Are There Really Free Books?

Certainly, for many of us bloggers, the idea of getting 'free' books is nothing new. Library Thing's Early Review program, ARC's...advanced review copies of books from various sources, Amazon's Vine program, Harper Collins First Look, cold requests...there are a lot of sources of books out there if you seek them out.

But the question is, in what sense are they 'free'? Those who send us the books, at their expense, expect something in return. Usually, some sort of publicity, one would assume. They want us to read it and review it on our blog or elsewhere, where others will read what is this hopefully glowing review and want to buy it. And then they will read it too and tell their friends and fellow book lovers and next stop- NY Times bestsellers list! So, yes, we have entered a sort of contract. Send me a book and I will review it.

But are the issues at stake here more complicated than that? Some people think so. Recently, in The Guardian, there was an article by Edward Champion called There Is No Such Thing as a Free Book. That title might be a hint as to Mr. Champion's opinion on the matter. In the article, he discusses the program that the Christian publishing house Thomas Nelson has started recently, in which they promise to send a requested book to a blogger who agrees to post a 200 word review, "positive, negative, or somewhere in between." Mr. Champion does not seem to have a problem with that, but what Michael Hyatt, the head of Thomas Nelson Books did next has him rather upset.

“But Hyatt got greedy and honed his quid pro quo. Last week, Hyatt announced on his blog that he would tweak his "experiment." Not only would any blogger requesting a free book be required to post a 200-word review on his blog, they would also have to submit the review to "a consumer detail page" along the lines of Amazon.
In addition, to get their copy a blogger now also needed to enroll in the Book Reviewer Blogger programme, submitting his or her name, address, phone number, and categories of interest.”

Somewhere there, Mr. Champion feels that a line has been crossed. He feels that there are troubling questions in this for the blogsphere.

“Will Thomas Nelson stop sending books to those who write negative reviews? Will the publisher demand 400-word reviews a few months from now? Will other publishers begin setting more extraordinary terms for hotter titles? And, most importantly, will the blogosphere ever understand that surrendering to marketing forces simply isn't a substitute for journalistic integrity?”

It is an interesting question I think. A good review that people read and find reliable may sell more books, a few or a lot depending on the size of the audience. And that makes the publisher happy, as it should, because after all, that is what they are in the business to do, sell books. But what of a bad review? Is there someone at publishing houses, in their publicity departments, that is going to cut off books or 'punish' someone who writes a bad review for their product? I think it is pretty unlikely. Surely, they have more important things to do that track the countless bloggers out there, with a giant spreadsheet of positive and negative and in-between reviews. If they want to though, I guess that is their right.

But I do think that there are serious questions here for bloggers to answer for themselves. And it goes to the very heart of what you see as the point of your blog or any book blog.
Yes, we enter a sort of contact with the publisher. We bloggers do this, I assume, because we love books and we enjoy recommending ones that we think are good.
The publishers, on the other hand, are in business to sell books. Not just any books but their books. So to a degree, our aims are in conflict. If publisher ABC put out a book, they want to sell it. If I read that book and think it's not very good, I don't want you to spend your money to buy it. I don't really see my obligation being to the publisher or to the author, but to the reader. I am not part of the publicity department of any company, even if they are really nice to me. I love books and I want people to read and love good books too. I don't work for them and my only obligation is only to be honest about what I think and then the reader can choose to take my opinion to heart or not.

But a recent interaction was a little bit of a wake up. A publicist offered to send me a book that I had mentioned on my blog to offer in a giveaway. Seems that is a common practice. No mention of a need to read it, no need to review it, just offer a giveaway. OK...but, well, that sort of sounds like buying advertising space to me. Not trying to sound holier than thou here really...lol... but that is not the point of my blog, and heck it's no fun at all for me. What do I write in the giveaway..here is a book, sorry I have no idea if it's good or bad, but here is a book, who wants it? Again, that might be a publisher's business, but it is not mine.
I replied that I would be happy to read it, and write a review and then offer it in a giveaway. Of course, it may say “This book is awful...OK, who would like the copy?”, but I am fine with that. They did send the book, but if they hadn't, well, that was their choice and fine with me. But it just raised a bit of a question with the whole giveaway thing and how publishers handle it.

I have seen blogs that don't really review but rather just sort of describe a book. I have read bloggers who say, happily, that never write a bad review. I don't 'get' that and it's not my cuppa tea, but if that's what floats your boat, grand.

But I want to be a salesman for books. Good books, exciting books, moving books, books that will change people, or make them scared or make them cry or make them laugh, books that they will remember for years and want others to read. That is my pleasure in a blog.
So does Mr. Champion have reason be be concerned or are we just taking it all a little too seriously? Feel free to say yes! Is it the more books out there and the more people blogging about them and the more discussion about books the better ..or is there more at stake than that? No, there are no totally free books. In fact, nothing in life is free: you just have to decide what you are willing to pay.

Well, I have a really good book that I have to finish reading....but I really would love to hear your opinion.