Product Placement Coming to a Library Near You

British author Fay Weldon's latest novel, "The Bulgari Connection," doesn't just happen to have the name of an up-scale jewelry store in its title by chance. The Italian jewerly company paid Weldon an undisclosed amount of money to be prominently featured in her novel. According to the New York Times, the book's US publisher, Grove/ Atlantic, as well as marketing and PR folks are thrilled with the deal. Michael Nyman, president of the PR/marketing firm Bragman Nyman Cafarelli, part of the Interpublic Group of Companies, told the NYT that books were "part of the next wave of product placement." Consumers spend more time and attention on a book than a film or television show, he said. "It is a more personal relationship with a book; you can curl up on a chair with it, you read it before you go to sleep, it is very near and dear to people." See also O'Dwyer's PR Daily's story on the deal.