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This Is How ‘Lady Authors’ Were Told to Promote Their Books in the 1960s

     * Eliza Berman @lizabeaner

   Aug. 4, 2015
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"The new sort of lady author is always photographed in bed"

   Modern advice for any writer looking to make a living might include
   working tirelessly to hone one’s craft, striving to understand the
   business and considering whether one’s narrative would work in a movie
   adaptation. But in 1969, when model-turned-author Jeanne Rejaunier was
   promoting her new novel, The Beauty Trap, the advice was a little more
   gender-specific.

   In a LIFE photo essay called “What it takes to be a lady author
   anymore,” Rejaunier posed for shots that demonstrated how a woman
   should promote her literary work. A successful lady author, the
   captions suggested, must “swim a little,” “exercise in a bikini” and be
   “photographed in bed.” The essay attributed the success of her book, a
   novel based on the dark side of the modeling world, to Rejaunier’s
   beauty rather than her literary talents: “Just possibly because she
   smiles so prettily on the book jacket (the back and the front of the
   book) The Beauty Trap is now in its fourth printing.”

   It’s difficult to know, in retrospect, whether the captions might be
   tinged with a hint of satire, or whether Rejaunier’s participation was
   entirely voluntary or urged by eager publicists. Whatever the intent,
   the effect was to suggest that a few sultry glamor shots would go
   further than any serious engagement with the substance of the book.

   Whether or not Rejaunier enjoyed fulfilling the role of a “lady author”
   as LIFE proscribed it—a former model, she was at least used to posing
   for photos—there were certainly forces beyond her control influencing
   the marketing strategy for her novel. “There is a difference of opinion
   about whether or not Jeanne put herself inside The Beauty Trap as a
   character,” read the article. “The publisher is responsible for putting
   her outside it.”

   Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com.
   Follow her on Twitter @lizabethronk.
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