Quote:
Originally Posted by Todd Young
There is no way I'd be reading a book with advertisements peppered through it. I don't even understand how internet advertising works. I never click on anything, or even read the ads. If there is something flashing, or any type of animation, I find it so distracting that I scroll away from it. If I came across a flashing ad in an ebook, I think that would be the end of ebooks for me.
Product placement is a different issue. Authors presently use brand names to make their books seem more realistic. They don't get paid for it, and I'd hate to see a situation where they do. Having said that, there is one novel (Gone, a YA novel) that I think was sponsored by McDonald's. It was so over-the-top it was absurd.
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Oh the irony. Your signature is an ad...
And yes, some authors have been paid to mention certain products in their books or so I have read on galleycat (a publishing rag). There was similar discussion about product "placement" and whether it should be allowed. I'd actually prefer non-obvious product placement to an ad, but I'd also prefer no ads. I think it does interfere with the reading experience and can cause those who produce the product to spend more time on obtaining Ad revenue than a quality product.
I used to do reviews for a large review site (I was unpaid as were all the reviewers.) When they started making money off of movie trailers and ads, the book reviews and forums were pushed to the background and eventually the forum was closed. The book reviews continued in the background, but there were less and less discussions--pretty soon the entire site because a bunch of "ads." The more ad opportunities that came in, the further other stuff was pushed away.
Lately, I hear they are trying to go back to their "base." I'm guessing that's partly because if all you have is ads, you end up with no audience. And if you have no audience and no discussion, the ad people don't want to waste time buying ad space on your site.
I can see the same thing happening to an author. We want to write a good book, but maybe the last book didn't sell so well. We're in the hole, we need money, the next book has to do well. We want to buy that extra cool artwork and to get that artwork, well, we're going to have to put in extra ads to pay for it. Sure I think the book/prose is AWESOME, but I've got to spend a few days working in these extra ads. Maybe I can also pick up a few product placement ads. Gotta work those in and so now, instead of a great action scene, I work in a clever little Dr. Pepper can that gets run over by my character's waaaay cool Can-am Spyder--all before my character shoots the guy chasing her.
Getting the ads in the first place is going to take a few weeks of networking because I'm no Janet Evanovich. These people aren't going to come to me. I'll have to go looking. That's a few more weeks where instead of working prose, I'm working ads...
The same focus could easily happen a big publisher. Instead of the editor and author going over last minute changes to improve storyline, well, they gotta change the protag's favorite drink from Gin and tonic to MinuteMaid Orange Juice. And you gotta make your hard core PI, who now drinks screwdrivers, specify that he buys Minutemaid...I dunno. Maybe it's me but it might be hard to keep the tough guy in character as he's discussing Minute maid orange juice...