I get a lot of emails to my MMTaM address and my TOP address asking how I get products to review and what my “rules” are. After answering approximately a bazillion emails, I figured I should just put it all here and have a place to direct people to from now on.

For this site, I review for a few group review sites like…

MotherTalk – a fantastic place for mom bloggers who love reading to talk about great books. I’ve got a review of a big book coming soon!

Props n’ Pans – I post their reviews primarily over there so click on over to read even more of me…you know you can’t get enough. Emily is the new-ish editor over there – go say hello!

I used to review for Mom Central. This is where the title of this post comes in. I’ve done approximately a gazillion reviews for Mom Central over the years. When I reviewed Cranergy for them, I gave my honest opinion of it. I always do that here. I try to use my good, bad and ugly format most of the time, and I refuse to lie to you guys. After that review, I got an email from Mom Central asking me to change my review to make it more positive. I didn’t have much positive to say about the product and, again, wasn’t willing to lie to my readers. After that I never heard from Mom Central again. All because I was honest. Now, that’s NOT a review. That’s free advertising for only the cost of a cheap sample. I lost all respect for Mom Central after that and now when I see a post sponsored by them I can’t believe a word of it. Perhaps it was an error, but it would be an awfully coincidental error so I doubt it.

I also occasionally review items here that publicists or individual companies send me like the series of cleaning products I’ve reviewed, baby and child items and some personal care items. Some of those I decide to review at Props & Pans instead.

At TOP, I review anything parent/child related. My rules are a little different over there. I generally review items I like and don’t say anything at all about items I think are stupid. Because 90% of what I review is from small independent parent-owned businesses, I don’t want to give them negative word of mouth. They are, after all, just like you and me. For them, I follow the golden-ish rule…if I can’t say anything nice, I don’t say anything at all. I make exceptions for larger companies. For example, the BabyPlus prenatal education system. If it’s from a larger company and it sucks, I’ll tell you.

At both sites, I receive emails from publicists and company owners alike asking if I’d be willing to review their product. In the beginning I reviewed items I owned and the pitches began rolling in from there. If it’s something I think I, or someone in my family, would like I allow them to send me a shelf-ready sample. From there I decide whether I’ll write anything about it or not, as I noted above.

Essentially, my blog – my choice. Nobody can tell me I need to write something positive, negative or balanced. I write what I want, and that’s my prerogative. I pay the hosting fees, after all. If you want to write reviews (or if you already do) I think you’re doing yourself and the blogging world a disservice if you allow anyone to tell you how to write a product. If you’re giving them relatively free publicity and the cheapest market research available, you get to decide what to say. Otherwise it’s not really valid market research, now is it? It’s free advertising and you’re being used. You and your voice are worth more than free samples.

Do you review products on your blog?
Do you write reviews certain ways because someone tells you to?