Dear Author » product-placement

Paid Product Placement for Young Reader Book Series

Ned — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 21:20:13 +0000

I think this is an interesting concept but have not decided yet why it’s needed (except maybe for greed?). Some authors and publishers will be mimicking what Hollywood has been doing concerning product placement in their television shows and movies. That is getting paid to mention their products in their books.

Enter first time author Tina Wells. She is CEO of Buzz Marketing Group, which advises clients on the intricacies of product placement. She is a guru when it comes to marketing to teens and preteens. She is extremely talented and only 24 years old. She is also the new author for an upcoming series from Harper Collins titled “Mackenzie Blue”. In her book, the central character loves Converse. She said this is central to her character. She has no idea whether Converse wants to sponsor the book though. But when asked if Nike requested product placement she said she would possibly look at another character for the placement.

Tina said she was inspired to write the series because she felt it was important for girls to have positive books to read and to encourage them to make good choices.

So did she write the book first and happen to have the central character use Converse then thought, hey, maybe they would pay me for product placement?

I wonder if she had any conversations or relationships before she wrote the book with any of the manufacturers of the products she places in her story. Is that what she meant by “good choices”?

Should this bother me or do I just have too much time on my hands!
Via New York Times

Interview with An Author: My First Sale by Jennifer Estep

Jane — Fri, 04 May 2007 10:00:59 +0000

Jennifer Estep came to my attention through a blog comment she made at Meljean Brook’s blog. Estep was a first time author who was offering up a fun, comic based romance. It looked like a book I had to read. Estep has a bit in common with her characters and she, too, is a person in disguise as she is an author at night and an award-winning journalist by day.

***

My first sale story is like that of a lot of writers –" it was years in the making.

I started writing about eight years ago. I made all the typical rookie mistakes that writers do when they start out and don't know much about the business.

I wrote a really bad, really long, really clichÃƒÆ’Ã‚ © fantasy novel. Then another one. And — another one. And, yes, one more just for kicks. Told an agent I was nervous during a pitch session and then stumbled through said pitch. Submitted my whole manuscript to a conference for a critique when all they wanted was the first chapter (that one still makes me cringe). You get the idea. If it was a dumb thing to do, I did –" times three.

Somewhere around Bad Book 3, my writing started to get better, and I realized that there were books and Web sites and organizations out there like RWA that actually helped writers learn about publishing. So, I started educating myself. As a result, my writing got even better, and I wrote a cozy mystery that I thought was pretty good. So, I sent it out to agents. Got several reads. And a couple of offers of representation. I picked an agent I thought would be a good fit for me, and he sent the book out.

And nobody wanted it.

Absolutely, positively nobody.

Editors loved my voice or loved the Southern setting or loved my Jimmy Buffett references. But nobody loved it enough to actually buy it.

I was completely, totally, absolutely crushed.

I'd done all the hard work –" written the book, revised it, sent it out, snagged an agent –" and it still didn't sell. I could see the brass ring –" it was just out of reach behind three inches of bulletproof, shatterproof, fireproof, Jen-proof glass. So close, yet so far away.

But I had another book I'd been working on –" “Karma Girl,–? a paranormal romance set in a comic book world. Fun and zany and sort of out there. So, I sent that to my agent. And he told me that paranormal romance wasn't selling right now. That fantasy was a hard genre to break into.

This seemed strange to me since all my wanderings through the RWA groups and loops told me that paranormal romance was the hot genre. But romance wasn't really what my agent did anyway, and it was becoming more and more obvious that we weren't right for each other. So, I started looking for another agent. And I found one –" a great one. We clicked, and she sent the book out.

But I wasn't getting my hopes up. Not after being disappointed so badly the first time. My significant other claims that nobody has to rain on my parade –" I do it myself. Well, let's just say that I've learned to keep an umbrella handy to get through life's little downpours.

Flash forward to April 2006. I was at work at my newspaper day job, sitting at my desk tucked away in the corner, staring at the latest food pages I was designing. Suddenly, the phone rang –" and my heart started to pound. My eyes widened. Nervous excitement flooded by body. And my stomach flipped over.

My agent had been hinting that we might get an offer on “Karma Girl,–? and I'd been expecting The Call for about a week by this point. I jumped every time the phone rang, expecting it to be my agent with good news, and being disappointed when it wasn't. But this time, I just knew it was her — and it was!

I don't remember the actual words that were said during The Call –" just feeling so absolutely happy and excited and over the moon. By the time The Call ended, my cheeks literally hurt from where I'd been smiling so big for so long. Hands shaking, I got up from my desk and calmly, slowly walked out to my car.

Then, I locked myself inside and whooped and hollered and screamed until I was hoarse.

And then, calmly, slowly, I unlocked the car doors, went back inside the office, and got back to work.

My dream had come true. I'd finally punched through that bulletproof glass and grabbed that elusive brass ring. And I knew I could put the umbrella away –" at least until the reviews started coming in. J

So, that's my story. May you all have your own some day soon. If I can do it, so can you. Just remember to keep your umbrella handy for those rainy days.

***

At noon today, there’ll be a review (for sure) and video review (we hope) of Jennifer Estep’s, Karma Girl.

There Is No Such Thing As A Free Lunch

Jane — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 10:00:17 +0000

As I sit here at my Corian breakfast counter drinking my Goose Island Root Beer and munching on my Dole Peeled Mini Carrots, I can’t help but consider the renewed arguments for advertising within books. After all, authors use brand names all the times to convey a certain iconic message. What is a spy without his Aston Martin or a uptown New Yorker without her Jimmy Choos and Manolo Blahniks? So what the author is receiving quid pro quo payment for the mention?

Product placement is nothing new. I blogged about it before when the topic arose at the publication of Cathy’s Book in which the authors collaborated with Proctor & Gamble to include a few specific references to Cover Girl makeup that the protagonist uses. In return for the product placement, P&G promoted the book at its website and through other avenues.

For The Bulgari Connection, Fay Weldon was paid an undisclosed sum for writing a book about Bulgari. In 2000, Bill Fitzhugh made waves when his “satire about American hyper-consumerism”, Cross Dressing, included a product placement for Seagrams in exchange for Seagrams provided publicity.

A serial novel by Mark Haskell Smith will be published in the Lexus quarterly magazine is “potboiler” detective novel which places an emphasis on the Lexus GS Hybrid. For the serial, Smith received a sum of money “more than a modest book advance but less than what he would get for an episode of Grey’s Anatomy.”

Author JA Konrath, whose publicity ideas include creating a blog where people can anonymously trash others in the industry, wants to take isolated product placements to the next level. He argues that the publishing industry is not taking advantage of ad dollars. Why not, he posits, make a character drink only coca cola or drive a Mazda RX7? Why not have ads in the back of the book for Alberto V05? And a coupon for Handi-wipes?

Here’s my voice as a reader. No, no, and a thousand times no. And not just because Alberto V05 reminds me of my grandfather. For one thing, I am sick to death of brand name droppings in books. Rarely does the use mean anything. I.e., in Margaret and Lizz Weiss’ book, Warrior Angel, the fact that the heroine used two different kinds of Annick Goutal and wore Stuart Weitzman shoes added nothing to the character, the motivations or the plot. The constant use of brand name items made me wish that I could climb through the pages with my Home Depot 100% hemp rope and strangle her wearing my Isotoner gloves that my dear husband purchased at last years’ Macy’s Red Dot Sale.

This is not to say that all name brand usages are meaningless. In the opening scene of Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews, the female protagonist is drinking Boone’s Farm Hard Lemonade. The choice of the liquor actually tells us something about the character. She purposely eschews the more glamorous in life for the anonymity of a common brand.

Second, product placements do not mean lower book prices. The Bulgari Connection, Cathy’s Book, and Cross Dressing were not sold at discount. In a product placement situation, the winners may be the author, the publisher and the manufacturer of said product. The loser is clearly the reader who has to pay the same money and suffer through an onslaught of Proper Names. I’ll need to read with a Sharpie to mark out all the Products identified so that any re-reads will be mercifully free of ads.

Third, any type of advertising other than product placements are not going to work. Consumers hate ads. Witness the TIVO and the ability to skip ahead 30 seconds that was coded into the software to assist users in avoiding commercials. In fact, we start watching TV shows 15 minutes after they start so we can skip through the commercials while watching on our Samsung Plasma TV. We all install pop up blockers. If the ads are at the back of the page, we’re likely to just ignore them.

Fourth, and what disturbs me the most, is that creativity will give way to commercialism as manufacturers have greater input into the content of the book. After all, if they are going to pair their brand name to your book wagon, they are going to want to make sure that the wagon looks exactly like they want it.

Isn’t that what is happening with Harlequin and Nascar. Nascar, in an effort to maintain a family image, refuses to allow any Nascar branded book to contain any sex, drugs, alcohol, or crashes. In exchange, Nascar helps to promote, distribute and sell the books. It’s a sweet deal for everyone but the reader.

What do you all think? For or against? Would it depend on the price? The number of ads? What about in ebooks?

Note: No animals were harmed in the writing of this article.