Product Placement: The Future of Writing?

In a recent article entitled "The Future of Writing" in the Library Journal, the Annoyed Librarian writes tongue-in-cheek about product placement in e-books as the inevitable successor to "[t]he same type of cheesy placement that we're used to in Hollywood movies."

The Annoyed Librarian informs us that the Sweet'n Low company has invested $1.3 million in the romance novel Find Me I'm Yours to get written into the story.

Once I read this article, I started doing some research and discovered this account of the novel in CNN Money:

Find Me I'm Yours [by Hillary Carlip] follows the story of main character Mags Marclay, who goes on a scavenger hunt for her soul mate. Rather than simply read about Mags' adventures, readers are able to experience it. They can see her Instagram photos, her art, her handwritten notes and the websites she visits and creates.

Carlip, a media entrepreneur, Web designer and author, says she conceived of the idea for the multimedia story in 2010. She brought on her friend Lapiduss, a television writer and marketing executive, to help with the business part of the project.

Once they landed ad sponsors, Carlip and Lapiduss created their own production studio. They hired editors and producers for the videos and Web designers for the sites.

Five of the 33 websites are 'full-on businesses,' with advertising partners that include billboard company Clear Channel (CCO), fan fiction site WattPad and Cumberland Brands, maker of Sweet & Low.

For the full text of the Annoyed Librarian article, please see http://lj.libraryjournal.com/blogs/an....

For the full text of the CNN Money online report, please see http://money.cnn.com/2014/11/03/techn....