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Proposed full disclosure requirements on reviews?

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cw gortner
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Post by cw gortner » Mon June 22nd, 2009, 11:02 pm

[quote=""michellemoran""]Wow. I couldn't agree more.

Holy cow! Where can I sign up for one of those for Neiman Marcus? I'll blog all day ;) [/quote]

Oh, me too! Prada, please. :D

Actually, I blogged recently on The Daily Beast about historical fiction and I got a writer's fee but I picked the books I wanted to review that fit within the Daily Beast's requirements. No one told me which books to choose. I think that if you're paid a writing fee for reviewing, no disclosure is warranted nor should it be required; if you're paid by a publisher or author or company to endorse a specific product, then I think it should be disclosed.
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princess garnet
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Post by princess garnet » Mon June 22nd, 2009, 11:45 pm

I saw that article too.

The dad of a colleague of mine worked at FTC for many years.

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Tanzanite
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Post by Tanzanite » Mon June 22nd, 2009, 11:50 pm

I get a few ARCs from authors and have gotten a couple via Library Thing's Early Reviewer program. When I post my opinion of the book on my blog, I try to indicate if I got it from either the author or the publisher.

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Post by Chatterbox » Mon June 22nd, 2009, 11:57 pm

[quote=""cw gortner""]I think that if you're paid a writing fee for reviewing, no disclosure is warranted nor should it be required; if you're paid by a publisher or author or company to endorse a specific product, then I think it should be disclosed.[/quote]
I agree that when someone sees an article that is obviously a review on a news website it's really clear that it's a professional writing an article. Maybe part of the compensation is a free copy of the book mebbe not.
But rarely are reviewers offered anything as blatant as payment to endorse a product. It's usually more subtle, like the $500, now go shop at K-Mart and come back and tell us --honestly, of course! -- what it was like. Or here's a free copy of my book. Some people will give a more upbeat assessment to a book than they might otherwise; others will review something they normally wouldn't finish.
Thankfully, book reviewing is far less egregious than the blogosphere. At least it's clear what the quid pro quo is likely to be -- free books.

Misfit -- yeah, pretty much any of the ones you mentioned!!!

And if someone wants to send me to Berdorf's with a $5,000 gift card, I'll gladly go. But I'll mention that fact all over the story and make sure I really test-drive all the sales assistants, including making them take out and refold every single silk scarf in the department... ;) And then I'll write about it! Actually I did get to do some consumer test stories for a story once -- one was three ways to travel to and from DC (three trips in less than a week?); the other was very dull indeed, opening a new bank account. Never got any of the fun stuff, like hot stone massages vs. shiatsu. Guess they didn't need to farm those ones out to freelancers... :D

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Post by Margaret » Tue June 23rd, 2009, 12:22 am

Some bloggers may feel so much sympathy with authors that they can't bear to give negative reviews. And it's true that inexperienced authors do sometimes get in touch with people who have given them bad reviews and chew them out for it. That's unfortunate, but most authors are professionals who know better.
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Post by Chatterbox » Tue June 23rd, 2009, 12:57 am

Oh, real place that this is needed is in travel journalism. With a very very few exceptions (the NY Times) travel perks are part and parcel of most of travel writing. It's actually very hard to avoid, I suspect. I've been offered freebies to Iceland (pre crash), Puerto Rico and Scotland, without ever having done a travel story in my life. Free airfare, four or five star hotel, etc. The PR people need to deliver warm journalist bodies in order to justify their hire. And it is NEVER disclosed.

Theoretically some mags/papers (the Times again) won't use articles from travel writers who have ever taken freebies, but it's one of the great unspoken secrets that everyone has. Because very few travel publications pay enough per word to make it financially viable, much less expenses. So you either have to be incredibly businesslike, incredibly successful, or both.

So next time you read a story about that wonderful Hawaiian resort, there's a better than 50-50 chance that there's an undisclosed and massive conflict involved.

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Lauryn
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Post by Lauryn » Tue June 23rd, 2009, 2:20 am

[quote=""Chatterbox""]So next time you read a story about that wonderful Hawaiian resort, there's a better than 50-50 chance that there's an undisclosed and massive conflict involved.[/quote]

I must snicker at this. My undergrad degree is in hospitality and tourism management, and I damn near got kicked out of a course on destination marketing when I pointed this very thing out to the professor leading the show, in the form of a question. He was massively offended that I would say anything of the sort, and I got labelled as a real trouble-maker for awhile. :D :eek: :D

I never got all the details, but there was a bit of dirt under his rug apparently ....
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juleswatson
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Post by juleswatson » Tue June 23rd, 2009, 8:00 am

As an author I'm quite new to this, so perhaps I'm being naive. Reviewers in traditional media were sent ARCs, so to me sending ARCS to bloggers is just an extension of that. You guys no doubt know that large publishers spend a very limited amount of money on midlist authors. I get a box of books, there's no point them sitting there. I sent some out for review to bloggers, some of those post on Amazon. I don't know any of them personally, and actually all of them have requested a copy to review, some through this forum, some who heard about it elsewhere. Nowadays, you have to do whatever it takes to get some PR. However, just because I sent it does not mean I expect anything other than an honest review, that's what nerve-wracking! The unspoken contract is that the book is free, sure, but the review is honest. As an author, you send the book but you know you are actually putting your hand up for more visible criticism. The system has broken down of course because bloggers don't work for a named organization, which is where you get an author's grandma, neighbor, best friend looking legit, or people posting good reviews just so they get free books. So I think some form of disclosure would be great just to keep it above board somehow. God knows how that would work. And Klausner's reviews are an embarassment but I have no idea where she gets the books from; do the publishers send them? I'd rather NOT get a review from her since she gets all the names and worse wrong anyway...
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Misfit
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Post by Misfit » Tue June 23rd, 2009, 12:07 pm

And Klausner's reviews are an embarassment but I have no idea where she gets the books from; do the publishers send them? I'd rather NOT get a review from her since she gets all the names and worse wrong anyway...
Lol, we'd all like to know the answer to that mystery - although part of it is I think she's on board with Midwest Book Reviews - see their reviewer list here. Just try googling Harriet and see how many other places she posts those reviews.

I think it's pretty common knowledge that bloggers are getting ARC's, it's the Amazon reviews and other sites like B&N that are bothersome. At B&N they can keep their profiles private so it's harder to spot them.

What I can't figure out is some of these sites that do nothing but spit out reviews (all glowing) like All The Best Reviews. How do they make money? Many of those reviewers are also posting on Amazon and other sites so it's time consuming. Why would someone do it unless there's a profit somewhere?
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diamondlil
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Post by diamondlil » Tue June 23rd, 2009, 12:39 pm

As a blogger, I do try to be honest about where I got a book from (if I can remember). A while ago someone was trying to come up with some kind of book blogger ethics to try and suggest things like always adding this kind of disclaimer but I am not 100% sure what happened with them. I am sure they will come up again before too long.
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