Subscribe to my RSS Parajunkee on Twitter Like on Facebook! Goodreads YouTube Tumblr
Paypal
Google Email Me! google Amazon profile
Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy, books, movie, giveaways and more! This blog has moved. View latest greatest info at parajunkee.com

6.16.2011

Book Blogging 101: FTC Guidelines and Lost ARCs




How many books do you have as a goal to read in a month and do you meet that goal?  - Christy Morris


I have set a 150 books in a year goal. That breaks down to about 12 books a month. I'm 4 books over in my 150 goal, so yes, I do meet my goal ;)


When I first started blogging I thought that I needed a special invite to participate in Meme's. I didn't understand why everyone was doing IMM besides it is dang exciting to get new books. Then 9 months later I found out that the IMM is one (FUN) way to comply with FTC guidelines.

Could you tell me more about the FTC and what it means for book bloggers.

Do I need to ask permission from the person that started the meme before I use it?

Are there any other meme's that are done for multiple purposes?

Thanks for you help,
Jennifer
My Life With Books


FTC! The FTC's official stance  on bloggers really has to do with endorsements. Basically they want to know what you got in exchange for that review.  Because literally I can pay you $100 to write a good review for me. You might not accept it, but Bertha of the Book Bumblers sure will (she has five kids to feed and three cats!). And if you are accepting money to write a review, technically this isn't a review it is an endorsement. The FTC needs to know these kind of things and so does the American Public. Because if you are taking cash money – well I don't think I trust your word on how much you liked the product. Just like I really don't think Kim Kardashian makes a habit of eating at Carl Jr., but she sure as heck endorses them.

The law breaks down to this sentence, “bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service”. Therefor, you have to share what you got in exchange for your review. A book is considered a payment or exchange of goods. You have to disclose that you received that book in exchange for a review. Or the big bad FTC will slap a fine on your petunia.

Second question: Usually not, bloggers create memes for participation purposes, they usually have a rules post, best to read that first. But the common consensus is usually the more the merrier. But it might not hurt to leave a comment and say you are participating.

Third Question: Yes, Waiting on Wednesday is a good one to send out into the universe what books you want. Sometimes it is seen by the author and they just might send you the book for review. This has happened to me on numerous occasions. I can't think of any other ones – but there are sooo many memes. I'm sure my readers might be able to chime in and help with this one.


I've noticed that some bloggers have their comments numbered. How do they to that? It would make giveaways easier not having to count a large amounts or comments to get to the # that random.org picks.

Thanks for your 101 it's very helpful. - Jennifer @ The Book Nympho

This is the BEST tutorial on how to do it that I've found: http://1stfloorflatcomputery.blogspot.com/2009/11/how-to-number-your-comments.html


I've seen that some blogs have check boxes at the bottom of posts where readers can check 'interesting' etc. How can I add check boxes.

Somewhat along the same lines, how can I add a feature in the comments where I can reply to individual comments and it indents the replies.

Thanks so much! - Jen

Go to your DASHBOARD. Design. And on your BLOG POST gadget click EDIT

There is a section called REACTIONS – click EDIT next to that reactions part. Write in there what you want them to grade you on, (good, great, excellent, etc) separate each one by a comma. Once you are done, put a check mark next to reactions --- and there you go.


I know alot of blogs I visit,,they review books that are sent to  them by publishers. Im not really doing that and really dont care to do that,,I dont want it to feel like a job is it ok to still review a book? or should I just stick with the weekly memes that Ive been doing..?
thanks for your help, Jennifer

Your blog. Do what you want. Jennifer – it is your blog. If you don't want to accept review copies, by all means, don't accept review copies. You can do whatever it is you want! I've seen blogs out there that only review books they get from the library. Your blog. You make the rules. Your readers will decide if they are interested or not. It is still a review, who cares where you got the book from? A lot of my reviews are from books I PURCHASE. Really.



Hey PJ! I have two questions on review books this time:

What's the difference between a galley and an ARC?

And, what do you do if you lose a book you've received for review? (This hasn't happened to me, but I'd like to be prepared, just in case;) ). Do you ask the publisher for another one? Do you try to get hold of another copy by yourself? I would think that getting a copy yourself would make sense, but what would you do about an advanced copy that's hard to get hold of?

Thanks again, PJ! Your meme is so helpful! - Riv Re

Galley vs. ARC. A Galley is a book after it has been typeset but before it has been proofread. These usually go to the editor and the author and any other person involved in proofreading. These are generally not distributed for marketing purposes. Yet, recently galleys have been distributed in such fashion. Galleys will generally come out before an ARC. Most of the time you can tell it is a galley because it will have the file name down at the bottom and you will see the registration mark and crop marks:

Galleys are generally a proofing tool and will most likely have spelling and grammar errors, along with scenes that might be edited out completely. There are usually only a few galleys printed out of a book and a lot of the times it is just a print out of the book from a laser printer or a digital PDF version.

ARCs or AREs are books that are being privately released for Marketing purposes.  ARCs are used to generate buzz before the release date and are the books distributed to choice booksellers and journalist and other authors or celebs for reviews and endorsements. ARCs are a marketing tool - they are not usually used for proofreading, but can differ from the final version of the book. (Hush, Hush had a completely different ending) ARCs usually are printed on a press, but lack a dust jacket or final cover. Some publishers print upwards of 5,000 ARCs for early distribution. Other times ARCs are not in the Marketing plan so very few are printed if any and the publisher can sometimes get you to sign a confidentiality agreement before handing the copy over (Mockingjay), whereas a galley would have to be printed because the book needs to be proofread. I hope this answers your question. And keep in mind each publisher might market books differently and with the inception of book bloggers, Netgalley.com and tools like this, publishers are treating pre-releases differently. Each house writes their own rules and nothing is set in stone. 

Now, if you lose a book? You can ask the publisher for another one. Personally I would be embarrassed to ask for another one, unless the publisher was very insistent on a review. If it was an ARC I would purchase a copy on release and review it then...better late than never. Same thing holds true if it was given to you after release.



Now on to the technical stuff:


How do I add internal links to my site? I want to add a separate link for my review policy and a giveaway section for upcoming giveaways. - Felicia

Go view this youtube.com screencast:  http://youtu.be/26K34_gUTXM



Hi!

How do you find (or make) those awesome "find me <here>" widgets???  The ones that are the little squares and go to RSS/Twitter/Facebook/Goodreads/whatever...  I have widget envy.

You're the best! - Thinking Cat


Just a picture with a link. Find an icon on the web. There is a great site that offers free icons for download here. And you would just put a link on them. It does require some HTML knowledge, but the bare minimum. You do need to host your icon some where. But, lets say you are using the goodreads icon from the Social Media Icon site (please don't do this though, host it on flickr or picasa etc.):

This is the link for that pic: http://files.softicons.com/download/internet-cons/social-media-icons-by-paul-robert-lloyd/png/24/goodreads.png

Now you would have to wrap it in your link to goodreads, which is this (this is my link):
http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2680107-parajunkee-com

So the code would look like this:

<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2680107-parajunkee-com" target="_blank"><img src="http://files.softicons.com/download/internet-cons/social-media-icons-by-paul-robert-lloyd/png/24/goodreads.png" border="0" /></a>

  • The <a href= is the opening tag that is telling the browser that this is a link
  • the target="_blank" is telling the browser to open it in a new window
  • The <img src= is telling the browser that it is going to show an image and the src is saying where that image is coming from.
  • Sometimes browsers put a border around linked images, so I always add border="0" to keep that from happening
  • The </a> is telling the browser that this is where the link ends.
  • Remember in HTML you always have to wrap the  element in " " . If you forget those the code will not work.
Interested in learning more HTML??? There is a 4 hour course on Lynda.com called XHTML & HTML Essential training that I recommend and they offer a Free 7 Day trail.

I highly recommend Lynda.com, I originally learned Dreamweaver (a web design software) from Lynda.com books and then I later learned how to code CSS from a lynda.com online course. I have a yearly lynda.com subscription and use it all the time. Especially for every software upgrade.

Click the banner below if you are interested.

Free 7-day trial

When I first saw the mobile template in settings I misunderstood and thought it was if *I* wanted to post from my phone, as oppose to how readers would view it--Now that I understand, it seems so easy!--Are there any reasons people wouldn't want to use it?--Also, does the QR code need to be manually posted to your blog--not having a smart phone, myself, I'm not sure where people find the code to scan it--Does it only appear if they're reading it from their device?

love you as always! - nymfaux

Can't think of any. Maybe they are anti-mobi people?? Or maybe it's just that they already have their site optimized for mobile phones and do not want blogger mucking up their site in their blogger fashion.

You have to go to a QR generator (just search that term in google) and make your own QR code. Download the PNG file and post it to your blog. But -- you do not need a QR code to be viewed as a mobi site. A QR code is just like a barcode, it is a quick way to access the site instead of typing it into your phone's browser.

You would put it on your business card, a book mark or advertisement. Things like that. For easy access. I think you might be confused as to what it is used for. The QR code really has nothing to do with a mobi site - it just gets you there quicker.


That's it folks. Talk Less. Read More. Happy Thusday.







Ask your BB101 Questions here...

1 comments:

nymfaux said...

Hi PJ!

Thanks again for answering one of my questions!!!--It means a lot!!! (and I could very well be confused)(it happens often)(lol)

Hope you're having a great week!!!

Post a Comment

Let me have it...