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Wednesday, May 16, 2012
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 Comments (4)Jen Lawrence is an MBA and former banker who left the world of finance for the world of sippy cups and goldfish crackers. She writes about her experiences on her blog MUBAR (Mothered Up Beyond All Recognition). She is an Editorial Assistant for Literary Mama's Reviews section and also contributes to the Literary Mama blog. Her work has appeared in The Philosophical Mother. She lives in Toronto, Canada with her husband and two children. More from Jen Lawrence Blog Archives
Will write for swag?
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. Comments are closed 2 months after a piece is published. |
:)
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.
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.
Maybe Literary Mama could have a contest: see how many product mentions you can fit into an otherwise readable piece of writing. :-)