Friday, December 07, 2007

Stupid Stupid Media

Can Books Have Ads? YES - Publishing 2.0

I'm not even going to read this article. My answer is a definitive NO and I'll brand that on the forehead of any publisher who tries this shit.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

While the article from Publishing 2.0 is discussing inserting advertisements into electronic books, ads are already in hard copy books. Chick is a good example of a genre that's embraced advertising, or product placement. Most of these books mentions specific products their characters use. Most readers probably don't even think that mentioning a character's preference for a Starbucks' coffee drink is product placement as opposed to an indication of character. We tend to think of material culture as being an outward indicator of character, so detailing material preferences in a fictional world can be part of how a writer defines character. Thomas Hardy, for example, was always specific about the distinctions in dress between working class and middle class characters. If dress can indicate a character's class position and more, why can't a need for a mocha? Not all books do this. I can't imagine Michael Chabon or Ian McEwan having product placements. But, neither of them sell books at the rate that someone like Meg Cabot does.