For Free or Not For Free?

As a writer who offers no-charge advice and group support to authors about this way of promoting their new pubs, I can assure you that a free book isn't nearly the compensation anyone thinks it is.  I only host blog book tour stops by invitation and for authors I know and read... it's just flat-out too time-consuming to try to wade through piles of books looking for a worthy title to praise.  Blog book tours may be cheaper and more environmentally-conscious, but they are time-consuming efforts for both the author and the host. If I spend a day coordinating a tour stop for an author, do you think a $24 hardcover and my reputation as a writer and reviewer is worth recommending a poorly-written title?  It's not.

Keeping writers off the streets with the http://quickest.blogbooktourguide.ever.com

You hit the nail on the head with that one.

While you didn't specifically say anything about this I do think that publishers could have a successful company blog. I know that some of them are trying and I haven't seen any of them do it really well quite yet. Many of them come off as marketing and PR - much like their monthly newsletters. And I'm cool with it in the newsletters. But when I read a blog it's about connecting with someone and that's what some publishers haven't picked up on yet - in their company blogs or in their communication with bloggers.

Sassymonkey ( http://sassymonkey.wordpress.com/ ), Sassymonkey Reads ( http://sassymonkeyreads.wordpress.com/ ), and Sassymonkey Eats ( http://sassymonkeyeats.wordpress.com/ )

But most importantly, I generally approach bloggers with the same amount of respect I would approach any traditional media outlet. Maybe that's my mistake?

I think that's an asset and most definitely not a mistake. I don't think anything bad comes from approaching people with respect.

And book nut? Yeah. Delusional? I doubt it.

Sassymonkey ( http://sassymonkey.wordpress.com/ ), Sassymonkey Reads ( http://sassymonkeyreads.wordpress.com/ ), and Sassymonkey Eats ( http://sassymonkeyeats.wordpress.com/ )

... on the relationship between publishers and bloggers.

Any publishing house that would try to bribe/con/persuade a blogger into delivering their marketing message clearly doesn't get the whole blogging thing in the first place and are busily trying their very best to shoot themselves in the foot in the second place.

Since blogs have to be authentic to really work, neither publishers nor anybody else gets to control the message where their productss are concerned -- any more than they used to be able to control what people said around the water cooler. It always weirds me out, this "control the message" angst; companies never were able to control the message when it comes to people just talking to each other. If anything, what blogs have done for them is that they now have a way of seeing what people really think. If they're open to that, I'm sure they're finding it instructive.

As for those publishers, if they're smart they should be simply releasing books they genuinely think are that good and hoping the world agrees.

If book bloggers were to agree to allow themselves to do somebody's PR, they would immediately lose their credibility -- the credibility that makes them so valuable to book publishers. Mutual foot shooting, if you ask me.

Nobody in the blogosphere is going to pay any attention to a paid shill who just happens to use blogging software instead of some other form of media. For the publisher, bribery defeats the purpose.

Cheers!
Dawn

Dawn Rivers Baker writes The Journal Blog ( http://www.microenterprisejournal.com/JournalBlog/ )
- where business and politics meet the mind of a wise-ass

I'm going to come at this from two different POVs (how unoriginal of me to sit on the fence). I work for a big publishing company and we delight in giving bloggers books to read because it helps out the whole word of mouth thing in terms of publicity, which is harder and harder to clear away the scrum in this day and age.

But most importantly, I generally approach bloggers with the same amount of respect I would approach any traditional media outlet. Maybe that's my mistake? Or my own naive idealistic idea, that for the most part, bloggers (myself included) like to think of themselves as professionals, even if what they're doing is highly personal.

I would never, ever, EVER suggest to a blogger that simply by me giving them a book to review that they need to write a good review of said book. I would never, ever, EVER try in any way to question the integrity, voice and/or message of the blog. Ideally I just like to facilitate getting books into the hands of good readers -- people who are the ideal audience for a particular book or writer. Someone they might not have heard of, a book that might have gotten lost in the fray, an important book that deserves attention, etc.

But I can understand the not wanting to become a cog in the public relations industry. I can see how attaching your blog to a product might make you weary and less authentic and that's totally within your rights as a blogger. But is getting a product for free really the issue or is it the whole idea of consumerism in this relatively new spectrum more the issue?

Does the value in the product or your opinion come from how, where and what it was procured? Does the fact that I paid to see "The Lake House" and didn't pay to see "Fast Food Nation" have any affect on what I might write about either film, not really. The films will be judged entirely upon their artistic merits ("The Lake House" bad; "Fast Food Nation" not good but still important).

There's no expectation on my behalf in terms of the bloggers that I work with except maybe to provide a link if it's something they feel comfortable doing. Ideally, I like to hear opinions if they're good, bad and indifferent. I don't know if that makes me the evil man or some sort of delusional book nut. My favourite part of my job is putting books into the hands of other book lovers so that they can experience the love too...

Now I'm just rambling. Hopefully I made some coherent sense.

I rarely ever think about people owning the books they review because I get most of mine from the library and assume most other people do too.

If you are ever in Toronto I must make sure you get to the Cookbook Store ( http://www.cook-book.com/ ). I've walked by it a couple of time but I'm afraid to go in. I'm not sure my bank account would forgive me...

Sassymonkey ( http://sassymonkey.wordpress.com/ ), Sassymonkey Reads ( http://sassymonkeyreads.wordpress.com/ ), and Sassymonkey Eats ( http://sassymonkeyeats.wordpress.com/ )

I think the difference comes in the belief that bloggers are doing reviews and generally talking about books cause they just plain love them. Period. But people know reviewers do it for a job and in exchange receive a salary, free books, etc. So I think some people have felt deceived and questioned if what they were reading was genuine (particularly in reference to the promotion mentioned in the post by Kimbofo).

It was interesting to hear the perspective of a publisher. Thank you. :)

Sassymonkey ( http://sassymonkey.wordpress.com/ ), Sassymonkey Reads ( http://sassymonkeyreads.wordpress.com/ ), and Sassymonkey Eats ( http://sassymonkeyeats.wordpress.com/ )

I'm always wary about recommending books in genres that I don't know much about. I worry that I'm recommending something that is a rip-off of something else.

I don't think the question is necessarily moot for you. If you were reading a blog that you normally read and the recommended a book would you feel differently about to it find out that they had gotten the book for free and didn't mention that?

Sassymonkey ( http://sassymonkey.wordpress.com/ ), Sassymonkey Reads ( http://sassymonkeyreads.wordpress.com/ ), and Sassymonkey Eats ( http://sassymonkeyeats.wordpress.com/ )

Speaking as a book publisher ( http://www.brighidsfirebooks.com ), this debate raises a question for me:

Why does anybody view blogging book reviewers differently from MSM book reviewers?

If I send a copy of my latest release to Publisher's Weekly on the (very) off-chance that they'll review a new title from a teeny tiny press nobody's ever heard of, PW probably won't feel it is incumbent on them to mention they got a free review copy.

If, on the other hand, I send a copy of my latest release to Sassymonkey because I asked her and she invited me to (which means she'll probably actually review it), not only does that not seem any different to me, it's a better use of my fairly meager resources.

And it's always a crap shoot. There's always a chance that your new title will get panned, no matter who you send it to for a review. Of course, it would never occur to me to try to bribe anybody but that's a topic for another post.

Publishers want reviews in various media in order to get the word out about their titles. Since book bloggers can have great reach, I would think that sending review copies to book bloggers would be a no-brainer part of any imprint's Internet marketing strategy.

But it's no different from sending a review copy to the New York Times -- except that it's less likely to be a waste of money.

No self-flagellation necessary, if you ask me.

Cheers!
Dawn

The Journal Blog ( http://www.microenterprisejournal.com/JournalBlog/ )
- where business and politics meet the mind of a wise-ass

People either have ethics (and morales) or they don't. Imposing them from outside is seldom successful.

I would prefer to think that the people who recommend books to me have them but I usually only consider people I know well. My genres of interest are relatively narrow and I know where my friends are coming from so I mostly know what to expect when they recommend a book to me.

Not reading many book blogs the question is moot for me. :)

Jim Heivilin

I do think that when you get a free book (or in my case cookbook) you should feel obligated to state that when you write about the book. It can get weird though because I often write about cookbooks I like, and when I actually have bought the book (I have quite a serious cookbook addiction) I often wonder if readers think I got the book free and just aren't saying so. I buy a lot more books than I get free, but I have gotten some very cool cookbooks.

Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen ( http://kalynskitchen.blogspot.com )

But just speaking in terms of book-centric blogs (and I read a lot of them) a lot of people really do honestly read books around the same time. Particularly if it is a new and much hyped book - no matter how the hype was started. Actually some old books make the rounds too, especially when there are themed challenges. The Moonstone is an old book that comes to mind that made the rounds this summer and fall (why on earth that book did I cannot explain...).

As I mentioned I do sometimes get books for free from publishers or PR people. And I do disclose that on my blog as well as here at BlogHer (I've only read 1 book that I've gotten from a publisher here and yes there was a disclosure statement). Although...I'm wondering if in a case or two I may have forgotten to mention it in the actual post about the book (I'm thinking of one book in particular...) but I do know I mentioned it elsewhere. Sometimes it's easy to forget that not everyone who stumbles on your blog is a regular reader. I'll be checking the handful old posts about my free book over the weekend...just to make sure.

I fully understand why you want disclosure - especially on blogs that may not be book-centric.

Sassymonkey ( http://sassymonkey.wordpress.com/ ), Sassymonkey Reads ( http://sassymonkeyreads.wordpress.com/ ), and Sassymonkey Eats ( http://sassymonkeyeats.wordpress.com/ )

Although for me personally I tend to mention pretty much every book I read on my book blog cause well...that's what it's about! The good and the bad. But I would never promise to give a good review - to anyone. In fact, I know a few bloggers who have books coming out in the next year and I'm almost scared to read them because I'm worried I won't like the book!

Sassymonkey ( http://sassymonkey.wordpress.com/ ), Sassymonkey Reads ( http://sassymonkeyreads.wordpress.com/ ), and Sassymonkey Eats ( http://sassymonkeyeats.wordpress.com/ )

And I think for most book bloggers the book itself is reward enough.

Do you think that bloggers who receive free books should out that fact in their review?

Read your "secret" news on your blog! Yay you!

Sassymonkey ( http://sassymonkey.wordpress.com/ ), Sassymonkey Reads ( http://sassymonkeyreads.wordpress.com/ ), and Sassymonkey Eats ( http://sassymonkeyeats.wordpress.com/ )

I totally agree. I'm sick of seeing the "I just found a cool new book" posts where you know that that popular blogger got a free copy of the book (since it's the same book on every popular blog). I'm sure it's the wave of the future (I hate those blog book tours too) but I don't like it. I don't buy something just because the "most famous blogger" read it and said it was good. At least having to (ethically) mention that you got it for free will make some difference in how that review is read by the general public.

Elspeth
http://ladybug326.blogspot.com

I don't think there is anything wrong with accepting review copies of books, as long as you're not promising to review the book (or to give it a good review) when you accept it.

Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen ( http://kalynskitchen.blogspot.com )

I don't see the problem with accepting a free book in order to review it. Publishers want you to read their books but they ought to know that they are taking the chance that you might pan it.

That's why I think of accepting money or other incentives as a whole other kettle of fish.

laurie
www.notjustaboutcancer.blogspot.com ( http://www.notjustaboutcancer.blogspot.com )