This post is based on a recent email conversation.
I have to say that the generosity of honest reviewers never ceases to amaze me. They spend their time for no reward other than being transported out of our troubled world into a world that only exists in the mind of someone else. And then they spend still more of their time compiling words that give away both everything, and nothing.
Honest reviewers are courageous. They talk about both the good, and about the not so good. They don’t sugar coat their words, but neither do they coat them in bile.
Honest reviewers are easy to spot, but incredibly hard to pin down. They’re easy to spot because their reviews don’t contain generic, nonsense catch-phrases that could be {and probably have been} used to describe an encounter with a particular brand of laundry soap. They’re incredibly hard to pin down, because every honest author wants their attention. {Dishonest authors have no interest in honest reviewers, their only interest is in 5 star reviews, the more generic the better, and they all seem to have lots of these.}
Honest reviewers are humble, invariably putting the needs of the work they’re reviewing ahead of their own needs. They are often authors themselves, but they seldom plug their own work, and if they do it is relevant to the review.
In this burgeoning world of self-publishing, honest reviewers hold a very high position on the publishing totem pole. Yet they seldom receive any compensation other than a “free” copy of the work they’re reviewing. “Free” is a word that should not be used, for it comes at such a significant cost of time. Honest reviewers do a lot of work, and they get nothing in pay. I’d like to see some creative way to rectify this bizarre situation, but I don’t see how without compromising their integrity at worst, or casting a shadow of suspicion on it at best. {For now, I make a point of personally thanking them if I have some way of contacting them. I also try and ensure they have the opportunity to read my up-coming work before it is published, but I question whether that is an adequate reward, or even a reward at all.}
In summary, writing honest reviews is a largely thankless task. So, to every honest reviewer, please accept my thanks. I’m sure every honest author joins me in that sentiment.
Thank you =)
It’s so nice to see someone appreciate the hard work we put in as honest reviewers, we receive quite a lot of backlash from people who don’t want honest.
Sadly, I understand that all too well. I’ve seen and addressed the behavior of authors whose only concern is getting 5 star reviews elsewhere on my blog.
Thank you for replying, may all your reviews remain honest, and all the books you read be good.
I’ve never understood why so many reviewers feel the need to point out that they’ve received a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. Isn’t that a given? Don’t all of the pro reviewers receive free copies of the books they review?
It does seem rather redundant doesn’t it? Though it shouldn’t, I think it detracts from the overall review. I mean let us face facts, we give a copy to a reviewer, it might cost us ten minutes of our time, they then spend ten hours of theirs reading it, and more hours writing a review. In what universe is this “free”?
And yes, professional reviewers invariably receive “free” copies of the works they review. They might be called ARCs, and they might be supplied by interested third parties, but they are just as “free”.
Oh, one other thing. I never give reviewers free copies of my books in exchange for a review. I give them a free copy, and if they choose to do a review I am thankful, if they choose not to that is entirely their choice. And since some might think there is an implicit demand on the part of the author, I always explicitly exempt reviewers from any obligations to actually do anything at all for me.
Those are some more good points. And how it should be. I think that is how the majority of authors and reviewers look at it. Especially when the book being sent out to the reviewer is an ebook. The cost to send out an ebook is zero.
Okay. I just ran across this today and remembered my comments here. I thought I should come back here and post a couple links I found. Apparently the FTC requires those disclaimers. Who knew?
Five Ways to Comply with the New FTC Guidelines for Bloggers
New FTC Rules on Writing Reviews, Affiliations, and Sponsored Posts
Interesting articles, James. Thank you. However I must ask this simple little question.
Are authors companies?
If we are not, then I believe none of those rules apply to us.
Furthermore, why do such restrictions not apply to anyone, in any circumstances? Why is the FTC so interested in Social-Media and bloggers? Perhaps the FTC is overstepping its bounds and infringing on our Freedom of Speech?
More information on these guidelines, which seem well-intentioned, appear on the FTC’s official website:-
http://www.business.ftc.gov/documents/bus71-ftcs-revised-endorsement-guideswhat-people-are-asking
Thanks for the link. It definitely clears up what the FTC’s views are. I’ve pulled out three relevant quotes from the FTC page:
This seems to make sense, until the end “if it’s deceptive” part. They seem to be saying that you only need to disclose if you’re being deceptive. So taking them at their word, you don’t have to include a disclaimer unless you plan on being deceptive. But this contradicts all of the other information so I’m going to assume they mean “and prosecuted if it’s deceptive”. Also the whole point of the FTC is to prosecute people for deceptive business practices, so, gotta be a typo there.
But, bottom line, if you’re receiving any compensation it isn’t free speech, it’s paid speech, and can then be regulated. And I don’t think it matters whether or not you are an actual company. I think the FTC regulates ALL trade. So all transactions are subject to their regulation.
So, if the book is free for everyone then no disclaimer required. But, otherwise, yes.
So, as far as the FTC is concerned, no matter how low the book is priced, if it was sent to you for free to do a review the disclaimer is required.
I’ve included a disclaimer in the small print at the bottom of my blog pages as I have some Amazon affiliate links in some of my posts. If I start doing reviews I’ll put up a disclaimer about that as well. Better off safe than sorry.
I consider myself an honest reviewer (books as well as other products) so I appreciate your gratitude for such.
Wonderful post. I am sad that I just now found this. Since you have called me an honest reviewer, and because I am, I will thank you for thanking me :). We have talked about the star ratings, and why there is no point to them, really. Which in my opinion you are correct at how they can take away from the overall review. And now seeing the topic of why reviewers state they have received the copy for free in exchange for an honest review, well. I do this because I started out reading and reviewing through my book groups on goodreads. They requested that we put on our reviews – Received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. So I have always done that, and I continued when I started getting requests by authors who requested through my blog. Also, to become a “paid” honest reviewer it helps if you are self published(blogs, magazines, etc.). This being said, our blogs can be great tools in getting us to where we would like to be when it comes to publishing and becoming professional reviewers. When we decide to apply for these careers, it is nice for the companies to see that we have authors willing to give us digital copies of their books for our honest opinions. It shows that we are wanted and our opinions of the author’s work matters to the author. I also post my reviews and ratings of the books on different websites. So on those websites (amazon, barnes and noble, etc.) I state that I received the book for free, because I did not buy the book. I hope this helps give some perspective as to why some reviewers post the book was given for free.