You’re writing a book and you want to make money. Yet the expected rite-of-passage for any new writer is a sojourn in the wilderness of holding down multiple jobs, struggling to get an agent, and – well – not earning a great deal of cash. Not for a while, at any rate.‘Writer’ has never been up there with lawyer, doctor, broker etc, as one of the UK’s best paid jobs. Nor, thankfully, is it up there with the Worst Jobs with the Best Pay. I’d say it’s a whole lot more glamorous than 21hr crab-fishing shifts in Alaska. But it’s a breadline kind of glamour, isn’t it?
Actually there could be other ways to generate revenue. It could be that making money won’t always be about sales of your book. I spotted a site recently, one which is setting itself up as a new way for authors to make cash. I can’t vouch for it in any shape or form, but what I can say is it’s an interesting concept.
What Manfred Macx is suggesting revolves around your willingness as a writer to ‘sell’ things other than a book. Bear with me. Yes, you could sell your story, in a book form, but you could also sell all sorts of other things, things which might not even have occurred to you yet. One of their examples is the name of a character: would someone you know pay to name a character in your book, for instance?
Now this is not entirely new. In some respects it’s like Fay Weldon's The Bulgari Connection, her 2001 book in which she managed to namecheck the jewellers Bulgari throughout - all part of a tie-in deal which reportedly netted a handsome five-figure sum. It didn’t pass without comment though. Not everyone approved.
But is it really so strange? For the music industry the ready availability of digital downloads has shifted money-making increasingly towards live events and sponsorship. Product placement in music is a big deal, with ad agencies such as Kluger making serious headway with ‘brand partnerships’ such as Beck’s beer and Kid Rock. This practice means that a musician can sell the space in their lyrics to an advertiser.
In time we might see novels geared towards this kind of brand-dropping too.
As a writer, would you be happy with product placement in your novel? And is it a good idea to sell things like character names, or do you think that's a case of selling-out?
Best wishes, Claire
Publisher (Yearbooks)
John Aston on January 18, 2010
I tried to be open minded to the question, I really did: but the words of Bill Hicks came irresistibly to mind...
“Let me tell you somethin’ right now, and you can print this in stone; and don’t you ever forget it: any, ANY, performer that ever sells a product on television is for now to all eternity removed from the artistic world – I don’t care if you shit Mona Lisa’s outa your arse on cue. You’ve made your choice… everything you say is suspect, everything that comes out of your mouth is like a turd falling into my drink… that’s the deal. End of story.”
Emphatic argument, and one I believe you simply must adhere to if you have any artistic acumen whatsoever. Thanks for all the blogs on this site – they’re a tremendous help, keep up the great work guys and gals.
John
Tea Maljkovic on January 18, 2010
It's a matter of where you put yourself. We humans like to classify and that's what I'm doing right now.
If you put yourself in the artist box, than how could your moral and pride allow you to sell your own work for less than you think it deserves?
But if you're an economist who happens to write a book, you will have no problems with selling things like names of your characters... is it possible to be an artist and an economist?
The answer is individual, but I believe that if you're an artist (born to be one, even) you will accept only the result of your own labour and will try to do it (write) to the best of your abilities.
All best.
Jon Renaut on January 19, 2010
Claire - Your analogy with the music industry is perfect - that was a big inspiration for the site. I've been watching bands change the way they make money, and started thinking, "Why can't authors do that, too?".
Product placement is really a small part of what I think the site will be. If the placement works in the story, or if it doesn't take away from the story, then I think it's a good option, but I think it will be the exception more than the rule.
A better way to look at the site is to think about what things become more valuable when you read and love a book. Let's say you have a fantastic recipe for chocolate chip cookies that was passed down to you from your grandmother. You might be able to sell a dozen cookies for $8.
But what if you wrote a book that really spoke to people, that everyone who read had to share with a friend? Now you can sell those same cookies to your fans for $20. They're no longer buying cookies from some random person on the internet. They're buying cookies from an author they really love.
Jon Renaut
Founder (Manfred Macx)
Audrey Kruiniger on January 20, 2010
Great subject!
Personally, I have no problem whatsoever with merchandising or product placement.
I think that it is only in the writing world that people have such strong opinions about whether or not being commercial makes you less of an artist. No one frowns upon cleverly construed joint promotion in television, or movies, or in the music industry. Yet in the literary world it is considered to be a terrible sin.
Not for me, anyway. A great story will remain a great story, whether or not your character only drinks sponsored Budweiser, or just an unnamed "bottle of beer". And a great author will remain a great author, whether or not they sell their main characters favorite t-shirt in a webstore.
Fran on January 20, 2010
Interesting idea. I think readers might catch on, though, if you called your main characters Jane, Bob, Alan and CarlingBlackLabel.