How much to reveal?

[Chris Dutton]

Apologies if this is the incorrect forum for this...mods, please redirect if wrong!

I've recently completed my first review, and appreciate the feedback from the editors.

The main gripe on the feedback seemed to be around detail on the actual stories (it's an anthology of short stories).

What exactly is acceptable on spoilers? I purposefully did not give spoilers, and as they were short stories, it was perhaps more difficult to critique or describe purely because they were short.

The review was accepted, but naturally, I would appreciate any guidance as to acceptability, what istoo much, what is not enough .

As an aside, do the editors read the book? Do they agree with the findings, and if opposed, say so?

Thank you!

Chris.

[CataclysmicKnight]

I haven't done any editorial work, but with my reviews I try to give very little information beyond what's publicly available (amazon, author/book website, etc). I do try to write about how the story is written, though, and sometimes use a quote or two that doesn't give anything away

[gali]

I think one should outline the plot in a few words without giving away any spoilers, as to give the reader a taste of the story. Of course it isn't necessary to describe all the stories in the book. However if one gives an example to a specific story in his review, I would like to know what the story is about as well as the opinion of the reviewer about it.

Editors don't read the books, just the reviews.

[Chris Dutton]

Ok, thanks gali, will keep that in mind in future.

[ALynnPowers]

I'm not a big fan of short stories, and I can't even imagine how difficult it must be to write a review on an anthology.
If I were reading the review, I wouldn't want to read about every single story presented in the book, though. I would probably want to see something more like a breakdown... what to expect overall in the book. Do the stories follow a similar theme throughout? What is the same or different as you move from one story to the other? I wouldn't mind hear about which story you enjoyed or didn't like as much as the others.

And, no, we editors don't read the book and thus don't give opinions about whether we agree or not. We just check the reviews to make sure they follow the guidelines (not giving away spoilers is one of the guidelines!), are well-written, and make sense. That last one seems a bit silly... but you would be surprised.