The use of branding by trade publishers: An investigation into marketing the book as a brand name product

Publishing has traditionally been an introspective industry, and while this is gradually changing, there is a need for publishers to adopt a more mark et-led approach. This requires the development of branding strategies to in crease levels of recognition and consumer loyalty among the book buying pub lic. The nature of the book as a product presents difficulties in applying branding theory to the industry and this study provides an insight into the issues involved in branding the imprint and the author and examines how so me trade publishers are addressing these issues. The study also examines th e public perception of brands within the trade sector and examines how much impact publishers' brands have made with the consumer.