I have experimented with influencers for a notebook that I sell. It has been a mixed bag, but mostly unprofitable. My target audience is musicians - not lifestyle bloggers - so the people I've tried to work with don't quite have the following as the person in this article. Also, I have never experienced an "entitled influencer", though I have come close.
Here was my process:
1. Email 20 people with > n followers asking if I could send them a free book, and if they like it, if they'd be willing to post about it to their followers.
2. 10 of them email me back saying "sure! here's my shipping address."
3. sends 10 books
4. 3 people actually post. Of those: 1 person: for $100 I will post in an IG story. I try this, as they have 90k followers, so even a story mention must be good, right! This results in 1 sale. 2nd person: posts a beautiful picture on their IG. Land a couple of sales. 3rd person: doesn't think of themselves as an influencer, just really likes the product, and mentions it to her viewers, and this results in $300 worth of sales. Awesome!
I think the trick, then, is to find people who don't self-identify as influencers, and who aren't already doing lots of advertising on their channel. Rather than trying to craft a genuine portrayal of life, find people who are actually genuine!
(If anyone on HN has tips, always interested in advice!)