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According to the Associated Press:
The Federal Trade Commission will require bloggers to clearly disclose any freebies or payments they get from companies for reviewing their products.Bloggers who don't comply could face a fine of up to $11,000. This is a bit surprising. Do Newspapers and Magazines disclose what they receive for free? I've never received any sort of payment for a review and no one has offered either.
It is the first time since 1980 that the commission has revised its guidelines on endorsements and testimonials, and the first time the rules have covered bloggers.
A very common practice, albeit one not discussed much, is that Magazines and Newspapers are much more likely to review a publisher's books if they advertise. This stinks a bit more to me than a blogger not mentioning where a book is from. However, I've been toying with the idea of mentioning the source of the books I review at the end of the review anyway so it looks like it will happen. Of the last 12 books I've reviewed 4 were review copies sent to me and 2 were picked up at Book Expo. Of those 6 I was planning on buying copies anyway and still may of certain titles. Also, on the left side of my site there is a Recently Procured section and of the 14 books listed there 4 are review copies I've received. Maybe I'll start denoting a review copy with an * on the sidebar.
4 comments:
Absolutely silly.
This all came about because of bloggers at sites (i don't remember what the name of it was) but an example. A blogger blogged about what a wonderful experience she had on a cruise, made it appear as though she paid for it, slept in the average room and such. Instead she was paid by the cruise had everything paid for, and was in the "presidential" suit. But instead she goes around saying she had this wonderful experience for the lowest price.
She also got a 500 dollar check for this review.
I think it's silly and just a way to get money out of the little guy. I have never been offered a payment for a review, I have gotten review copies because it's just silly if someone walked up to me and asked me to review a book I know nothing about I am not going to pay 35 dollars to review it. I don't have the money as I review for free.
I also wonder what type of "Bloggers" they consider bloggers, if my little personal blog is considered in this or ones run off sites such as yahoo and stuff. More info will be needed.
@Cindy I agree with you totally.
Getting a book for free doesn't entitle the Publisher to anything other than the chance of being reviewed. I make every attempt to review the books I'm sent, but that doesn't mean I'll always say nice things about the book. I've decided to start denoting which are review copies when they are reviewed though probably below the book link. Also, my book links are not for any amazon associate account, so I'm not getting anything out of it at all. I just put them there for ease of reference. I often wonder how useful they are though, especially since I can't track the clicking for them.
At FBC we have amazon links but they aren't associated with any account like you. I too wonder how useful they are but who knows.
I read somewhere that the actual language of the thing doesn't say "Blogs" so much as people who write reviews on amazon and the paid to review things that were going on through amazon.
A while ago we did a post explaining our %age of books that we get from publishers, some from authors, what we buy and what we get from the library. A lot of my books are brought or library borrowed :)
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