Re: Setting fees, Garden Rant and freebies

**W*@aol.com**

This discussion on giving garden talks has been amazing - might I suggest  we 
do this as a talk/roundtable at the next GWA meeting in Portland? I want to  
hear more. I think you'd have a packed SRO room!

ALSO: Martha in Muskogee OK wrote: 
>>Garden Rant has run a two part interview with a  travel writer who talked
about the other compromises in writing for an  industry: Writing only the
good stuff, and in particular, when a sponsor  provided his hotel, meal, etc.

I wonder if you feel/respond/think the  same when you receive plants, seeds,
discounts, etc. from growers. Freebies  are a benefit both to the provider
and to those of us who write and  communicate about those products.

Can you diss a freebie? Or, do you just  say nothing at all about it in your
writings?<<

Martha, for book and product reviews at my magazine I have a volunteer  
reader panel that does those for us - I urge them to be honest, so not  all reviews 
are sunshine-y goodness, but I don't allow them to be excessively  cruel 
either. A simple "this was not for me and I would not purchase  it" usually 
suffices. My personal belief is that not-so-positive reviews  help readers just as 
much as glowing reviews in making informed purchasing  decisions. 

I don't think necessarily that when someone does NOT write a review  or never 
mentions a sample plant or product that it means they hated it. In  my 
experience it means (9 times out of 10) that the item did not meet the  article's or 
publication's needs, deadlines, theme, or just that there  simple wasn't 
space available to fit it in.

Sincerely,
Kathy Jentz
Editor/Publisher
Washington  Gardener Magazine
826 Philadelphia Ave.
Silver Spring MD  20910
301-588-6894
editor@washingtongardener.com
_www.WashingtonGardener.com_ (http://www.washingtongardener.com/) 

Our  mission: to help your Washington, DC, area garden grow better!
Subscribe  today for $20 a year by sending a check to the address above.
The magazine  makes a great gift for gardening friends!  

In a message dated 12/28/2007 9:26:21 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
mollyday1@gmail.com writes:

Garden Rant has run a two part interview with a travel writer who  talked
about the other compromises in writing for an industry: Writing only  the
good stuff, and in particular, when a sponsor provided his hotel, meal,  etc.

I wonder if you feel/respond/think the same when you receive  plants, seeds,
discounts, etc. from growers. Freebies are a benefit both to  the provider
and to those of us who write and communicate about those  products.

Can you diss a freebie? Or, do you just say nothing at all  about it in your
writings?
Martha in Muskogee  OK
http://muskogeephoenixonline.com/blogs/MollyDay/index.html

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