As most of you have probably already surmised I get paid for the reviews I publish, and for the past two plus years I've had an exclusive deal with Home Theater Shack (HTS). The remuneration pales in comparison to the time and effort I put into these evaluations, but this is a passion of mine so that arrangement has proven mutually beneficial. Some might be asking "so why is he posting a review of a Chane product on their own website and not HTS?". Glad you asked.
From my very first review I have done all the arrangements and 'legwork' that comes with securing products. Whether I'm dealing with a company rep, one of its owners or a PR firm, I'm the one making phone calls, writing emails and handling the minutia. The way I go about it is unlike any other reviewer I know, all of whom have their products brokered by the organization they write for. Not me; of the 36 evaluations I've published to date all but 2 are entirely of my own doing. The only part anyone sees is the end result, the review, but the work and effort to bring each of them to light has been staggering, so I'm pretty proud of the fact it's me 95% of the time. Having gone through this exercise for several years -- and with dozens of companies -- lead me to believe I had seen it all, but the SBE-118 arrangements threw me a new curve.
While making plans with Jon Lane and Craig Chase for this eval I was unaware HTS was also working with them on a promotion and review for a complete Chane HT system, one that would ultimately feature the SBE-118. That's a problem because what outlet wants to pay twice for an evaluation on the same product, especially when they would be published almost consecutively? Since I ended up on the outside looking in my review seemed doom, over before it even began. I actually wanted to hear the SBE-118 for myself -- remember, this is my passion first and my 'side job' a distant second -- so after mulling it over I decided to do this one for free. After all, when I started writing no one was paying me so why couldn't I do it one more time?
Fundamentally then, what does that mean? Simple; I did not get paid for this review. No one at Chane gave me a penny for my time or effort. It was pro bono, on the house, gratis. What follows are my words said my way, which is really no different then any review I have ever published quite frankly. Neither Jon nor Craig had any input or the right to redact, a non-negotiable stipulation of mine from the outset. Both agreed without hesitation, a stance I found to be refreshing. During the time I had the SBE-118 neither of them so much as sent me a "hey, how's it going?" email. I was left completely to my own devices, unless I reached out to them.
I realize this is arrangement is a bit non-standard, so I just wanted to make the situation perfectly clear so nobody could impugn anyone's integrity. I'll step off my soapbox now so we can get back to our regularly scheduled program...
From my very first review I have done all the arrangements and 'legwork' that comes with securing products. Whether I'm dealing with a company rep, one of its owners or a PR firm, I'm the one making phone calls, writing emails and handling the minutia. The way I go about it is unlike any other reviewer I know, all of whom have their products brokered by the organization they write for. Not me; of the 36 evaluations I've published to date all but 2 are entirely of my own doing. The only part anyone sees is the end result, the review, but the work and effort to bring each of them to light has been staggering, so I'm pretty proud of the fact it's me 95% of the time. Having gone through this exercise for several years -- and with dozens of companies -- lead me to believe I had seen it all, but the SBE-118 arrangements threw me a new curve.
While making plans with Jon Lane and Craig Chase for this eval I was unaware HTS was also working with them on a promotion and review for a complete Chane HT system, one that would ultimately feature the SBE-118. That's a problem because what outlet wants to pay twice for an evaluation on the same product, especially when they would be published almost consecutively? Since I ended up on the outside looking in my review seemed doom, over before it even began. I actually wanted to hear the SBE-118 for myself -- remember, this is my passion first and my 'side job' a distant second -- so after mulling it over I decided to do this one for free. After all, when I started writing no one was paying me so why couldn't I do it one more time?
Fundamentally then, what does that mean? Simple; I did not get paid for this review. No one at Chane gave me a penny for my time or effort. It was pro bono, on the house, gratis. What follows are my words said my way, which is really no different then any review I have ever published quite frankly. Neither Jon nor Craig had any input or the right to redact, a non-negotiable stipulation of mine from the outset. Both agreed without hesitation, a stance I found to be refreshing. During the time I had the SBE-118 neither of them so much as sent me a "hey, how's it going?" email. I was left completely to my own devices, unless I reached out to them.
I realize this is arrangement is a bit non-standard, so I just wanted to make the situation perfectly clear so nobody could impugn anyone's integrity. I'll step off my soapbox now so we can get back to our regularly scheduled program...
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