Morbid Romantic

Book Review & Personal Blog

So, internet, I take it you’ve heard about the new FTC regulation placed on bloggers, correct?

The FTC will require that writers on the Web clearly disclose any freebies or payments they get from companies for reviewing their products. The commission also said advertisers featuring testimonials that claim dramatic results cannot hide behind disclaimers that the results aren’t typical.

The gist is this: where you have anything good and sacred in this world, there will be people who practice unethical behavior. The book blogger community is, as a whole, an honest community. In my time, I have not met many who were not overall very good, honest bloggers. Most book bloggers such as myself also endorse products and receive free merchandise for review. Once you enter this realm, you really start encountering people who run blogs solely to get products and money. They are even willing to sell out their own opinion for a few freebies and a few bucks, giving dishonest and positive reviews to placate their sponsor. This IS unethical behavior.

And this is, of course, what I hope the new FTC regulation will stat to put a stop to.

Naturally, it means that all of us must abide by the rules. But, I am a big time rule player. I like them, I understand them, and I figure if I am not doing anything wrong, it is an easy transition to make. I also have a sitewide disclosure for sponsored posts, but I am going to include after every book and product review if I received the item for free. My reviews have always been honest, though, free gifts or not. As a community, we have a responsibility to protect ourselves and each other.

You’re The Handmaid’s Tale!
by Margaret Atwood
An outraged feminist, you have been oppressed and even silenced in
your life, fueling your fury against the society as it stands. Your role has been
strictly defined by society and you are almost certainly unsatisfied with it. You
have some vague idea of how this has come to be, but insufficient power to stop it,
let alone reverse the trend. And somehow you blame yourself for everything because
people ask you to. Beware people renaming your nation a Republic.

Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Here are a few of the online resources that I use to ensure that my blog if protected and properly represented. I thought I’d put them out there for all of you other book bloggers who want to protect your content from other websites. Website theft is rampant. Some times a web thief will steal your design, but some are brazen and bold enough to actually copy and paste your content and place it on their webpage. While some may be new to website and unsure what the protocol is, I can’t imagine anyone thinking that out right content theft is acceptable.

MyFreeCopyright.com – Register your blog by adding your feed address. From the point that you register and beyond, your blog posts will be logged, registered with a date to prove you published at a certain date and time, and given a unique digital fingerprint. With this you will be able to prove that the content you publish is yours because you have a digitally stamped copy. You can’t alter the time and date or text like you can with a blog entry. So, if someone steals your content, you can just furnish your proof that it belonged to you first.

CopyrightSpot – As they say, this site is for free plagiarism detection. You put in your feed URL or your site URL and their search engine will seak out duplicates of your content. This is important for book reviewers because some sites and book sellers out there will just steal a review from a reviewer site and publish it in their book shops. Without permission.

SafeSurf Rating System – Not all of us rate books that are child or teenager friendly. There are a lot of hot and steamy novels out there! Of course, as responsible web owners and reviewers, we don’t want children to come across our reviews and read something that may be inappropriate. A quote, an observation, a joke… whatever. The site, once you register your content, will generate a META tag for you to add to your site. If your site is not for the eyes of the young, search engines will read that and not show it in results.

I just made an account on Goodreads! If you have it, please add me as a friend. Also, feel free to friend me on LibraryThing also since I have no friends there either and would very much like some.

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Tracy at Book Room Reviews is holding a book giveaway carnival that will last the week of March 2nd through the 8th. This carnival is a chance for book bloggers and regular bloggers alike all over the net to hold giveaways and contests to give out great books for free. Some sites may give out one, some may give out many. I have at least two books so far that I am going to hold contests to win. Since I still have a few days, I am collecting books that I think would make good giveaway material. Keep an eye out here and at Book Room Reviews for when the carnival goes live. There are already quite a few sites promising participation, so the contests that week will overwhelm and delight you. With so many books up for grabs, the chances of winning something that week increases greatly. If you have a book blog or a few books you’d like to give away and a blog, you should participate! Join in the fun.