Boing Boing featured this great video of author/photographer Walter Wick and one of his complicated creations.  This one appears to defy gravity.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-sjDm8-IuA%5D

Today I was at a library technology conference, gave a presentation, and still managed to debate blogging ethics on Twitter.  A full day indeed!  As a result of those discussions,I have decided to sign on to the Blog with Integrity Pledge. 

This issue is very important to me because I am reviewing books as a public library director.  This limits some of the things I can do on my blog, as you will see below.  Plus, my ethics have to be unquestionable.  The integrity badge is a shorthand to openly declare what my blogging ethics are. 

On Twitter a few bloggers said they would not sign the pledge or anything like it because it would imply they had not been blogging ethically before signing it.  I don’t see it that way.  I see it as a tangible expression of my blogging beliefs.  It says what I already do and already believe in.  It is not going to change my blogging.

Here is what you can expect to see on my blog:

I will continue to accept review copies and ARCs from authors and publishers. (Keeps the library fines down!)

Information at the end of every review about where I got the book, whether it was library, review copy or ARC.  (I never buy books unless I already love them. That’s what libraries are for!  But if I do buy one personally, I will let you know that too.)

I will not do giveaways (it gets complicated when blogging as a government employee and doing contests)

I will not do blog tours (too structured for my blogging habits and my work day)

Of course others have their own ways of doing things, which is great.  That’s the beauty of blogging!  I’m not suggesting that anyone sign the pledge, but I did want to be really open about what I am doing here. 

Lee Wind tweeted about this wonderful piece on the Image Blog. It’s about the culture of writers and being part of the clique, and being an outsider.

And it rang bells for me about our discussions about what it is to be a children’s lit blogger. Here is the paragraph that made my head ring:

“The trick, I suppose, is to stay clear on the distinction between solidarity and schmoozing, on the fact that pecking order does not necessarily reward merit, and on the old saw that some people will always have more than you and some less. The trick, even for a combative, competitive, insecure former seventh-grader, is to put the work first.”

Does it get your head ringing too?

Going up to publishers and saying that you are a blogger can be hard.  When I first started doing this at ALA five years ago, I was met with blank stares because no one had even heard about blogs.  Things have definitely changed.

I went up to one publisher, ready to do my spiel about how I am a blogger, and legit, and would like to work together.  The person at the booth knew my blog, was shocked I wasn’t getting copies, and I was left just glowing from the entire experience.  Easiest conversation of my life!

The next day, the last day of the exhibits, I walked up to a booth.  I had been there before, been ignored because they were conversing with one another, but now I was back.  Here is the conversation as best I can recall.  I got the person’s attention after about 10 minutes of waiting, gave a big smile:

Me:  Hi, I have a blog and you are one of the only publishers here I don’t work with.

Her: We hear from hundreds of people that they blog.

Me:  Yes, I’m sure.  And I know… (I was going to say that I knew it was hard to tell who has readers and who doesn’t, but she cut me off.")

Her: So we will need you to contact us with your numbers.

Me:  OK, I can do that.  I’ve been blogging for 5 years now.  (That line is usually a winner.)

Her:  Everyone has been blogging for five years.  (Um, no.  Really.  No.)  We need solid numbers.

Me:  Well, I get x number of visits a day.  (Don’t want to turn this into a discussion of the number of visits I get.  It’s about more than that.)

Her: Everyone gets x number of visits a day.  (Um, no.)  We need real numbers, like unique visitors each day.  (Which is the number I just gave her.)

Me:  OK, I can do that.  So I just email you with those numbers…

AND HERE IS THE PROBLEM!

Her:  And if the numbers are good enough, we will send you ONE BOOK and IF WE LIKE HOW YOU HANDLE THAT TITLE YOU CAN HAVE ANOTHER ONE. 

Me:  (Blankly.)  Oh? 

Her:  You can see that our titles have been embraced by the blogging community (Yes, there were several that were HUGE on blogs.)  That’s because of this policy.  It really works for us.  (Yes, I bet it does.  Didn’t doubt that for a moment.)

Me:  I’ll have to think about that.  I don’t do that with any other publisher I work with.  It’s not how I do business.

Her:  (Sudden change in demeanor.  I think she just replayed our conversation and realized that she had completely misread the situation.)  Well, we could send you hundreds of titles at a time.  We wouldn’t hold you to one, necessarily.

Me:  Well, I’ll think about it. 

I stopped just short of ripping her card to shreds right there, but by the end of the conversation I was literally shaking in fury.  She had been unnecessarily rude.  Her tone of voice was hostile at best.  The same information delivered in a kind way would have been fine.

UNTIL she got to that part about ONE TITLE AT A TIME and seeing how I handled it online.

Let me put it to you straight – publishers have absolutely NO RIGHT to decide how independent reviewers like bloggers treat their titles online.  I am not going to blog happy little reviews in order to get fed another ARC to do the same thing with or lose my supply of titles.  What a load of crap!

I shudder to think about bloggers who are actually participating in this little scheme. This is a large publisher who proudly announces that this is how they deal with bloggers.  Not me.  I am not going to request any books.  No way.  I’d rather check them out from the library when they are out. 

Just to be clear, I get a lot of books from publishers but I have never, ever been told that my supply of books depends on how I handle their titles online.  If any publisher said that, I would not work with them.

And so, Little Brown, I will not be calling.  I am dismayed at the disrespect your company shows bloggers, the hold you believe you have over them, and the rotten attitude of your booth workers.  I hope that anyone working with publishers under this sort of policy decides to no longer do it.  It’s not worth selling the space on your blog for a copy of the hottest book. 

I want to be treated as a reviewer, a legitimate, honest, passionate reviewer of books for youth and teens.   So yes, I will accept galleys, but not in exchange for anything other than a potential review.  And then only if it is awesome.  I promise.

I’m off to ALA after taking a couple of days off.  I’ll be at the Unconference on Friday, leading a discussion on Library Director 2.0 and absorbing all sorts of great information.  It’s my first unconference, and I’m really psyched about it!

I have breakfasts planned for Saturday and Sunday that are children’s book related.  I’m going for what I hope will be a fascinating mix of children’s, intellectual freedom, and technology programs.  And of course, I will be at the exhibits with my family in tow, getting books and other loot.

I may have a chance to Tweet or blog, but it will probably be when I find myself back in my hotel room.

Hope to see you at the conference!