I have been thinking about the dilemma of having to build an authors brand. That you have to create potential readers before publishing. It is pretty difficult to do this. I for instance can never get more than 20 followers on twitter and I gave up on my blog pretty quickly because it was not my style. Anyway, I was thinking, what if you wrote a fanficition in a fandom with a lot of dedicated readers already and build a name through there? kind of piggy backing on an already popular brand. Have anyone tried this strategy before? or what is your thoughts on this? is it advisable?
It's pretty tricky, I'd say. I started writing in fandom, and when I switched to original fic I definitely told my fandom readers where I was going, but then I felt as if I had to be pretty damn careful to leave fandom behind. Too many copyright violation pitfalls, otherwise. And I honestly don't think too many readers came from fandom to my original fiction. Really, it's pretty easy to get readers when you're writing for free in a world they already love; a lot harder to get them to come with you into a new world. Think of writers who switch fandoms - they often have to start over more-or-less from scratch, in terms of building readers. I'm not saying it couldn't be done, but I'm not sure it would be a good return on your time investment. It's pretty difficult to build a really big following in fandom, and then if you lose most of them when you switch to original fic anyway, was it really worth your time? I'd question whether branding is really important (or, as you say, possible) before you have something to sell. Once you've got a book out, branding becomes important. But before the book is out? I don't think it's expected.
If you leave the readers on a fanfic site with a story they want to read the rest of or if you just write stuff people love, that might work. Both EL James and Amanda Hocking grew their readership that way.