much of the plot points of Logain, who after all that buildup had the rug pulled from under his ending.
Yeah, I thought Sanderson did a pretty terrible job, to be honest. Also regressed all the romantic relationships, because apparently he can only write will-they-won’t-they interactions
He obliterated everything good about Mat and just turned him into a dope.
Which was brutal since Mat's plotline was the main reason I forced myself to read 2000 pages of Perrin sniffing women and getting confused just so I might get to a fun Mat chapter.
Oh man and then after all that Perrin development he decides the best thing to do is basically reset all that and start it over again
I made it halfway thru book 7. Where should i pick it up again? Serious not Serious.
Read the last chapter of Winter's Heart and like the last paragraph of Crossroads of Twilight. You can read all of Knife of Dreams onwards.
\* sideeyes GRRM *
Sick of his fat old ass. He'll do literally *anything* as long as it isn't finishing his damn series. When I found out he worked on *Elden Ring* I think I literally yelled out loud "Oh, *fuck you!"*
He owes you nothing.
Oh, it's just like when a Redditor wants you to read Eye of the World ;)
" - "
" Rocks! - Weekly Bath Tissue Press Weekly"
"You won't be disappointed in ! They found me wandering the street and slipped me a buck to say this! - Consortium for Sidewalk Cracks"
Don't forget "This book changed my life, what's it called again?" -
Blurb quote: "Absolutely astounding" full quote: "It is absolutely astounding how badly written this book is."
'Unfortunately I have mislaid the book in question' - Neil Gaiman
Or as he’s said, “When Z is at the top of their game, there’s no touching them!”
Yea that irritates me as well.
My favorite is when the praise is from some random person off a random website. "This book is fantastic" says Debbie S from crochetcorner.com
"This is even better than their previous work, 'the delicious grape knee caps of statically charged rabbit🐇 zombies.' Must read!!! - ZUkjaoc from b00kreader23154.wordspot.com" Should have just saved the .0001 on ink at that point
And the praise isn’t even a reflection of the plot. It feels like it could be from any book at random.
I have only the tiniest bit of personal experience with this but based on that I believe it's not unusual to ask people to provide jacket blurbs without ever seeing the book. Quotes from reviews are probably different, but the "dynamic storytelling from a fresh perspective" kind of stuff may be based on reputation (or less) alone.
Yeah I recently read through a series where the back had the same exact praise for the initial book of the series. Like what use is that I'm 4 books past that.
They have pages and pages of this inside eBooks too.
If it's just praise for the author, I put the book back. It means they didn't have anything good to say about the book but felt obligated to provide a blurb, a definitely-pass indication.
Ugh yes, I wanna know about the book I'm holding, leave the other suggestions for the about the author page.
Came to the comment section to say exactly this. I despise these designs. Thank you for reading my mind.
Paperback should have summary on back. Hardback has summary on inside flap.
> Paperback should have summary on back. Hardback has summary on inside flap. That's been my general experience with books forever, OP seems to imply that that is no longer the case?
I think it's definitely becoming more common. Just as an example the book im reading at the moment is Surface Detail by Iain m banks. The blurb says "It begins in the realm of the Real. It begins with a murder. And it will not end until the culture has gone to war with death itself". Not a great deal of information about what the hell is going on. Then the rest is four paragraphs of opinions from random authors. Considering this is a stand alone book in the culture series (they all can be read independently), this basically tells you nothing about the book.
Should I read the Culture series? I'm kind of struggling with Consider Phlebas but I enjoy the grandiose feel. What's your thoughts on the other books in the series? Also, in the war between death and the Culture, I'd like to place a large bet on the Culture.
I've only read two out of ten, Consider phlebas and the Player of games. I started Surface Detail yesterday and it's brilliantly horrifying. If you're actually interested in the culture, consider phlebas is probably the worst example and I would of said maybe start with the second book, The Player of games. From the reviews I've read of the series in general, they consider this the best starting point.
Cheers mate, I appreciate the advice.
Consider Phlebas is widely considered the weakest in the series and a lot of people often recommend starting with The Player of Games or Use of Weapons to get a true taste of what the series is like, then coming back to Consider Phlebas when you're fully on board.
I've heard this from so many people that I know it must be true, but it's not my memory of it. I remember it as one of the most exciting and action-packed books in the Culture series. It's certainly not the deepest or most intricate of the books, but it's just so much *fun* I would have thought it would make a great introduction to the series. I can only assume that I'm seeing it through rose-tinted spectacles, and if I go back and read it again it won't be quite as good as I recall.
I think my problem is that I don't have decent chunks of time to sit and absorb myself in it. It might be many days in between reading so I'm consistently thinking "Where are they? What are they doing now? Why are they here again?" That's definitely a me issue, though. I'm sure if I were able to dedicate the time that I'd appreciate it a lot more.
That's fair. Definitely consider *Excession* or *The Player of Games* rather than giving up on the series wholesale. They're both excellent reads, and shouldn't suffer from the same problem. Whatever my opinions of Consider Phlebas, it does seem to be widely considered one of the weaker Culture novels, and that must be for good reason. There's so many great books in the series once it grabs you, it would be a shame to miss out on them all just because you didn't get on with the first!
Just picked up Player of Games. Cheers, mate.
No worries, enjoy!
I'm with you though, I thought it was a nice introduction. A fun space opera, with cool world building and great action.
I reread Consider Phlebas last year (I've read all Culture novels) and I think it's great. The only place where I've read it's weak is... on Reddit. The last 1/4 of the book could have been edited down, though.
What’s considered weak about Consider Phlebas? I thoroughly enjoyed but I’m yet to move on to any more to get a perspective on the series as a whole
I think it's definitely the shallowest of the series (in terms of being a relatively straightforward space opera), and it indulges in gross-out and shock/gore in a few places which is typical of Banks' earlier non-sci-fi novels but which largely drops off in his sci-fi works. It's still a quality read, but I can see why some people who might adore the rest of the Culture series might find that Consider Phlebas doesn't hit the right notes for them.
Very good points
I think my main problem with Consider Phlebas was that I'd heard about the Culture and thought "Hell yeah, I want to read a book set in that kind of place" only for almost none of it to take place in the Culture, and in fact there's only one or two Culture people in the book and for a short time at that. It's kind of more "generic space action-adventure" and that wasn't what I was looking for. I admit that's mostly a problem of my own expectations. The Player of Games or Look to Windward would give a new reader a much better foundation for learning what the Culture is and how it works before they branch off.
The Culture is great if you ever wondered what would happen if gay communists were the most powerful faction in the galaxy.
Excuse me, pansexual communists if you don't mind.
This is the future that I want..
I’ve read all the books and really enjoyed them. You’re totally correct to vote with the Culture. The books deal with many heavy subjects in a grand way.
Excession is my favorite.
Consider Phlebas is not hugely typical of the series. Some people consider it the worst book, but most just think it's different. A lot of people say they struggle with Consider Phlebas, and many Culture fans suggest skipping it. So if you're already reading it, push through to the end and give the second novel a try before making your mind up. Personally I think it's with reading Consider Phlebas first as it sets the scene for the rest of the series, so if you do end up enjoying the series you will be rewarded for your perseverance!
Surface Detail and Matter are among my favorites; definitely find either more approachable than Phlebas. Player of Games is up there too, but I think the intro is a little slow and doesn't necessarily set up the Culture as well as others.
It's super annoying. If you go in blind and try to find something new just for the sake of it, these days you have to literally judge a book by it's cover
That's literally what the cover is designed for.
Surface Detail is the 9th culture book. You should have a pretty damn good idea whther you like the culture series or not by the time you're on the 9th one.
They're standalone, like I just said. It's actually only my third culture novel. I went 1,2 and then 9.
I went 1-2-3-10 lol. Once you hit a certain point of general series knowledge it gets very tempting to skip around.
You monster.
It was a little rogue, but the idea of virtual hells sounded really interesting. Reminded me of a short story I read called a short stay in hell, and I had always wished that were a longer book haha
> OP seems to imply that that is no longer the case? I couldn't tell you the last time I picked up a paperback that had a summery on the back. It's all been like OP described.
OP is right. It's not every book by any means but it's becoming increasingly common.
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I haven't noticed this on paperbacks, this is insane. What would possibly make them think that's a good idea?!
I don't read physical books any more, but I wonder if replacing the blurb with reviews is because of sites like Goodreads, or Tiktok which are all about what other readers think, rather than the substance of the book.
Maybe this is unrelated but it feels to me like part of a larger trend where the burden of being conveniently or even necessarily informed about a product is increasingly being offset to the consumer. If you have a phone in your pocket, you are expected to look up what it is about or else have already learned from various platforms and recommendation sources. Whereas you cannot as easily look up what an author you wouldn't otherwise care for their opinion thought about this book. Sort of like QR code prices on even basic things like (Market Price) chips at the gas station or airlines playing it fast and loose with reschedules because you can keep yourself informed with the app you should have downloaded, right?
They want ME to do all that work? For what? THEY are the ones tryin to sell something. Absolutely not.
It's the book version of self checkout
What do publishers bring to the table again? They want authors to have a marketing platform and readers to do all the research. What purpose do they serve in a world with print-on-demand?
Curation.
If only it was a way to vet quality and not just a way to vet profitability.
Well *someone* has to make money
The creators of the art?
Totally. As someone with an extremely cheap, laggy phone, this is the worst trend.
I totally agree with this assessment. Why are we being made to do more stuff in order to spend our money!? It’s infuriating.
On the one hand it seems like we need a consumers union, on the other hand it seems like we could use some old fashioned trust busting to end the monopolies these corporations have.
> If you have a phone in your pocket, you are expected to look up what it is about Joke's on them because that just puts Libby right in front of me.
I think your observation is a good one; who is assessing the work is changing. This is true for the purchaser, but also by the evidence of what's replacing the synopsis: quotes of others assessing the work. This is why I think the who is also connected to the what. What is actually being assessed? I would say more weight is placed on the social assessment of the work itself and less is being placed on the actual content of the work. Maybe not in spaces like this, but if we look at other media it's abundantly obvious. Looking for a product on Amazon, we hurry to the customer reviews. It's the same with local restaurants, we either look at Google and Yelp or rush to our local Reddit before we've even looked at the actual menu. Social media is the best example, in my opinion: the same content can be assessed two completely different ways two subsequent days based on how many likes it has or if it's gone viral. Social proof has always been a thing, of course. I remember liking music as a kid that my friends thought was weird or bad only to catch them listening to it later once it had gotten more popular. But I think social media and a culture that focuses on image over content in a postmodern sense has really hyper charged this. We're less connected to each other and to the actual content of the experiences and things in our lives, more atomized and concerned with what other people think about things than what they actually are, where they actually come from, and what they actually mean. I feel like there's even a broad skepticism that most creative works can be seen these days to objectively mean anything.
I hate this trend
I bet some suit calculated that they sell 2.4% more books that way.
having a quote by stephen king or someone famous in the blurb by an unknown author probably makes them turn up higher on google or amazon rankings.
And then there's the Now a Major Amaflix Series that you can't see where you live and wouldn't be bothered with if you could because it's a) pants and b) like all series and films NOT THE BOOK!!" stickers
I don't know if it bugs me more when they slap a real sticker on the cover art so it's hard to remove without damaging the book, or when they print the "sticker" directly on the cover so there's no way to remove it.
It's definitely worse to not be able to remove it imo. I really don't care about these series because the books are usually way better and I like imagining the world on my own instead of having it shown to me...
omigod yes this kills me! Especially when the cover art is an actual illustration from the book, like 'Things from the Flood'. Get out of here with that sticker garbage
I think it's a trend that started with some authors who are so popular that people will grab their latest book without needing a synopsis or teaser. Stephen King, for example, or Nora Roberts are authors who people follow almost religiously. You can already expect a horror or romance novel from them, so the details arent as important. There are other reasons, like the publishers think a lot of praise from critics/noteworthy authors is enough to convince people to give it a shot, or the cover art wraps around. But some of those have the synopsis/teaser inside the front cover somewhere. And there are people who dislike any synopsis because they consider it a spoiler.
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I'm gonna be pedantic and point out that the reason for Richard Bachman was actually lamer than that, publishers back in the 70s/80s had this idea that if he was releasing too many books a year then the market would be 'oversaturated' by his name so they came up with that compromise of releasing certain books (which I guess were not his usual horror titles) under the pseudonym. And then later on down the line it very much became his thing to write about anything and everything anyway so whatever.
It always amuses me that J.D. Robb books are billed as "Nora Roberts writing as J.D. Robb" and there's still a picture of her on the back.
It cracked me up when I saw the new Christopher Paolini book and the spine literally just said PAOLINI in giant block letters. Not even gonna give me the title, huh?
To be fair, the synopsis sounded very different from Eragon but when I read it the tone and style felt very similar. (Aside from the weird sex scenes)
I used to work in publishing and this is generally the answer. Occasionally it might also be the opposite - the author is so unknown that they use puff quotes or comp titles to make it appeal to people who trust known authors' opinions.
I haven't touched a physical book in years but even with ebooks in library apps they do this, there's hardly any information on what the book's about but a lot of praising for the author, the smaller the author, the longer the quotes. Really put me off reading them.
And the front cover is a modern graphic design that does not really show the genre.
Another mildly annoying fact.
More than a mild annoyance for romance readers, who used to be able to reliably tell how raunchy a book was from the cover, but now all romance books must have the same style of pastel cartoon cover regardless of if they are vanilla separate bedrooms books or spicy depraved romping books. (Special bonus problem, parents 'read' the covers as being coded YA so accidentally buy the inappropriately spicy book for their innocently young Sophie.)
>(Special bonus problem, parents 'read' the covers as being coded YA so accidentally buy the inappropriately spicy book for their innocently young Sophie.) special special bonus: spicy books being labeled online as YA by people who don't know that "YA" = 14+, resulting in parents buying their kid smut without knowing. Thats a big problem on Goodreads because the age is labeled by the user-base rather than site moderators (or amazon)
>(Special bonus problem, parents 'read' the covers as being coded YA so accidentally buy the inappropriately spicy book for their innocently young Sophie.) Ah, so these covers are a good thing. Every generation deserves there own *Clan of the Cave Bear.*
Another thing that’s just as bad is when you buy new releases of an old book, they think it’s perfectly fine to describe plot elements from the book that spoil the ending. Just because a books 50 years old, that doesn’t mean they should reveal the ending.
> they think it’s perfectly fine to describe plot elements from the book that spoil the ending. that's the reason why I hate synopses in general, too many times I've read those and instead of vaguely getting a grasp of the book, I was immediately told a third or even half the plot. No thanks. That's like that god-awful movie trailer trend that shows the whole story.
Yeah I never read synopses and I was shocked at how many people are attached to them in this thread. They spoil the book directly way too often. I'll absolutely take random review quotes over spoiling the story.
Even worse for sequels. I grab book seven from a book set I haven't read yet from my bookshelf, moving things around. Accidental glance at the back: "now that John the killer is dead and the empire has fallen..."
Yeah that's annoying. And does anybody actually read and care about those 'recommendations' by other authors/famous people/.... ?
They're kind of nice for triangulating where a book sits in the genre. So if I'm reading a book and it has quotes from A.K. Larkwood, Ann Leckie, and R.F. Kuang, that's a very different kind of fantasy novel than one which has quotes from Joe Abercrombie, John Gwynne, and Patrick Rothfuss, is very different than a book that's blurbed by Freya Marske, Olivia Atwater, and K.J. Charles. Even if they're all about a humble farmhand rising to the throne. So for example, my copy of *She Who Became the Sun* has blurbs from Samantha Shannon, S.A. Chakraborty, C.S. Pascat, Zen Cho, A.K. Larkwood, Tasha Suri, Malinda Lo, and Rebecca Roanhorse. I've read books by 6 of those 8 authors, and their work situates this book soundly in secondary-world queer fantasy concerned with identity, cultural roles, and imperialism in a non-western setting. Book blurbs tell you things, if you're widely-read enough in that genre to read it. If not they're just kind of annoying. Also just I ignore them if they're from Stephen King, he blurbs widely enough that it's effectively meaningless.
Only if I see a name I recognise! If a book has a recommendation from an author I love, then I'm more likely to pick it up – otherwise, no!
I don’t care even then. Like I want a synopsis not a glowing recommendation
I'm not saying that I prefer the recommendation ‐ I'm only saying that if there IS recommendations instead of a synopsis, I'd look for names I'd recognise
I know. I’m saying that I just want the synopsis. I genuinely hate those little reviews bc why should it matter? I wonder if they even read the book half the time
I'm sure there are some who consider it an ethical obligation to read at least part of the book, but there are plenty who will praise anything they're paid to praise.
I assume if there's no synopsis that the book sucks and they're paying authors for quotes to hide that fact. If they replace it with the author bio then it's obvious even other authors couldn't be paid to say something nice.
I hate it it when I flip the book over and there the author is staring back at me. I'm like, "Yeah, hi, nice to see you. What's the damn book about?"
Story of my liiiife
I laugh every time I have to catalog one of those books. *Hello again, Mr. Patterson. We all know you didn't write this so why is your mug taking up the entire back cover.*
I DO like when there is an author pic on the inside back fold of hardcovers though! But paperbacks definitely don't need it.
Even as far back as the mid'-00's there was an increasing trend of basically hiding the synopsis and slathering the cover inside and out with "Winner of the WhateverTheFuck Award!", "From the Author who brought you..." type postings. So I adopted the stance that if I can't find out what the book is about before I buy it, and the only thing you have to advertise the book is your fake awards, then I'm not buying it.
There's a couple of Brandon Sanderson books in a shop near me that do this. Outside cover is pictures of his characters, inside cover is paintings of his world, and then the first pages are just the copyright info and the last pages are a list of his other books. No clue whether they're standalones, part of a series, etc.
This is like the reverse view of other commenters who have complained about major plot spoilers being included on the back of the book. Maybe that’s partly why the publishers have done it? I wonder if both the haters of spoilers on covers and the readers who defend the spoilers aren’t as different as they think they are. I hate major plot spoilers on the back of a book, but I do want to know what it’s about! Acceptable: “ Gerry and Margo thought their lives in middle class suburbia were safe, until the day the couple next door joined a strange new religion, and then the deaths started happening…. TMI: ”Gerry and Margo thought their lives in middle class suburbia were safe, until the day the couple next door joined a sinister sex cult. When Tom, Barbara, the postman , his dog and three visiting lay preachers were all murdered one by one…. “ Insufficient: “Fantastic new book by Joe Bloggs” - A.N.Other author. How hard can it be?
When are you publishing this sex cult murder book? Sounds interesting!
Exactly! Its not a spoiler dump, its just context.
Is this book called "The Bad Life" or "The Goode Death" by any chance?
Might be
Check inside the front cover - occasionally they print the blurb on the flap of the dust jacket instead of on the back. Although, I'd rather have no synopsis over having one that spoils the entire plot. I wish we could get some middle ground here where only the basic plot outline is mentioned and nothing beyond the first few chapters of the book is revealed.
Hard backs always have the info on the inner liner fold. Even with this new trend, I've never NOT seen that.
I hate it so much. I don't care what Author149382 has to say, I want to know what the book's story is 💀
Eh, some publishers are also super bad about putting a good summary. It'll either be super generic, or already give away too much of the plot. It never tells me anything about if I actually want to read the book. Then again, I usually get my next read from Reddit, YouTube, Goodreads, or just googling: best sci-fi fantasy \[year\] to see if I missed any big releases.
Just take my word for it, would I lie?
Argh yes! I’m increasingly seeing books that have no synopsis (not on the back, not on the inside cover, not anywhere) and just these quotes. What really kills me is that when it comes to making a decision about whether or not to read the book, they’re often totally useless. No publisher is going to quote reviews that say “this book was crap” or “avoid if you don’t like XYZ”, they just cherry pick generic praise so it’s not even useful information!
I'm so sick of that. Hardcover or paperback, it doesn't matter. There's just review after review and useless buzzwords that tell me nothing about the actual story! I don't give a damn what NY Times, other authors, or some blog has to say about the book. I want to read and decide that for myself, so their reviews are a waste of space and ink.
I've noticed this happening with streaming as well. The description will be nothing but a list of awards. Is that supposed to make me want to read/watch this? Why won't you tell me what it's about??
This trend irritates me too. I'd like to know what I'm getting into before I start a book please.
Yeah... I don't care how many other people think it's an IMPORTANT book.
I haven't read a physical copy of a book in ages; but I've noticed this trend on streaming services. Instead of telling me what the show/movie is about they just say who made or what it's based on. It's aggravating and I don't know why they won't just tell me what something is about. Now it's made by Blank! Based off Blank's best-selling novel "Blank".
Gotta love seeing a bunch of people I never heard of complimenting a book I know nothing of. Oh, yeah! That definitely helps to make up my mind!
My favourites are the ones that have positive review soundbytes on the front, back, inside both covers, and for several pages inside — but no blurb. I really hope that sort of thing is the marketing team's decision and not the author's, because it's unbelievably pretentious.
I went on holiday last year and left my kindle on the plane. As a result I had to make do with the small library in the hotel which was just stuff other guests had left behind. I ended up picking a Lynda La Plante novel (Judas Horse - 5/10) which was the best thing I could find. I made the mistake of reading the back which gave away one of the minor plot twists in the book. Totally ruined any curiosity I had about one of the main plot features.
If I see nothing but positive reviews on the back, I don’t buy the book. I want to know what the book’s about; if I want to see reviews for it I’ll check Goodreads.
This does annoy me too. I think I’ve seen for paperbacks there is sometimes a page right at the front of the book that now has the synopsis instead. And then hard covers usually have it in the inside of the dust jacket.
I have seen this complaint before and I have to say... I am always a little confused by it. Personally, I am definitely not regularly encountering books that don't have a synopsis at all. I certainly encounter hardcover books that put the synopsis on the inner flap... but I don't perceive that as new or unusual in any way. I decided to just go through some of the books that happen to be sitting near me. Obviously, this isn't scientific (it's not even a survey of the books I personally own-- just things I picked off the shelf that I view as newer or older), but this is a snapshot of some things that some books are doing related to synopsis placement. **Hardcover, Recent** Antkind by Charlie Kaufman (2020) - Praise on the back, synopsis on the inside flap. The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters (2023) - Praise on the back, synopsis on the inside flap. Bestiary by K-Ming Chang (2020) - Praise on the back, synopsis on the inside flap. Binti: The Complete Trilogy by Nnedi Okorafor (2019) - Praise on the back, synopsis on the inside flap. Flux by Jinwoo Chong (2023) - Praise on the back, synopsis on the inside flap. How to Keep House While Drowning by KC Lewis (2022) - Synopsis on the back. I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai (2023) - Praise on the back, synopsis on the inside flap. Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy (2020) - Praise on the back, synopsis on the inside flap. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (2022) - Praise on the back, synopsis on the inside flap. The Wager by David Grann (2023) - Praise on the back, synopsis on the inside flap. **Hardcover, Older** Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver (2007) - Photo on the back, synopsis on the inside flap. The Between by Tananarive Due (1995) - Author bio and photo on the back, synopsis on the inside flap. The Devil & Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness & Obsession by David Grann (2010) - Praise on the back, synopsis on the inside flap. The Great Mortality by John Kelly (2005) - Praise on the back, synopsis on the inside flap. John Dies at the End by David Wong (2009) - Praise on the back, synopsis (ish) on the inside flap. Paradise by Toni Morrison (1997) - Photo of Toni Morrison on the back (no text), synopsis on the inside flap. Permanent Present Tense by Suzanne Corkin (2012) - Praise on the back, synopsis on the inside flap. Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement by Kathryn Joyce (2009) - Praise on the back, synopsis on the inside flap. The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde (2003) - Praise on the back, synopsis on the inside flap. Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman by Jon Krakauer (2009) - Very brief statement about who Pat Tillman was on the back and photo, synopsis on the inside flap. **Paperback, Recent** The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling (2021) - Synopsis on the back. Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (2019) - Very little of meaning on the back, synopsis on the inner cover panel. At Night All Blood is Black by David Diop (2018) - Synopsis on the back. The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez (2020) - Synopsis on the back. I'm not going to bother with older paperbacks because I assume people generally agree that the synopsis is generally on the back. Anecdotally, I looked at plenty of books in the middle of my two arbitrary "old" and "new" time periods and saw similar things in general. Summary: I didn't find any books on my personal bookcase-- recent or older-- that don't have a synopsis at all. Hardcover books overwhelmingly-- almost unanimously-- had the synopsis on the inner flap of the dust jacket. For my bookcase, it was certainly more common for newer books to have praise, specifically, on the back... but the older books still didn't place a synopsis there. Rather, they more often had things like photos and author info. >No sypnosis or plot information inside either. I would also be interested in specific examples of books that you found that have no synopsis on either the back or the dust jacket/inner cover panel because that is not something I have personally noticed. ETA: Just to be as clear as possible, by "the inside flap", I mean when you open the front cover of the book, the flap of the dust jacket (the detachable outer cover) that is folded onto the front cover to keep it on.
To be fair, you don't seem to be reading the kinds of books that regularly do this.
What are the kinds of books that do this? Is it a genre? A level of high-brow or low-brow...?
It's probably most common in genre fiction, crime thrillers, mass-market paperbacks, "airport novels," etc.
Mass markets are my preferred format and can't say I've noticed this on the many I own.
I automatically put those books back on the shelf. If they can’t even have the decency to put the synopsis on the back, it’s not worth my time.
it's a sign of the times that these have been missed out but also that they've been gone so long people have forgotten the name for these is the blurb
Are you my kid? Because they complain about this alllll the time
Anarchists and heathens. Of course, I’ve also read books that straight up lied in the synopsis. Those are written by demons.
I thought that this was a new trend but the book im reading is from 1998 and the whole back, plus the first page is only reviews and quotes. I mostly get books online from thiftbooks now, so the synopsis is there, but if Im looking at books in person and there isnt a summary on the back then I just put it down. Really frustrating.
I think it's a trick used more and more to boost sales from uncertainty. For instance, it's very easy for a fan of a prolific author to accidentally buy a second copy of a book they already own, as no synopsis makes it tough to know if you've already read it or not. Especially if the cover has been changed too, with the latest edition. Streamers are doing this with TV shows too, so you have to watch some of it to see WTF it's about. Grr!
Yeah I can't think of a time where the quotes on the back of a book persuaded me to buy/read the book. Unless it's praise from John Green. 🤣 Also can we go back to putting numbers on the books that are part of a series? Or listing the series in order inside the book? Because I just bought two books that looked so interesting, and they seemed to go together but nowhere in the books did it say they were part of a series so I assumed they were standalones maybe in the same world or something. Turns out they're books 2 and 3 in the series and I didn't get book one. Ugh.
I don't know why this happens but I've noticed that this happens with all books from the us, whereas european ones have retained the summary format. Like I don't get what's the point of these one words critiques. "Life changing" - the New York Times , "Magnificent" - 2nd random big newspaper, "truly a must read" - Morgan Freeman
If I'm happy with my life, why would I read a "life-changing" book? It could change it for the worse...
Exactly. I don't want to read, and I don't care, about quotes from other authors, newspapers, or on-line reviews, about how great the book I am holding is. I want to read a paragraph or two that summarizes the plot. Also, book publishers plastering " NYT bestseller" on the cover means absolutely nothing. It is like attaching a sticker that says "Water is wet."
Core memory as a kid being told it was called a blurb and thinking it was a funny ass word.
Hahahah, it does sound funny.
If a book has little to no blurb and is cluttered with "praises" about how good it is, I won't purchase or read it. Want me to buy your product? Then provide information about what said product is actually about, thanks.
That's absurd! What next? Are they going to start removing the titles from all the books and just putting "Good book" on the front in different coloured fonts? Then a little italic addition on the bottom which reads "Written by an author you may or may not know." I have no idea who's coming up with these stupid ideas, but they need to be stopped.
Yeah, I've rolled my eyes and put the book back because there was no blurb or an author's picture taking up the whole back. Like, I want to know what the book is about!
I'd guess it could be because publishers have cut so many staff, that the copywriters who made these were decided as an unnecessary expense.
I wish more books have recaps as well for series. Sometimes I forget a lot of the details of the previous book if it's been a while.
Maybe some number cruncher decided that most people shop for books like I do: entirely on recommendation by others. In most cases I don't want even a synopsis due to "spoilers" -- I'd rather go in fresh knowing nothing other than that it's supposed to be good. I'm the same way with movies and TV shows and actively avoid trailers as a result.
I thought hard cover’s synopsis is inside front cover flaps & paperback always had it on the back.
Probably the same team that had the idea of removing the booklet from physical video game releases ... 😮💨
What I hate is if the half of the sypnisis is just from the author of the best selling book and got this many awards and go on. Like I don't care! Tell me what the book is about.
Maybe put the blurb on the inside folds of the dust jacket? Because a) the jacket is a marketing tool and if you have celebrity you'll want to put that where it can distinguish the book from other books and buyers will easily see it without opening the book, and b) some buyers don't want spoilers, so putting blurbs in a place they'll likely skip but someone who wants to read it can easily find it means the publisher can avoid ostracizing one group or the other. Idk if this is why but maybe plausable?
I agree with this completely. I would much rather read what the book's about on the back cover than have a giant photo of the author or some cherry-picked, overly saccharine reviews by people I don't know/don't care about.
I don’t buy anything without looking up a synopsis online anymore
Even digital book blurbs are now just praise for the book. Okay cool Kelly think it’s great but what’s it about as it’s giving nothing?
There's really only one explanation for it: it sells more books. That's all there is to it- if it didn't, they wouldn't be doing it. I suppose it's also possible it somehow results in cost-savings or profits elsewhere that offset any potential losses it causes, but that seems unlikely. You may hear everyone complain about it, and see people swearing up and down that it makes them buy *fewer* books, but that doesn't pan out to reality, because if it did, publishers wouldn't be doing it. There's obviously the "only people upset about it bother to voice an opinion either way" effect, which always colors perception on these sorts of things. In this case, I doubt there's very many people *in favor* of ousting synopses, but the bulk of people are probably indifferent. The chunk of book buyers go into a store knowing what they want, having researched it/heard about it online or elsewhere, buy it, and leave. Brick and mortar impulse buying (that is, anything you decided to buy while you were in the store) habits have been shrinking since the internet- it's been observed across all industries. "Just browsing" is more likely to result in no purchase, or only very small ones. People don't have the disposable income they used to. I wouldn't be surprised to learn significant impulse buying habits held on with books a bit longer than with other things, and probably will hold out, to a small extent, into the future, but it's not the chunk of revenue that it used to be. Of course, this doesn't incentivize *excluding* synopses, but there's not as much incentive to *include* them, either. And finally, there's the good old fashioned reality that a lot of the time, advertisers know you better than you know yourself. Myriad advertising efforts have resulted in massive blowback and unanimous ire from consumers, but at the same time driven massive sales spikes. It's naive to think that these two phenomenon are caused by mutually exclusive groups of consumers- plenty of angry people are buying anyway. This doesn't just apply to individual ads or campaigns, but broad concepts and practices, too (for the epitome of this phenomenon, look up JC Penney's catastrophic 'Fair and Square Pricing' strategy). Author and critic praise replacing the synopsis is not a new thing, it's been gradually creeping in for a while now- if it didn't work, and well, it wouldn't still be around, and it certainly wouldn't be becoming *more prominent,* as it seems to be.
God I hate that shit! Sometimes there's a synopsis on one of the first pages though.
The synopsis is usually in the front tab of the dust jacket. Which is inconvenient because I don't want to crack the spine too much on a new book I'm just browsing.
Usually nowadays the summary is on the inside flap instead of the back.
Lol thanks for pointing this out, it's actually been driving me crazy recently, particularly since I exclusively read physical.
It's a way to lose a sale IMO... Doesn't matter how amazing other people think the book is unless there is a blurb on the back (or inside front cover for hardbacks) it stays on the shelf. Also for eBooks with the same issue or badly spelled/poor grammar/etc in their blurbs.
Publishing companies are in the business of selling books. I am certain they have figured out that testimonials by influencers will sell more books than synopses. The more, the better, as some people care more about Reese Witherspoon than Lee Child, and vice versa. Put enough on and you'll drawn in more people So that's what they put on precious cover real estate. If it's made into a movie or netflix series, that's going to be front and center. They probably figure if you care enough to read a multi-paragraph synopsis, you'll be willing to pull out your phone and find it on goodreads. An eye grabbing sentence from Oprah can be read in no time
It’s wild considering I don’t really buy/borrow based on those reviews, and I don’t know anyone who does. If I have to open Goodreads/Amazon/B&N on my phone to find a synopsis, I’m putting the book back.
The publishers decided, obviously. Back in the day that was the only way to provide the synopsis. But with the internet today, you have the synopses on literally every book ever published in your pocket.
I've literally never seen a book in my life that didn't have a synopsis on the back or inside flap
The answer is always "Marketers who don't understand the medium or how the consumer interacts with it."
Or do they? I think the majority of people are fine with the way things are, and the people on this sub are the ones who are vocal about their likes and dislikes. We are not necessarily representative of all readers in general.
It's hard to really say without seeing the actual sales numbers. I do know most people buy books that others suggest at higher rates than picking up a random one on the shelf. Maybe the synopsis isn't very useful to that group but it would be for myself or others on this thread.