Can an author write in more than one genre?

 One of my readers and blog followers asked me that question and it got me to thinking about a buzz word that's been going around the publishing industry the past few years. "Author Branding"   Ever since books have gone electronic and social medias have opened the door for more personal communication between an author and her readers, publishers have been scrambling to figure out the best way to market their author's books.  Gone are the days when a reader had to drive down to the local book store and scan the shelves for his or her next book to read. Now, all one has to do is go online to one of the numerous sites that list more books than any store could hold. Not only that but there are plenty of reviews from other customers, endorsements, and even links to the authors website, blog, facebook page, etc.. where a reader can have a one on one conversation with an author. It's truly amazing!

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When I submitted my first novel in 2005, very few authors even had websites, let alone blogs. And Facebook and Twitter hadn't even been invented. Now seven years later, the web has exploded with more information than a person could use in a lifetime. And so many choices!!!  How could an author compete? How could an author get noticed among the burgeoning crowd?  Although branding had been around for years, it took on a whole new importance. Branding is simply what you think of when you hear an author's name. For instance, if you hear the name, Steven King, you might immediately think spooky, scarey, bloody, gruesome, weird.. right? If you hear the name John Grisham, you might think law or legal thrillers, Nicholas Sparks might invoke sentimental romances, etc.. you get the idea.   The theory was that if an author had a solid branding, they would draw more readers and sell more books.  However if they went outside of their "brand", it was akin to being a traitor to their readers.  Lets' face it, if you are familiar with an author and their type of stories, you know what to expect when you pick up one of their books, right?  So what if you picked up a Karen Kingsbury book and the story ended up being about vampires, you might be a little upset!

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I know authors who have changed their names when they switched genres just so as to not disappoint their readers! I've heard of publishers that have turned down great stories just because it didn't fit the author's brand!  But is this branding really all that important?  For instance, my brand is swashbuckling romances anchored in faith. You pretty much know that when you read my books, they are historicals, they probably have at least one scene set on the sea, they usually have a sword fight or two, roguish heros, spunky heroines and a strong faith message.  But what if one day I wanted to write a contemporary suspense about a SWAT team? ( My brother is on a SWAT team so I have lots of great info at my fingertips!)  As long as the book is plainly described as a contemporary suspense, would my readers want to read it? 

I guess what I'm asking is, do you read a certain author just because of his or her "brand"  or do you read a certain author because you like her style of writing and her stories and you really don't care what she writes??   I'm dying to know your responses!