Brand Management for Crime Fiction Novelists: A Surprising Synergy

Our research into crime fiction readers using a qualitative online survey found they engaged in various behaviours motivated by reading the novels. For example, joining online communities and following authors on social media. These behaviours are remarkably similar to consumer brand engagement, a concept from the marketing sub-discipline of brand management. Consumer brand engagement encompasses the way consumers interact and engage with a product, in this case a crime fiction novel, outside of purchase or consumption (Franzak et al., 2014; van Doorn et al., 2010). The high level of competition within the crime fiction publishing industry means that marketing and brand management can provide financial benefits for authors and help set themselves and their novels apart. This presentation will explore how crime fiction readers’ behaviour can be prompted and encouraged by their authors to build their brand and the brands of their novels.