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September 11, 2006 | Blog |  4 Comments

Will write for swag?

By Jen Lawrence

Mediabistro.com’s Galleycat has an interesting piece on product placement in books. While a handful of books that have embraced this idea does not a trend make, one wonders how long authors will be able to resist tapping into the $6 billion of product placement dollars and in-kind payments.

Since so many advertisers are focused on marketing to the Mommy Demographic, it will be interesting to see if, as mother writers, any of us get approached. And it will be interesting to see if, as mother readers, the book that nourish us will in any way become compromised as a result.

Tagged: Literary Mama

4 replies on “Will write for swag?”

CrankMamasays:
September 12, 2006 at 4:01 am

Hopefully, we’ll be respected as a demographic without losing integrity (always good to hope).

:)

Reply
Ericka Lutzsays:
September 13, 2006 at 6:30 pm

Unfortunately, this has been going on for quite a while. When I was working on The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Looking Great for Teens in 2000 or 2001, my editor approached me with the idea of maybe putting in some product placement for a particular cosmetic company… and then that company would help us sell copies of the book. “Absolutely not!” I said. Even recommending particular products (unsolicited) is something I’ve steered very clear of in my writing. It’s not that I’m even that “pure” (okay, I try to be), it’s that authors immediately lose a whole lot of personal credibility the minute they start being mouthpieces for commercial industry. “Will write for potential copies of book sold?” No thanks.

Reply
Cully_Jsays:
September 15, 2006 at 12:49 am

Good job resisting the corporate muscle.

However, I do like some corporations. Especially the ones that keep me drunk like PABST! MILLER! MOLSON!!!!

PBR me, ASAP!

***

And, yes, I am joking.

Now that I think about it, those corporate honchos are laughing at me: a staunch anti-corporate person using corporate names as a joke.

So, in a way, I too am a corporate slave.

Reply
Ann Dsays:
September 15, 2006 at 3:14 am

Maybe Literary Mama could have a contest: see how many product mentions you can fit into an otherwise readable piece of writing. :-)

Reply

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