But Does it Taste Twice as Sweet as SugarOr Twice as Bitter as Salt?

By Neal 

weiner.jpgWith a new book (Goodnight Nobody) in stores now and a Cameron Diaz vehicle based on her second novel (In Her Shoes) hitting the multiplexes Friday, Jennifer Weiner* (left) is making the media rounds, from USA Today to Entertainment Tonight. And if all that mileage out of her published material weren’t enough, she’s just re-upped with Atria for a new three-book deal.

But Weiner probably won’t be popping bottles of champagne at all this good fortune–not since she became a celebrity endorser for White Lie, “the first wine for women by women.” They supplied the drinks for her New York book signing pre-party, and she’s judging a writing contest for them–the grand prize being a meeting in New York with Weiner and her agent. Reactions to the arrangement have been mixed; when the deal was first announced in April, MobyLives.com scribe Dennis Loy Johnson accused Weiner of “shill[ing] for girlie wine,” prompting a heated exchange on his letters page.

*Who, to be fully disclosing, has always been very nice to me and my blog, including contributing a guest essay last spring.