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Minding the ‘Brand,’ for Better or for Worse

observer.com – Tuesday January 9, 2024

Branding has forever changed the publishing industry and, in the process, what it takes for ambitious authors to break in.

Over the last year, three books of mine have been published. The first, from a large indie press, was a philosophical takedown of woke subjectivism. The second, from a U.K. press specializing in rock star memoirs, was a middle-grade novel about a traumatized kid who begins to hallucinate the ghost of John Lennon. The third, from a conservative-libertarian startup press, was a comic novel set at the dawn of the social media age, about a 30-something mom whose ne’er-do-well husband convinces her to post risqué photos on the internet.

You’d think three books in one year would be a cause for celebration. Yet I’m driving my loyal-to-a-fault literary agent crazy… because I don’t have a brand.

Brands are shorthand devices to convey clusters of information. Most large corporations have a brand. Pepsi has one. So does Burger King. So do Nike, Cadillac and Citibank. Each brand has an instantly recognizable logo, intended to differentiate the business from its competitors and remind you that you’re dealing with an established, credible entity. But a brand also limits the brand-holder’s relevance. If Pepsi, for example, announced it developed a kiwi-infused cola, I’d be intrigued. Pepsi does a fine job with colas, so its processes should work with kiwi flavor. On the other hand, if I’m shopping for auto parts and see Pepsi snow tires, I’m going to pass since that’s not what Pepsi is known for. The company may produce a hell of a tire, but why go that route when you can go with Goodyear—a brand specifically known for tires? It would be like buying Goodyear ginger ale. Or Cadillac cotton swabs.

So it makes sense for businesses to develop a brand. Yet there’s something counterintuitive and vaguely philistine about the notion that writers should develop one. What is a writer’s brand? Essentially, it’s a cross between a credential and an identity. It’s the way the writer is viewed by potential readers and the public face by which he’s already known or will be known; it provides a roadmap for publishers to market his book. Here is the reality of publishing in 2023: Absent a discernible brand, a writer’s chances of finding a commercial publisher are severely diminished. Brands are a particular concern of the marketing departments at publishing houses, as you’d expect. But they’re also on the mind of editors at every stage of the publishing process, figuring prominently not only in getting the book into readers’ hands but also in the decision to acquire a manuscript in the first place.

To read the full article on observer.com, click here

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