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#BEA Update for Thursday – Disclosures and the Bloggers’ Conference

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Well, I had a really great picture to post, but I have limited internet, so this update will be all words.

I can’t even get my pictures to post to facebook, so those updates will have to wait until I get home.

I took a bunch of notes at the Blogger Convention which was great if you were a new blogger.  The only thing I really took away was the information from the Ethic’s Lunch Forum.  There were three lawyers discussing the new FTC regulations about  disclosures by bloggers about the books they receive from publishers.   It pretty much boils down to you need to make disclosure of any book you get for free. I have always disclosed my source before my review, but I have added a new box that runs below my review in the same size font below my Amazon link and review:

Disclosure If you are considering purchasing this book or anything else from Amazon, please use my link above since I earn a very small percentage of the sale which helps pay for shipping my giveaways!  I received this book from the publisher at no charge and in no way influenced my review.  


You don’t even need to write that much, just state that you got the book at no charge and it didn’t influence your review in any way.  The big catch to this is that you don’t have to say anything if you bought, borrowed or checked it out from the library.  I always put that in my source information anyway since it is in my review form.  Oh and if you give the book a negative review, you don’t have to say a word about where you got the book.  

Jane Litte, from DearAuthor.com, Richard Newman and Professor Geanne Rosenberg were the legal team on the panel.  Mr. Newman stated that it would take multiple complaints starting with the BBB and Consumer Affairs to get noticed by the FTC.  I had a feeling that us little bloggers are small fish in a big pond.  

Overall, I don’t know if I could really recommend the blogging conference.  I did meet a LOT of fellow bloggers but the topics didn’t cover the next level for me.   There is an overwhelming drive to convert everyone to WordPress because of ownership issues.  Blogger pretty much owns your blog on Blogspot.  I guess I will eventually have to make the switch but I have to figure in a budget for that since it does cost about $100 a year for hosting.  

I spent most of my time walking around today and meeting a lot of the people I email with at publishers, so that was really exciting.  I did get a bit of fan girlish and got to meet Rob Sheffield, Joshilyn Jackson, Chuck Klosterman, Jonathan Lethem and a LOT of others in my YA rounds which I will cover over at BookHounds YA.  



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Comments

  1. EEEP! Sounds like you had a great time 🙂 I love that they have sessions for new/old bloggers and go over the different aspects! Keep enjoying!!

    ~Shreya@CCReviews

  2. I probably wouldn’t pay for the Blogger day again if I went. It was neat, but don’t know if it’s worth the money. Glad to hear what you heard about the whole saying where you got the book thing. I’ve been kind of worried about that. I also don’t think I can afford the switch to WordPress, not to mention that Blogger is so easy, I hate to move and have a lot more work to do.

  3. Lisa — I don’t think it was worth the money. If I ever go again, I will try to get a press pass. I am very happy with blogger and it does what I want. I think if you back up your content to your computer, it can always be reinstalled someplace else. There seemed to be a bit of fearmongering from the wordpress people. – I got this whole “you aren’t professional if you are on blogger” type attitude.

  5. Thanks for sharing your experience and the update with regulations.. It does sound like it would be more for those starting out still in the blogging world vs a seasoned professonal!