Dear Federal Trade Commission,
I am formally notifying you that I take pride in my amateur status when it comes to reviewing books here on Book Chase. As you will notice, if you bother to look around, I do not sell any ads on Book Chase relating to books or anything else.
I do, of course, receive a number of Advance Reading Copies of books throughout the year and I review close to 100% of the books that make their way to me that way (after carefully choosing from the titles I am offered). It appears that your new blogger guidelines consider ARCs as a form of compensation for my reviews. For that reason, I will include a disclaimer in each review from this date forward that involves an ARC received directly from a publisher.
In addition, I note that the little Amazon.com icons I place after most of my book reviews might be the source of a problem for me. After all, Book Chase readers have followed those links so many times that Amazon has paid me almost $10.50 this year (money I used to purchase a book for a Book Chase giveaway). At that rate, I will soon be able to retire from my day job and do this as a profession. I place the Amazon icons after my reviews only because I take pleasure in the fact that I might play a tiny role in moving a few books into the hands of readers who may have otherwise missed them.
While we are having this little chat, Mr. FTC, I have to ask why bloggers are expected to disclose the receipt of free ARCs and are not allowed to run related ads while print reviews are not held to the same standard. Why are magazines and newspapers not held to the same high ethical standards expected of book bloggers?
Thank you for your time.
Here's hoping that my efforts here at Book Chase meet with your wholehearted approval. I wish I could say the same for your efforts but I outgrew the need for a Nanny several decades ago.
Your pal,
Sam Sattler
Book Chase
Bravo!!! Oh, and since you are rolling in the bucks...
ReplyDeleteGreat post!
ReplyDeleteIsn't this just all weird? I can't believe in my tiny corner of the blogosphere anyone would care what I'm reading. How they are going to police all the book blogs out there is beyond me. I will also be noting in my posts when I am talking about a freebie, but I'll treat the book the same as any other--just like I always have. Love the post.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Christine and Melanie.
ReplyDeleteDanielle, I'm amazed that the FTC wants to waste time on two-bit bloggers like me. Did you see that they are threatening us with a fine of $11,000 if we are deemed to have mislead readers for profit? That's just stupid. No wonder the feds are driving this country into bankruptcy - they have no sense of priority.