Message for the FTC
Wow. It appears the Federal Trade Commission wants to regulate bloggers. What was that Dylan line? “Someday your own garden will be against the law.”
In their efforts to “protect American consumers,” the FTC wants me to tell my readers that I sometimes get free books. At Piedmont Biofuels we run a lending library for the whole project and beyond. The focus of our library is books on energy and society.
That’s what I like to read, and that’s the kinda stuff I write about.
My brother Glen likes to believe that most of the books in our library have been borrowed from him, and not returned. And my brother Jim does a mountain of book reviews.
The reality is that some of our books have been purchased, some have been borrowed, and some have been sent to us by publishers as “review copies.”
Here is my rule: Life is too short for a bad review. So I only review books I like. That means that when I read a “free” book and I am not able to endorse it, I merely put it in the library with no review.
Sometimes I write blurbs for other authors. That entails reading the manuscript before the book is in print, and offering a one line comment that might help them sell the book. In exchange for writing a blurb, I often get a copy of the book for free when it appears on bookstore shelves.
We’ve always tried to stay “legal” at Piedmont Biofuels, where I work. That means complying with local building inspectors, fire marshals, state environmental regulators (for both air and water), and with federal regulators like the EPA and the IRS, to say nothing of our compliance with the National Biodiesel Board.
Hopefully this entry will make me good with the FTC…