As a reader, I have found that when I disagree with an author's views or actions, this has influenced me not to buy their books.
As an author, I therefore wonder whether readers generally view the work as completely independent from the author's personal views? And what if the book is semi-autobiographical? Do readers see the author as part-and-parcel with the book as it tells much about its creator?
Answer
Joanne Rowling has famously hidden her gender behind male-seeming initials to meet reader expectations. We don't know how Harry Potter would have sold if it would have been published under Joanne's real name instead of "J. K.", but I have stopped reading books by a few authors, because I disagree with their political views or find their online behaviour obnoxious. I have also picked up books in bookstores because the names of the authors attracted me.
All of that is merely anecdotal, but studies find that many readers react in a similar way to the "persona" of the author. For example, Michelle Goldsmith (2016) has conducted a survey of 396 readers and writers of speculative fiction, in which she found that "factors such as an author's persona, online behaviour, political or social views, and role in prominent genre controversies can have significant impacts on readers’ reception of their work, both explicitly and implicitly".
The author's "persona" can be thought of as a reader's (or potential buyer's) idea or mental image of what kind of person the author is. Readers buy fiction to satisfy needs, and if the author "looks" as if he or she can satisfy that need, the impulse to buy their book is that much greater. Aspects that have been shown to influence buying behaviour are physical attractiveness (pretty women sell more books than unattractive women), expertise (think of the attorney Grisham writing legal thrillers, but expertise is most important in non-fiction), generosity, and friendliness, among others.
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