And, as a splendid example, she presents ‘a colleague of mine’ who published a diet book and ‘lined up a sponsorship deal with an apparel company that financed her nationwide tour.’ She doesn’t say, but I’m guessing the ‘apparel company’ (clothes, to you and me) made her wear everything one size too big, to emphasize how well the diet worked?
But I digress. What, one wonders hungrily, did this author write about? A Mills and Boon, in which the previously frigid heroine finds herself weak with lust every time the tall dark hero opens the door to his Vauxhall Cavalier? A thriller in which the rogue CIA agent outwits the nefarious commie devils by nifty cornering in his vintage Chevy? Or a zany comedy with a suburban family finding the True Meaning of Life after little Johnny is not run over, thanks to the terrific braking of the Toyota?
Ms Ubell-Meyer continues. ‘The very first thing they should think about doing if they want to land a sponsorship deal, maybe even before they’ve written one word, is asking themselves “what is their PR & Marketing plan?”’ Jesus wept, if only I’d thought of that before I started this lark, I too could have a major car and new apparel.
Well damn it to hell, if I’m not getting a major automotive car, or only low-hanging apparel, I’m going to scrub the whole thing right here and now. Maybe I’ll just write books instead.
But I could still have a major automotive car, dammit. It could sit outside, people woud look at it and know I was a major automotive-style author, probably with major apparel too!
This reminds me, very unpleasantly, of Neil Gaiman being approached by a product placement firm in hopes of inserting their clients’ wares into his novels.