Short and Sweet: An Introduction to Branding

This is the third installment in the continuing story of "Editing Mister D," a joint project to coach British nonfiction writer Pete Oxley through completion and publication of his first novel-length fiction work.

If you’re writing just for the fun of it, branding may very well be irrelevant.  However, if you think you may one day want to become a professional writer, it’s never too early to think about developing your brand.  What is "branding?"  Like General Mills, Cadillac, Swatch, or any number of instantly recognizable names, a brand is a kind of stamp, a shorthand way of telling your customers—er, readers—what to expect.  "Branding" is the process of creating your own unique brand, and the practice of stamping that brand on everything you do.