More on Alloy.

From the Boston Globe:

To help reach the older youths, Alloy recently bought Sconex, a teen-chat website. Its 360 Youth advertising division targets teens in public schools, college bookstores, military bases, movie theaters, even bar restrooms: ''Restrooms are a welcome break from the message assault," says the website. ''We provide the perfect reading material -- your ad -- and they would have to be asleep not to read it and absorb your message."

...

More than books for reading, Alloy titles are content packages, with potential for advertising and cross-marketing. The Alloy website says, ''Advertisers have the opportunity to get their products or services cast in these best-selling books. The value of these mentions far exceeds the hundreds of thousands of readers, creating a viral product buzz." It is not known publicly whether Manolo Blahnik, Habitual jeans, or La Perla bras paid for their mentions in ''Opal Mehta."

Eeeew.  Advertising is so creepily fascinating.  Next we'll probably find out that the founders of Alloy are Scientologists.

I need to re-read Feed and So Yesterday.  Like, right now.