June 19, 2006

Selling Naming Rights in Books

Cover Girl bought naming rights in an up-coming teen novel Cathy's Book to be published in September. Novelist Jane Smiley admits she sold the name of a character to the highest bidder in a charity auction. In her case it added a different dimension to her writing:

After the auction, I went up to the purchaser and asked her what sort of character she wanted to be. "High-spirited and ready for anything" was the prescription, and I thought I could surely fit someone like that into a book about real estate speculation.

What was more interesting was the name — Betty Baldwin (thanks again, Betty!). For one thing, all the movie star Bettys of the 1930s and '40s have given the name Betty a certain insouciance, and for another, Baldwin is one of those names bland enough to be suspect. As I thought about Betty Baldwin, I conjured up a whole family background for my character that might not have been the same if I had sold the right to, let's say, D. Wayne Lukas.

The exercise was fun and enlightening, and it showed me something about the contingencies of novel writing — you never know where your inspiration is going to come from, and you never know where any particular detail is going to lead.

In the case of Cathy's Book Smiley feels the use of "Lipslicks in 'Daring'" and "eyecolor in 'Midnight Metal'" "smacks of ad-speak." Like any innovation it's how the artist uses it to advance her work. Developing an new revenue stream for writers isn't catagorically good or bad.

The book has irritated a Ralph Nader group so much "it's peppering hundreds of book review editors with an insistent request not to cover Cathy's Book."

"Best-Sellouts List" [via digg]

del.icio.us | Digg it | Furl | reddit | Spurl | Yahoo MyWeb