Can, and should, book authors become brands?

In the era of smaller lists, fewer resources, and product that never disappears, the biggest loser is the beleaguered midlist author or debut novelist. Publishers will be less likely to invest in someone without the highly coveted platform who does not have brand potential. Or perhaps they will take only 5,000 or 10,000 copies of a book, whereas previously they would have taken 20,000.

While platforms and formulas sell books, not every author is meant to be a Nicholas Sparks. The bulk of writers are not soda concoctions that benefit from being frozen in time. A cubbyholed author—and often the publisher and agent—can be left hanging out to dry with a brand that no one really wants.

Of course, first-time and emerging authors are more vulnerable to this than the veterans. Tom Wolfe, who spent 42 years at Farrar, Straus and Giroux, is reaping the rewards of being branded. His new publisher, Little, Brown offered him $7 million for his next novel. Picador, his paperback publisher, is reissuing 10 of his titles, beginning with The Bonfire of the Vanities and The Right Stuff last year. Wolfe has a large enough following that this move will not compromise his integrity as a writer. In a sense, he has earned the right be branded.

 But then, he also took his brand and ran.