I’ve been thinking a little about how to promote Rest: Why Working Less Gets More Done when it comes out next year (I’m well on the way to having the draft manuscript finished, and am on track to get it to the publishers on deadline). For my last book, I had the Word Press-infinite scrolling Web site, did a lot of tweeting, and created an author page on Facebook; but given that it was a book about technology and distraction, I felt like I didn’t want to overwhelm people. Plus I figured, presses know how to promote books, and I was doing lots of radio stuff and podcasts, so that would be enough.

But any reservations I had about it were erased by this Bloomberg article about how there are now agents to sell time with celebrities. Basically, we’ve gone from private concerts or playing a round of golf with Tiger Woods for a steep fee (apparently Japanese businessmen did this for a time), to concert tickets that let you listen to the sound check or go to a VIP backstage area, to being able to get a latte with Mariah Carey. For example,

For $20,000 to $150,000, Simon David and his team at XM [Concierge] have helped clients secure elite meet-and-greets with celebrities, as well as private meetings before concerts and performances at weddings and bar mitzvahs….

These paid meet-and-greets are becoming staples of the celebrity circuit—and for good reason, according to David. “At this point, these things are almost no longer luxuries—they’re a need for a certain type of people. High-end, high-net-worth clients all over the world want to experience unobtainable things.” Lady Gaga created a private audience program after her recent tour in Europe, where fans could pay £900 (around $1350) per person for an intimate experience with the star….

Earning such easy, incremental revenue appeals to even the wealthiest stars. Fan gladhanding after premieres or concerts was once a purely promotional tool. It was used as bait in radio competitions, as a thank you to crewmembers and their families, or as a reward for corporate sponsors. But now, as celebrities’ careers have become as checkered and varied as Pinterest boards, their main role—particularly if it is to record music—acts less as an income stream than as a loss leader, a marketing vehicle to fuel ancillary revenue streams.

That Gaga event net her about £50K— easy, incremental revenue indeed.

But the serious point is that in an era in which income from CD sales or movie revenues is increasingly uncertain, and deals are getting worse (though my agent continues to work absolute wonders for me), this kind of monetization is not just nice, it’s necessary. And in a sense, when you’re Lady Gaga (or any other performer), you’re paid for your time: you’re a sort of consultant whose expertise is your self. So whether your performance consists of singing, or taking selfies, at one level it’s all the same.

Ironically, for the people paying, “it’s the opportunity to live a money-can’t-buy-experience”— except of course that’s exactly what they’re doing.

Anyway, what I take away from the article is that if Lady Gaga is doing this kind of thing, I can’t rule out doing more in the way of book promotion and self-promotion next time around.