I think it's fine giving away copies of review books (or CDs) to friends. No author's going to object to that. It's all a question of scale. All of us now get these people with bag loads of books to sign, straight for sale on eBay at an inflated price. Fine if the people bought them in the first place - but if they're review copies bought for nothing...

Frankly I'd like to see the book review business move to an electronic model wherever possible. Would save a lot of money all round and get books to people who genuinely need them very quickly. Would also do away with the need for this kind of practice.

I know non-writers may think we're sniffy about this. But if you saw the constant stream of requests we get for free material from complete strangers and the number of times we write blank cheques for books proffered by someone who doesn't know you from Adam but wants a quick buck on ebay... you'd probably understand.