Quote:
Originally Posted by xg4bx
amen. the most i've seen is "he went to the fridge and grabbed a Coke". yes its a brand name but i could also just see it as a generic term for soda.
no way in hell would i pay for a product catalog like that.
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The difference would be if that "Coke" were suddenly a link to a coupon to buy a case of it. It's not obvious it's product placement so it can fit the story. But if I have a Lexus in my story and it's a link to a dealer (or advertisement) well, that's going to be a different bag of beans. For a small time author, would the advertiser demand that I make it a link? Would I only get paid (as google works today) if people click through? Or am I able to show my sales numbers to an advertiser and say, "hey, it's worth you paying me 200 dollars a month just to be mentioned!" And...what if a better offer comes along 3 months later? "Sorry, your Lexus got beat by Ford. Hard to believe, but I'm taking you out."
So then, as an author, (or publisher) I'm making changes to the ebook to accommodate the ad people. I mean, let's face it. The way a lot of ebooks are priced (under 5 dollars) it would be pretty tempting to change the car/coke/mabeline reference for more money. Maybe Nike accidentally ordered too many pink shorts that didn't sell. Well, guess Sedona will just have to start wearing a cute Nike pink short set that gets mentioned 5 times...
I hate the idea. Even as I write now, I generally choose brands to fit the character because the kind of car a person drives can actually convey a lot of information about a character in one or two words: "Brand new Lexus" is not the same as "beat-up old Chevy with one door that didn't match the others." They call to mind different characters. So does "Hot pink shorts" versus, "Cut-off jeans."
I'd love to say it wouldn't matter, but I think it would.