Private Blurb for the author

[kandscreeley]

I'm a little confused. I thought that the private blurb for the author was just to be a short review of the ending of the book. In fact, it states when you go to do it that it should be 3 sentences. So, why did my private blurb get disputed by the author because it didn't talk about the whole book? Is this normal? Do you usually put a review of the whole book in that space? I did answer the dispute with more information, but will this affect my score on anything? Thanks!

[Wasif Ahmed]

Well...This never happened to me. What I actually do is that I include info from the ending, some major spoiler and some minor data from the middle of the book. My private blurbs are of seven to eight sentences.
By minor data I mean that I add something which is from somewhere in the middle of the book. Like the protagonist owned a red Ferrari. Only a person who read the book will be able to give information as such.
I don't know anything about the dispute affecting your score though.

Sorry if I couldn't be of much help.

[kandscreeley]

Well...This never happened to me. What I actually do is that I include info from the ending, some major spoiler and some minor data from the middle of the book. My private blurbs are of seven to eight sentences.
By minor data I mean that I add something which is from somewhere in the middle of the book. Like the protagonist owned a red Ferrari. Only a person who read the book will be able to give information as such.
I don't know anything about the dispute affecting your score though.

Sorry if I couldn't be of much help.

Actually that was helpful! I'll have to remember that for future reviews. Especially including something minor from the middle of the book! Thanks!

[Wasif Ahmed]

Well...This never happened to me. What I actually do is that I include info from the ending, some major spoiler and some minor data from the middle of the book. My private blurbs are of seven to eight sentences.
By minor data I mean that I add something which is from somewhere in the middle of the book. Like the protagonist owned a red Ferrari. Only a person who read the book will be able to give information as such.
I don't know anything about the dispute affecting your score though.

Sorry if I couldn't be of much help.

Actually that was helpful! I'll have to remember that for future reviews. Especially including something minor from the middle of the book! Thanks!

Glad to know that I could be of help. You are welcome.?

[bookowlie]

Well...This never happened to me. What I actually do is that I include info from the ending, some major spoiler and some minor data from the middle of the book. My private blurbs are of seven to eight sentences.
By minor data I mean that I add something which is from somewhere in the middle of the book. Like the protagonist owned a red Ferrari. Only a person who read the book will be able to give information as such.
I don't know anything about the dispute affecting your score though.

Sorry if I couldn't be of much help.

I am pretty sure the Review Guidelines explain that the ending blurb should include how the ending fits well (or not, in some cases) with the rest of the book. So...it's a good idea to throw in a tidbit or two from an earlier part of the story, whether it's a reference to specific themes, a particular scene/event, the way a character changed from earlier in the story, etc. Keep in mind that the reason for the ending blurb is so that the author can make sure you read the entire book vs. just reading the a small portion of the book. It's not really the number of sentences that matters and you certainly don't have to give a summary of everything that happened in the book - the blurb can be 3 sentences as long as you are able to do a tie-in that shows you read the book.

-- 08 Feb 2017, 13:51 --

As for your question about whether the dispute will affect your score, it all depends on the % of your total reviews that were disputed. If the reviews questioned is less than a certain percentage (it used to be 15% - not sure if this % changed), then the penalty won't affect your score. However, if it's above that, then the dispute penalties will be deducted from your score. If it does affect your score, the % will eventually go down as you write additional reviews that aren't disputed. Then the % will go below the 15% questioned and your penalties will not be deducted from your score. Even if that happens, be aware that the penalties will still stay on your account so that if the % disputed increases, the penalties will "show up" again against your score.

One more thing....a penalty eventually goes away entirely after a certain length of time - a year, I think.

Here's an example -
4 total reviews, 1 disputed = 25% - penalty will affect your score
7 total reviews, 1 disputed = 14.3% - penalty won't affect your score

[Wasif Ahmed]

Well...This never happened to me. What I actually do is that I include info from the ending, some major spoiler and some minor data from the middle of the book. My private blurbs are of seven to eight sentences.
By minor data I mean that I add something which is from somewhere in the middle of the book. Like the protagonist owned a red Ferrari. Only a person who read the book will be able to give information as such.
I don't know anything about the dispute affecting your score though.

Sorry if I couldn't be of much help.

I am pretty sure the Review Guidelines explain that the ending blurb should include how the ending fits well (or not, in some cases) with the rest of the book. So...it's a good idea to throw in a tidbit or two from an earlier part of the story, whether it's a reference to specific themes, a particular scene/event, the way a character changed from earlier in the story, etc. Keep in mind that the reason for the ending blurb is so that the author can make sure you read the entire book vs. just reading the a small portion of the book. It's not really the number of sentences that matters and you certainly don't have to give a summary of everything that happened in the book - the blurb can be 3 sentences as long as you are able to do a tie-in that shows you read the book.

-- 08 Feb 2017, 13:51 --

As for your question about whether the dispute will affect your score, it all depends on the % of your total reviews that were disputed. If the reviews questioned is less than a certain percentage (it used to be 15% - not sure if this % changed), then the penalty won't affect your score. However, if it's above that, then the dispute penalties will be deducted from your score. If it does affect your score, the % will eventually go down as you write additional reviews that aren't disputed. Then the % will go below the 15% questioned and your penalties will not be deducted from your score. Even if that happens, be aware that the penalties will still stay on your account so that if the % disputed increases, the penalties will "show up" again against your score.

One more thing....a penalty eventually goes away entirely after a certain length of time - a year, I think.

Here's an example -
4 total reviews, 1 disputed = 25% - penalty will affect your score
7 total reviews, 1 disputed = 14.3% - penalty won't affect your score

Thanks bookowlie!!

[bookowlie]

After I posted the info about author dispute penalties, I noticed on the Score Page (under "recent changes") that the penalties have been reduced for this type of penalty.