Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Free Book = Review?

Anyone who writes reviews for books and posts them on their blogs should be warned. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) wants bloggers to disclose any freebies, including free book copies or ARCs received for a review. The blogger only needs to state somewhere in their post that the book they’re reviewing was given to them by the author (agent, editor, or whomever).

Why is the FTC so concerned about this? They simply want to protect the public from bloggers who are endorsing a product they’ve received for free. This isn’t to say they believe the reviewer is biased because of the freebie, but that the consumer should be aware of the possibility and make their own judgment.

At the moment, the FTC isn’t going after small bloggers for this offense, but it does have the right to do so if it so pleases. So, why take the risk?

Do you have reviews on your blog? Have you received free books for them? Did you know about this warning?

23 comments:

  1. Wow...very interesting. When I read reviews on anything, books, appliances, electronics, I expect them to be real and truthful. I'm hoping that reviewers would give a honest review even if they did receive the item for free.

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  2. I do reviews, but stick to positive ones. If I don't like a book, I don't talk about it. So far I haven't gotten any for free in order to write a review, but thanks for the heads up, in case that happens some day.

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  3. I should say, I usually don't talk about it. :)

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  4. FYI, this is old information. The ruling came out in Oct and then the FTC quickly came back saying it's not aimed at bloggers. See this Publisher's Weekly Post http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6702752.html?q=Federal+Trade+Commission

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  5. Thanks for the the link, Stacey. Too bad the writing magazine I read this in wasn't up-to-date on the info.

    Lynnette Labelle

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  6. Wow - I had no idea about this ... thanks for the warning! It makes since, although it still seems strangely "Big Brother" to me, considering all the millions of other ways an author could "improperly" sway a blogger to review them ...

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  7. Oops - I meant "makes sense" ... my spelling is particularly awful when I try to type and eat!

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  8. It may not be common knowledge to all readers, but it certainly is to writers. We authors (or our publishers) send free books or advance review copies to almost everyone we know who regularly reviews books in our genre. It would be easier for the reviewer who actually buys a book to disclose that information. :)

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  9. Lynnette,

    Interesting. I did hear something about reviewers getting paid to post reviews. And according to the post Stacey provided that is what they are referring to. Thanks for bringing up the topic and sharing.

    I've received many books for review, but am always honest about my opinions. I usually let the the author see the review, in this case, before I post it anywhere.

    Speaking of reviews, check out my review and interview with Terry W. Ervin II, Flank Hawk. This was not a free book, and was well worth the money.

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  10. Even if the information is a bit old, it can still be valuable. Disclosing the information doesn't (necessarily) reduce the value of your review, and most people will appreciate the honesty.

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  11. Thanks for the heads up. I've never received a free book before, but I'll probably put a disclaimer on my blog if I ever do.

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  12. Thanks for passing along the info. I've never reviewed anything like that before, but I may. It's good to know what the rules are. :-)

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  13. Thanks for addressing this Lynnette. I've been thinking about this ruling for a while and watching what people say about it. Mostly, I see people all up in arms about it. But why? I don't understand the fuss. The FTC wants people to be aware that reviews COULD be biased if paid for. That's it! It's not, I don't think, about being Big Brothered.

    I asked myself, why WOULDN'T I diclose that a book was sent to me? I mean, who cares? It never changes the review. I should state that no one sends me free books right now. They can, if they want. But I don't see the big deal here. I could be missing something--am I?

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  14. I did know about this and post a small disclaimer at the end of my review. I review for Thomas Nelson and they are great. :O)

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  15. This is very interesting. Unfortunately for me, I have to buy my own books for reviews. : (

    Have a great day!

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  16. another pie to stick their fingers in. oy!

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  17. I knew about the latest from the FTC, but I don't post reviews so I wasn't worried about it.

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  18. I didn't until I saw it on Valerie Geary's blog, Something to Write About. But thanks so much for the warning and explanation.

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  19. I rarely post a review. This is good to know, though, thanks for sharing.

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  20. Interesting. Thanks for the heads up. I had no idea.

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  21. I didn't know about this. I do write reviews on my blog, but I've never received a free book for it. Usually, I do reviews on books that made an impact when I read them.

    What I do, though, is if I can locate the author on a public forum, like Facebook, I send them a message to let them know I did a review of their book if they would like to see it. (hm ... I wonder if there's a rule governing that.)Anyways, the only reason I do that is because if someone did a review of my story, I'd like to know...

    Thanks for the post, Lynnette.

    Empi

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  22. I have started a second, companion blog just for reviews and giveaways. I always list on there if I received anything at all.

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