LA Bound!

This week I'll be making my first ever trip to Los Angeles for a conference. Thus far the farthest west I've ever been is Las Vegas. Needless to say I'm really excited, or at least I will be after I get off the plane. I'll also be meeting up with fellow Crime Sistah Pamela Samuels-Young. Pamela and I, along with fellow authors, L.C. Hayden and Kate Flora, will be participating in a panel discussion and group book signing this Saturday, November 4th at 3pm at the following location:

Borders Books and Music #149
100 S. Brand Blvd.
Glendale, CA 91204
818-241-8099

If you live in the area, and are able to come, I'd love to meet you! Also, if you'd like to score a cheap copy of the mass market paperback of The Company You Keep, someone has placed a used copy on eBay. The starting bid is 1 penny, one level above free. The shipping and handling costs more than that! Boy, why didn't they just donate it to thier local library or leave it someplace like a doctor's office or a restaurant so someone else could read it? Oh well, I'll be back to blog about the trip on the eighth. In the meantime, look for an interview with debut author Patricia Sargeant on November 1st!

Angela

Brand Name Game

Since I've become a published author, I've become acutely aware of how products are marketed and promoted. After all, strictly speaking, books are products, too, right? Everywhere I look, I see products linking themselves together in cross promotion. I'm sure you've all seen the commercials for Volkwagen where if you buy a Volkswagen by a certain date, you get a free custom First Act electric guitar. The other day I was reading an article in my hometown newspaper, The Springfield News-Sun, about fellow Springfielder John Legend's new album and read that his tour is being sponsored by Bailey's. Bailey's has even created a specialty cocktail, Bailey's Legend Martini, in his honor and has info about his new album and tour posted on their website. In recent years authors have gotten in on the act, too.

A couple of years ago, chicklit author Carole Mathews was paid by Ford to mention the Ford Fiesta in her books. More recently author Meg Cabot hooked up with Clinique to promote her latest young adult novel. Author Mitch Albom's new book is being sold in Starbucks. Whether people like it or not, I don't think the marriage between books and name brands is going to dissolve any time soon. So why not use it to help sell books? My question is, where are these deals for black authors? Let's face it, the pages of a lot of our books practically drip with high end product name dropping. So, why aren't any black authors inking deals with car manufacturers, cosmetics companies, and designers to help promote their books? Eric Jerome Dickey could ink a deal with Ducati motorcycles for his latest book Chasing Destiny, Zane's erotica novels should be attracting any number of product cross promotion deals from condoms to lingerie, and wouldn't Tamera Gregory's The Passport Diaries have been a perfect gift with purchase for travelers booking European vacations on Travelocity or Expedia? Are black authors, or their publishers, not seeking out these kinds of cross promotions or are they being turned away? Honestly, I'd really love to know. If you have any thoughts or knowledge on this subject, or if you know of any black authors who have made any deals like the ones I've mentioned above, please let me know.

Angela