I am so glad I stumbled onto this post, I am running into this problem more and more, and was just this week contacted again for a product that makes no sense for my blog! I now do not feel bad turning them down, it take so much time and energy to plan and write posts that are related to my blog! I shouldn't feel bad about turning something down I don't feel a connection to! Thanks!

I used to like finding giveaways - it was fun, I'd sometimes win, and I would find new blogs that interest me. Now, though, it takes at least 20 minutes to fill out all the requirements for entrance. It used to be just one comment, now its 10 to 20 comments per person! its a waste of my time, and i just don't do them anymore.

I haven't been pitched a ton of stuff, but usually if they're nice but it's a product that doesn't apply to me I try to tell them why and recommend a blogger I know that would match their product better. That way bloggers I like might get things they'd really appreciate and the PR person is helped out too. I love getting free stuff though, and I'll admit it! Our income is tight enough that I basically do not buy myself silly stuff ever. So getting a free stylish nursing top or a pair of shoes is a big deal for me. I wouldn't get those things if I didn't get them free from blogging. But the companies I've worked with have all been great-I've never felt used at all.

They are cold calls. I really shouldn't complain. :)

I actually really like doing reviews and giveaways--I think they are a fun, in a pep-rally, community-building sort of way. That said, the idea of doing generic product giveaways for stuff that I don't use myself or am not interested in doesn't really make a lot of sense. It seems like a waste of everybody's time.

These posts always make me wonder, though--how do these pitches begin? Are they cold-calls?

I want to know if the PR rep wrote back and what their response was :)

I agree Blogging is a lot of work and we should be given respect for the time and energy we put into it.

Well, I'm relatively new at blogging (7 months) and I'm feeling a little inadequate in that I haven't been 'hit' by these pitches - yet. I do have to say that I agree philosophically with your points about not wanting to subject my readers with crap to win/buy, nor do I want to be used by companies to make money for them while I'm the one writing my guts out on my blog.

I see a lot of 'giveaways' on peoples' Tweets and, frankly, as the reader, I run the other way. I would never go to someone else's blog, lured by a giveaway.

Allie

I agree with you! I still do the occasional review & giveaway on my site but it's different now. Companies are welcome to send me a product in hopes of a review - but there is never a guarantee and i have to really love it to talk about it. & i charge to host a giveaway - a set fee depending on how long they wish the giveaway to run (1wk vs 2wks) & they are usually on my terms.

Giveaways are a lot of work and they require a lot of time & ultimately are more beneficial for the company for the buzz & links they get then what myself or readers may get out of it.

I hope PR companies will start to *get it* soon & really the ones that do are the only ones i have interest in working with.

great post.

In 2009, I wrote a post called "Why Mom Bloggers Aren't Flipping for Just a Sample of Your Product" on a site that no longer exists (except for a few google caches) and it was controversial. People got very angry at me for saying that giving a blogger a sample of something simply so s/he would host a giveaway was cheap and tacky.
Since a company would have to employ a copywriter, webmaster, legal dept. (for rules and regs), pay for hosting and bandwidth to do the same thing on their own, sending someone a product instead of paying her was the equivalent of asking all of those employees if they'd rather have "stuff" instead of a paycheck.
I haven't wavered on that stance even if I did kill off the site.

Ah, yes, those lovely PR folks. I have to wonder about them. Now that I'm blogging every day, I'm starting to get more traffic, but I got an email last year wanting me to review a product for them and/or do a giveaway. (I was getting about 5 hits a month. Why bother?) I told them I don't do giveaways. I ended up not following up to get a product to review, either. Now I'm glad I didn't start that.
I *do* review books in between my other posts, but that comes naturally to me. I love to read and I love to write, although I'm not good enough to ever write a book. So this works for me and my readers. Just last week, I started giving away books. I had this big pile of books that I'd gotten for free to review and I suddenly decided to give them away to my readers. I asked my readers before I set it up if it was something they'd be interested in. It fits right in with my blog and doesn't feel contrived. I enjoy it, my readers enjoy it, I get a few new readers, and I can get rid of some of these books before they take over my house.

I couldn't agree more! I thought I wanted to get into reviewing, but honestly a lot of that stuff is crap! The only time I will review stuff now is if it is something I personally would want/need.

Thanks for the tip of responding with a no thanks!

I agree that reviews and giveaways are work! I see some blogs post so many of them that i wonder how they have time to do all that!

I do the odd giveaway or review, but recently i've just been sticking with a few really GOOD companies and doing work for them. I am a freelance writer so some of this stuff is great practice.

But i don't have time to be continuously at giveaways-- especially if it cannot be on my schedule. The best thing any PR person has every said to me was-- "don't be sorry for anything! i'm not paying you to do this-- you don't owe me anything." I've always remembered that because well heck, ya, you aren't paying me. I'll do what i promise, but please do not nag at me.

I feel the same way! I do however, host giveaways related to my blog, so anything food related!

BRAVO! Same reason I don't want to do random reviews or giveaways. It just needs to make sense to my voice and to my readers.

So, I just googled something related to this topic and this post ironically was one of the top ones. Thank you so much for responding to that company that way! I am currently dealing with a company that is now flaking out of their end of the giveaway. Which really makes me want to stop doing them at all.

What you said in your email to the company embodies everything I've been feeling about these pitches lately, so thank you for sending it to them!

I stopped doing giveaways a while ago. I have a couple exceptions: products that I LOVE and use all the time and think readers would like, products I buy myself to give away (oooh, $5 giveaway!), and products where I'm paid to do the giveaway (happened twice only). So I don't do many giveaways. But my blog wasn't built on doing them anyway so I don't think anyone misses them.

As far as what Ryan said about loyal readers never winning... I never promote giveaways when I do them now. So I'm pretty sure it's a loyal reader winning. It might hurt me a little inside to only get 100 comments on a giveaway instead of 400, but I'd rather do that and know an actual reader is winning rather than just someone who wants free stuff.

Just my thoughts. :)

I haven't been approached by many companies yet, but I have to say that the ones where I agreed to do a review and/or a giveaway, I'm uncomfortable with when it comes time to actually write the post. I've already agreed to it so I did it, but I regret it.

Having said that, there are several companies I've reached out to recently and they're sending me products for reviews and giveaways. But these are products I already know I like, which is why I reached out to them, and that I want to share with my readers. Those, I don't feel so skeevy about.

You hit the nail on the head. Awesome point. Also--what Ryan said up there about loyal readers never winning the goods. So true.

Good for you! I'm a new reader and fully support your snappy return :P

Well said Roni!! I feel the same way about so many product requests. I've been doing a lot less these days too.

Good for you Roni!
I have turned down several products because they don't fit with my blog.

What get's me is when you agree to host a giveaway or accept a product to review and then they dictate to you the date that they want you to post it!

I reply and let them know that I have my own schedule and will post about the giveaway when it fits into my schedule-all said nicely of course!

Ryan is right the winner of a giveaway is usually not a loyal reader but someone who only left a comment that one time!

Then there is the cost of shipping the "prize," shipping isn't free when the product has been sent to "me" to give a away.

well said. I've also found readers aren't as interested in giveaways anymore. Personally, when I see a post with 'giveaway' in the title - I tend to ignore it.

Go, Roni! I'm starting to feel the same way about PR pitches and giveaways. When I first starting blogging 2 years ago, I thought it was great that someone wanted to send me freebies to try and giveaway. I kinda had that "Santa" feeling; excited that I could give a product away to a reader. Now when I get the offers and pitches, I just feel icky and used by these companies. I only accept offers that I know will be of interest to my readers. However, they are few and far between these days!

How timely your post is! Good for you for firing back! It's about time someone said our time is valuable, too!

I was just contacted by a reputable human in the health and nutrition world and I sent back a list of questions about the email. It was vague and there was no real information past your basic pitch information.

I have to admit, i was surprised they emailed me back after what I sent. They broke down what the offer was and how it would relate to my blog. I have to say, I was pretty impressed. It did have to go with an eventual giveaway of a book and I fully intend to read that sucker cover to cover before I decide if I want to pass it along to readers. (And because I'll read anything bound with words on it.)

that's happen to me as well and we aren't talking about cheapo products either. I was sent a home gym once and the company just disappeared! It's been 2 year and I STILL haven't heard from them.

Sometimes it's not the company but the PR firm that's flaky. I was pitched a review/giveaway for a juicer (pretty on target for my blog) and I said sure. They sent me the juicer, then disappeared off the face of the earth when I sent them questions about setting up the giveaway. It's been a few months and I've never heard from them again.

Uh, thanks for the juicer?

Companies are weird. I had a company ask me to review a product. When I asked if they wanted to host a giveaway they said I did not have enough followers. Well why do you want me to do the review in the first place???

I've also scaled back on the giveaways for many reasons, but especially for the one Ryan mentioned- many times, the winners end up being someone completely uninterested in the subject matter of the blog both before and after winning something. Now, if it's a product I LOVE and feel my core readers would appreciate it, I consider it. Otherwise, I'm just asking a lot of questions in advance of accepting anything.

I think it depends on the product and the blog. If it's a product that you know, love and want to share with others (like Laughing Cow), then why not spread the love? But if it's for something completely unrelated to your blog, it feels like a gimmick to gain new readers.

Just my two cents...

yes and yes and yes and yes

I too have started to turn down products to review/host giveaway and share the same reason. My audience is much more valuable than $5 or $10 worth of product.

One chocolate company (that isn't even that good) asked me to do a review. I said "sure." Then they sent a price list and asked what I wanted to buy. WHAT???

Seriously, we're people, not free (or income-producing) PR machines.

I also no longer accept products for review or giveaway. And, since that other post you wrote, I do respond to them and let them know that I am not interested. I do occasionally get a response back with questions and further pitching. It is pretty frustrating to say the least!

Hear, hear. I have decided not to accept products at all, either for review of giveaways. I know that's extreme, but to me it just felt easier to decide that wasn't what my blog was about!

All your reasons make complete sense and we do indeed need to step our demands up to something above free samples!

We look like the kids rummaging the sample tables at Costco on a Saturday when we do giveaways just because we get free stuff.

Another reason I've really cut back on them is because it never seems to be the loyal readers who end up with the goods. It's usually some random person who's never commented on my blog before. Sure giveaways can be a way to attract new readers, but I've found I that giveaway winners never really stick after the fact.

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