Bubbly Berls Babbles : How important is the synopsis?

Posted July 11, 2018 by Berls in Bubbly Berls Babbles / 7 Comments

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This new feature, Bubbly Berls Babbles (or BBB), is kind of an adaptation of my old feature, Fun Questions, back at Fantasy is More Fun. And the title tells it all. I’m Bubbly, I’m Berls, and I’m about to Babble about something! I hope you’ll babble along with me 🙂

Today Bubbly Berls is Babbling about: The synopsis

I was talking to someone – I can’t remember who – a while ago about a book I was reading and how it surprised me the direction it was taking. And they picked the book up and read the synopsis and said something along the lines of, “Well it kind it says it was going to go that way right here.” I laughed, grabbed the book, read the synopsis and realized… I had NEVER read the synopsis!

Now that was unusual. I do usually read the synopsis, or at least part of it before putting it on my TBR or purchasing it. But honestly, I find that most synopsisis, synospsi (how do you make that world plural?!)… I find that the synopsis on most books is one of three things:

  1. long winded and boring
  2. way too detailed, giving away too much
  3. too vague or misleading

And so I don’t put a lot of stock in a synopsis. I know, authors probably put a lot of work into writing them, trying to entice future readers. But for me, that synopsis is not that important to whether or not I will read a book. They’ve let me down a few times too many.

So how do I choose books? I end up reading books because:

  1. It’s an author I know and love already
  2. It’s part of a series I’ve already stared (related to the above)
  3. There’s a lot of good hype from people I trust
  4. It’s a book club selection
  5. I like the cover

I know, it’s kind of sad that the cover wins me over more than the synopsis, especially considering that covers can so often be very misleading, but they do win me over frequently. The point is, the synopsis doesn’t weigh in much for me and I’m curious, am I the only one?

Babble with me! How important is the synopsis for you when choosing a book to read?

Berls hardly ever reads a synopsis! How important is a synopsis for you? Babble with Berls! Share on X

About Berls

Michelle adopted me as part of her blog when I decided to close down my blog, Fantasy is More Fun. The blog was dying, but my love of reading and the blogosphere was still strong as ever - so I found my new home here at Because Reading!

I'm not just a book lover, but a one time author (that hopes to be more in the future), wife, mom to the cutest, happiest, best 2 year old and step-mom to the craziest, sweetest 22 year old on the planet. My family mean everything to me and they appear frequently in the Sunday Post with Berls. So grab a glass of wine and chat books, blogging, and family with me!

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7 responses to “Bubbly Berls Babbles : How important is the synopsis?

  1. I don’t read the synopsis very often. If it is a book that I KNOW I’m going to read, like the next book in a beloved series, I don’t read it at all. I like going in completely blind. I will if it is a new-to-me series from an author I like, but not an autobuy. If the series has been going downhill and I can’t decide if I want to continue it or not. If I know nothing about the author/series/book, but maybe the cover caught my eye or something. I know authors spend a lot of energy writing those (at least some do, I know some are written by the publishers or someone else), but I just like to go in blind if I can.

  2. I usually rely on the synopsis to tell me if I will be interested in the book but I also find that if the synopsis is written a certain way I probably wont like the books writing. I prefer simple synopsis rather than long winded. Recently I read one that was so long I was pretty sure I didn’t need to read the book anymore.

  3. YES!! I 100% agree with the list of three things that you usually find in a synopsis. I’ve found that I hardly read them as well. I think they’re very important, but that there really needs to be a movement of making them short, sweet, and accurate!

    When I add a synopsis into my reviews, i’m very careful to only take part of it if I feel it gives too much away. Occasionally I will leave it out completely when it’s just too far off.

    Great post!

  4. Well I DO use the blurb first when I am deciding if I will read the book, but also look to see if any friends have reviewed it on Goodreads. I also use the blurb to figure out character name spellings if I listen to the audio book! And if I read it a long time ago I look at the blurb to remember which book or which book in the series it was. Yes, I am a heavy blurb user. Anne – Books of My Heart

  5. It depends. If I’m reading a review I generally skip the blurb and just read the reviewer’s thoughts but if I’m picking a book blind where I haven’t seen any reviews I do tend to at least skim the blurb. I try not to put too much weight on it though as there have been several I’ve seen lately that were just plain wrong or they give too much away. The cover pulls me quite a bit too – probably as much as the blurb.

  6. The synopses, or book blurbs as I call them, are important to me when I’m deciding whether to add the book to my shelf. Once I’ve made the decision, I rarely look at them again unless I’m trying to figure out something about the series (who’s next, etc.). There are occasions where I’ll begin a book and can’t figure out what it’s supposed to be about (I know, that doesn’t bode well for the story) and will refer back. But otherwise, once I’ve shelved it, I’m done with the blurb. But, it’s pretty important initially when I’m decisioning whether to shelve or move on, especially if it’s a mystery.

  7. I normally skim the blurb to see if I might like it but then it sits on my TBR for a long time and I forget then I start reading an I am like…what…then I go back and read the blurb again…lol.