Please Sponsor me!

 RHYS BOWEN:I was driving to meet my granddaughter today when I heard the sportscaster on my radio say that the Giants were now wearing patches on their uniform because they are being sponsored by a ride share company. I’ve seen tennis players with logos all over them from their sponsors and the thought was born: HEY, HOW ABOUT IF SOME COMPANIES SPONSORED WRITERS? 

        Oh, I know in the past that Leonardo had patrons. Perhaps he wore a little gold papal decal on his robes to let the world know that the pope was sponsoring him. But recently we’ve been sponsorless. So I think I’ve got a great idea. A company sponsors us an in return we hype their products in our books:

        “You look wonderful tonight, my darling,” he said. 

        “Thanks to my new Panteen shampoo,” she gushed.

Or, more ambitiously, “They’ll never catch us now, thanks to my new Ferrari with turbo charged hyper drive and a gorgeous red leather interior..”

        Debs could be sponsored by some nice London restaurants, Lucy by Key West establishments…  for me it would be a bit more challenging as all my books take place in the past, but Mercedes were around in those days… And I’ve certainly hyped Chanel enough (hint hint, Chanel?)

We’d even put our products on the book cover, Georgie in Chanel, leaning on Ferrari.  Or Rolls Royce. I would quite like a classic RR!

So what do you think? Is this brilliant or what? So who would you get to sponsor you?

LUCY BURDETTE: This is absolutely brilliant Rhys! I already mention any number of Key West restaurants and other establishments…it seems like a natural:). I love that you’re going big with Mercedes. I see that I need to think outside of Key lime pie!

JENN McKINLAY: Brilliant, Rhys! I was just in Ireland researching LOVE AT FIRST BOOK (cover reveal coming August 14th on my socials). Do you think I could get County Kerry to sponsor me? I could help their tourism! Honestly, I’d be happy if they just offered me a writer in residence house in Dingle. LOL. As for products, Guinness certainly got plenty of mentions in the book as well as some Irish whiskeys. Sláinte!

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Brilliant, Rhys! I think the least the Scotch Malt Whisky Society could do is sell my books in their clubs! And, as Rhys says, there are all the London restaurants I've mentioned. But why not think bigger? Visitlondon.com for starters,  or TimeOut London. Greater London Council would be a good one, and I'm sure there must be a Notting Hill association of some sort, or a Portobello Market association. Just think if I got a little bonus for every time I mentioned either of those!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Well,  on a serious note, (!) remember when some author (and I completely forget who, anyone remember?) actually did this? It's basically "product placement," right?  And Bulgari, I think it was, sponsored the book, and there was fabulous jewelry throughout.  But I think the whole concept was not well-received.  Putting it mildly.  Anyone remember this?  And there was some discussion about how it took readers out of the book, knowing the author was getting paid for it, and that it would be worse if were not disclosed, so the whole thing was pretty lose-lose.

But if a universe that it would be win-win—well, let me think of what's in my books anyway. FitBit. Apple Watch. Cabernet sauvignon.  Coconut soap.  Red lipstick.  Ralph Lauren. Saks. Pretzels. Almonds. Hmmm. Flower delivery. And JetBlue. Just saying.

HALLIE EPHRON: My parents were screenwriters who wrote the first movie (The Desk Set) featuring a computer, and while IBM did not exactly sponsor the film, they did send my mother one of the first electric typewriter. It was enormous. Going electric for a typewriter seemed an enormous step forward. 

I’d love to have been sponsored by the Empire State Building for my book There Was an Old Woman. In it, a woman survives a 70+ story fall in an elevator after a B-25 hit the building in the 1945s. It really happened–the crash and the fall, not the sponsorship. 

(Rhys: yes, Hallie, a suite at the Empire State wouldn't be bad!)

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Considering the kind of books I write, and where they’re set, I don’t see a lot of glamorous sponsorship potential. Ice melt? Windshield scrapers? Maybe I could get some of the sweet, sweet green from a snowmobile company:

Clare ducked from the hail of bullets and leapt onto the back of Russ’s Arctic Cat. Thanks to the RZ Thundercat’s electric start, it was ready to surge ahead as soon as she wrapped her arms around Russ’s back.

“Don’t worry, darlin’,” he said over the powerful rush of wind. “With this 9000-Series C-TEC4 turbocharged engine, the terrorists will never catch up with us.”

RHYS: I'm sure Julia could get major sponsorship from a snowblower company! But what about North Face? Patagonia? 

And I've just thought that maybe the royal family would like to sponsor my Royal Spyness series. So, dear Charles and Camilla--a room or two at Buckingham Palace at my disposal perhaps? A suite at Balmoral?

So what do you think, everyone? Good idea?