Quessie for readers

Are you ever influenced by who the publisher is when you buy a book? Do you notice who publishes your favourite writers?

Posted by Justine at 22:58, 5 October 2006 under Fans & readers, Publishing business | 44 Comments »

Comments

Jenny Davidson Says:

i seriously do not notice, even now that i’m professionally interested in such things. i had an interesting conversation about this once with some friends, one woman was startled by my assertion & did indeed herself seem to be able to identify every publisher for every book she’d read in living memory. i think it’s the same kind of person who keeps track of, you know, indie record label releases or whatever. there are a handful of publishers i do notice/remember b/c of some distinctive feature of the books (like the faber typeface), but i cannot say it is likely that the publisher would influence me one way or another except in the case of small independent ones with a distinctive sensibility, when i might be more likely to pick the book up and see: serpent’s tail, for instance.

October 5th, 2006 at 11:06 pm
AM Says:

I’m a bookseller which makes me more aware of publishers they I think I would be ordinarily. Knowing publishers and imprints is good for helping customers, especially romance novel readers. You can sometime tell how explicit a book will be based on the imprint. Also in guideing them over to the fantasy novels, I can say, “You know LUNA is a divison of Harliquin so you might like such and such.” I don’t think it affects my own personal reading unless a particular publisher produces what I call “cheap books” and I don’t mean the price of the book so much as the feel. There is a certain tactile pleasure in reading a nicely printed book (as long as the story is good).

October 5th, 2006 at 11:37 pm
Sherwood Smith Says:

Nope–never notice. Even now.

October 6th, 2006 at 12:07 am
Hop Says:

Usually, the only time I notice this is if a series changes publishers sometime during its run. I’ll still buy the books, but I will spend ridiculous amounts of time fretting about the cover design changing midstream and how *wrong* it looks. But then, I am a big ball of neurotic when it comes to my bookshelves.

October 6th, 2006 at 12:10 am
Damien Warman Says:

Oh yeah, for sure. For an unknown-to-me writer, especially for a first novel, publisher might be the difference between picking it up or not picking it up. Once I’ve picked it up, though…

October 6th, 2006 at 12:28 am
jennifer, aka literaticat Says:

Sure… but I’m a buyer, I hafta notice that stuff, or I’d get fired. There are some houses/imprints/editors that I will always buy, because I know that the name means quality. I guess if they start to burn me, I’ll rethink my position, but these people are in:

Candlewick! I buy virtually their whole list, because almost without exception they are good, well-packaged, etc. FSG does some lovely stuff. Simply Read, those crazy canucks, make freaking gorgeous books. I love Penguin Classics (especially with the new graphic covers!). Priddy Books sell the way DK books used to – I love the way they look, and I’ll buy it all.

Wendy Lamb (Random), McElderry (Simon), Arthur Levine (Scholastic), David Levithan (Scholastic/PUSH), Sharyn November (Penguin/Firebird) … I don’t have to read them to know that I want whatever they’ve got.

October 6th, 2006 at 12:45 am
David Cake Says:

Nope, don’t pay attention to publisher. Obviously, I often do pay attention to who the publisher is for small press stuff where I likely know the publisher, but I still buy (and especially read) based on content.

I might be an outlier, though – I have virtually no publisher loyalty even when buying comics, and the comics industry normally organises itself assuming publisher is a primary consideration in buying.

October 6th, 2006 at 1:22 am
El Says:

Yes, increasingly so, the more I learn about publishers. Knowing who published a book helps me to place it in context–genre/subgenre/”feel” of books; workmanship of the physical book (there’s a press that publishes good books, has gorgeous covers, but awful interiors); likelihood that the book’ll be ready for prime time. (Just picked up a first novel from a press I thought was safe and started counting the Oh Nos! from page one. This *will* affect my willingness to pick another first novel from them.)

It’s not the only input, but it’s definitely input.

Just tried to think who publishes my favorite writers… know about half. If they’re already favorites, publisher’s not that important–author name’s enough.

October 6th, 2006 at 1:53 am
Ted Lemon Says:

Imprints morph so much over time that it’s hard to really know what one stands for. I used to think that Sams wasn’t a very good tech book imprint, but they they published the second edition of my book, and so now it’s obvious that they’re a fine imprint.

I think the answer is that the imprint does have some effect on how I see a book, but it’s way down in the noise – the design of the book is probably the first thing I notice if the author is unfamiliar. There are some particular imprints that are so inbred that I avoid them, but that’s much more the exception than the rule, and even the worst offender gets a lot of books from two authors that I like, so I still wind up buying some of their books.

October 6th, 2006 at 3:11 am
marrije Says:

hardly ever notice. i recognize penguins, of course, and faber&faber books, but apart from that, who publishes the book doesn’t influence my buying decisions.

not like covers do, or formats. last week i decided against spending my new book token on ‘city of falling angels’ even though i very much wanted to read it, but the only edition the shop had was too narrow and didn’t open easily. odd dimensions, ugh! also cheap paperbacks that smell nasty. cheap paperbacks = good, but they have to smell neutral. there’s a norman mailer book that has been sitting in my bookcase unread for about ten years because i can’t read it for smell reasons.

oh, digressing here! sorry!

October 6th, 2006 at 3:19 am
claire Says:

no and no. only when i’ve never heard of the book or the author do i sometimes look at the publisher to see if there’s any recognition there.

October 6th, 2006 at 3:27 am
Niall Says:

Yes, if I don’t already know the writer’s work. Publishers tend to have different strengths (in the UK, for instance, Orbit does good on sf — Tricia Sullivan, Ken Macleod, Charles Stross — but it’s generally worth staying the hell away from their fantasy), and some small presses, in particular, have distinct personalities (eg Small Beer vs PS vs Golden Gryphon).

October 6th, 2006 at 3:41 am
Cheryl Says:

What Niall said. If you know the author then the publishers generally doesn’t matter. If you don’t know the author then it can be very useful to know who published the book, and with the bigger publishers who edited it.

October 6th, 2006 at 4:32 am
innle Says:

A couple of years ago, my answer would have been totally different! However, in 2001 I started logging title, author, pub year, publisher, publication history and location for (almost) everything I read and I haven’t looked back. Even so, I didn’t reach my current state of publisher hyper-awareness until the start of this year. It’s a big help for me to know who publishes what, both professionally and in terms of managing my TBR pile (in combination with author reputation and direct recs from friends).

In a broader sense, there are some imprints where I’ll at least read the blurb of anything they publish (hellooo, Firebird) and some others that I’ve decided to stay away from (I gave Luna a bash but I like my fantasy/romance to come down heavier on the fantasy side).

October 6th, 2006 at 5:45 am
marrije Says:

added data point: for work books i’m definitely aware of who publishes things. Antything published by new riders or o’reilly in my field is pretty much an automatic buy. but it’s a small field where i depend on knowledgeable publishing folk to guide me to what matters.

October 6th, 2006 at 6:42 am
marrije Says:

please disregard horrid i-need-luch typos.

October 6th, 2006 at 6:43 am
marrije Says:

lunch. aaargh.

October 6th, 2006 at 6:43 am
18. Justine Says:

This is fascinating. Thanks so much for the responses. I especially like hearing from fellow readers as well as booksellers and fellow pros.

I just realised that I pay attention when big deals are announced—so I know that Harper Collins just spent a lot on a new Alloy project—or one of my friends is shopping a book around or has just sold one—so I know Harper just gave my friends E., Sarah, and Lauren a big advance for their wonderful book. I know a lot about the various houses (especially of young adult) but when I’m buying a book I pay no attention whatsoever. It’s like the reader and the pro have very little connection to one another.

It’s nice to know that other pros (Jenny, Sherwood) don’t notice either. When I was a kid I loved Picadors and Daw books because they were very distinctive, published writers I loved and looked great next to one another on the bookshelf. I’m wondering if part of the reason I don’t notice now is that most publishers/imprints don’t have a specific look to their books anymore.

You’re not alone Marrije! I’ve not bought certain books because they smell bad or were a yukky shape or had an erk cover.

October 6th, 2006 at 8:17 am
Maggie Says:

Yeah, I would have to say that I am influenced by the publisher. I used to work in a bookstore and certain publishers’ catalogues just seemed to have a better quality of book.

October 6th, 2006 at 8:58 am
Celia Says:

I totally notice with the various romance varieties I read (to the point of searching the library catalog based on the publishers as a short cut to see if they’ve got any new ones), but once we’re out of that ghetto, I pick them based on their title or their cover or how close they are to other books I was looking for. nothing actually useful or reproducible.

October 6th, 2006 at 10:24 am
Stephanie Says:

I definitely notice. More so since I started keeping track of publishing deals, naturally, but even before that I had a pretty good feel for the publishers’ personalities, as Niall put it.

Covers have a lot to do with it. Baen has a very distinctive style, for example — and I find it so ghastly that I’ll buy any edition other than theirs, if I have a choice.

I notice publishers’ attention to detail, too. Right now I’m in the process of importing (slowly, as I find copies cheap enough to offset overseas shipping) the current Arrow (UK) editions of Georgette Heyer’s novels. Their gorgeous covers caught my attention, but I wasn’t desperate to own them until I discovered that the Harlequin reprints were full of disastrous typos. I’ve bought over a dozen of the Arrow copies so far, and found one typo in the lot. That kind of thing earns my loyalty.

October 6th, 2006 at 10:29 am
Adrienne Travis Says:

Oh, absolutely! I won’t *not* buy books because of a publisher or imprint, but i’ll change my expectations accordingly. I know, for instance, that if it’s from ROC it’s likely to be really schlocky, if it’s from Baen it will be “intellectual fluff” on a higher level than ROC and CONSISTENTLY entertaining, if it’s Luna it will be romance-y (well, that’s cheating, Luna’s a Harlequin imprint…nonetheless), if it’s Tor it will either be not worth reading or it will BLOW MY MIND. Etc.

October 6th, 2006 at 11:04 am
May Says:

i do.

there are books that, on the basis of imprint/publisher alone, i will choose not to buy, or at least to wait on.

October 6th, 2006 at 11:04 am
Chris S. Says:

chiming in again on the bookseller theme, I think that once you’ve worked enough years in bookselling, you can’t help but notice the publisher. It doesn’t really make a difference – most booksellers tend to think ‘author’ before ‘publisher’ – but you’re aware of it.

Or maybe that’s just me.

October 6th, 2006 at 11:10 am
Diana Says:

Before I started writing, I only noticed publisher when it was incredibly branded (like the way a penguin classics is branded, or any of the harlequin category lines). Now, of course, it’s the first thing I notice.

I find a lot of romance readers pay more attention to publisher, because they like Avon Historicals or Red Dress ink chick lit or whatever. But not so much in other genres (maybe sci fi?)

October 6th, 2006 at 11:14 am
26. Justine Says:

Hmmm, I’ve been a published author since 2002 and Sherwood’s been published way longer than that and we still don’t notice publishers. Wonder what that says about us?

October 6th, 2006 at 12:04 pm
Dave Schwartz Says:

I rarely take much notice of the publisher, unless it’s a small press like small beer or nightshade or golden gryphon. In those cases I’m as much a fan of the publisher as I am of the authors they put in print, so I always pay attention.

October 6th, 2006 at 12:29 pm
oyceter Says:

For me, it depends. I’ve noticed publishers from back in high school, largely because I attempted to set up a sf/f library for my school and noticed that different publishers had different starting ISBN numbers (indeed I was a geeky kid, why do you ask?).

Nowadays, I don’t tend to pay attention to the publisher if it’s a large one (Tor, Del Rey, etc.), but I pay attention to imprints. I definitely give any book with the Firebird logo a glance, because I trust Sharyn November’s taste, and I’m starting to look for Razorbill as well. I avoid Luna largely because I haven’t found one that I like yet. I also check for Beacon Press’ Bluestreak imprint, Small Beer, etc.

I notice much, much more for manga, and I always check the publisher for those. I know Go Comi’s price points are higher, but that they have stuff people rec, Del Rey is usually pretty good, Viz has the big stuff, TokyoPop can be variable, but I like the quality of the translations (unlike Viz, sometimes), and then there are the newer publishers in the field that are bringing in more manhwa and yaoi and etc. And CMX keeps having cheap paper, argh!

October 6th, 2006 at 12:57 pm
stacy Says:

It depends. I often notice Candlewick books, because they tend to have a distinctive style and are always well-designed. But when I’m buying books for me, I usually shop more for author and story–both looking for new stuff and for old favorites who have a new book out.

For work, though, I tend to look by publisher, to get an idea of how each does certain things and what I can learn from that. It all started in grad school when one of my publishing class assignments was to study HarperCollins’s children’s catalog and draw conclusions about their line. You can learn a lot from what others are doing about what you’d like to implement or avoid.

October 6th, 2006 at 2:43 pm
Katerate Says:

I notice only afterwards. It doesn’t really matter to me who publishes it, just how the book is.

October 6th, 2006 at 4:18 pm
dylan Says:

nope. not really but sometimes if there’s like a weird logo or design i’ll take a glance at it or if it’s like a weird name on the bottom of the novels cover or something but then i don’t really care. For example, when i just recently finised this novel, i forget what’s its called, Waking? Maybe? Yeah…Waking by Alexyandra Harvey Something Or other (WAking.ca) And it rocked but the name was Orca Publishings like a whale. I thought that was kind of cool you know, aside from Simon & S… Publishing or Knpolpf or whatever.. Dylan

October 6th, 2006 at 4:37 pm
Colleen Says:

As a reader, I never really noticed at all. I followed certain authors but could care less who was publishing them. As a reviewer though I spend a lot more time with catalogs and I will echo what folks have said about Candlewick – it consistently impresses me above and beyond all other YA catalogs. That does not mean that I ignore titles from other catalogs but overall, I know with Candlewick I am getting something really special.

Beyond that, Soho and Soho Crime really impress me and I have noticed that all of their mysteries have a distinctive flare – a European sensibility that is quite obvious as being “soho” if that makes any sense.(Even when written by US or Aus authors.) I have also found Serpent’s Tail titles to have a lot in common when it comes to originality and almost attitude – they publish stuff I doubt I will find anywhere else.

I also always look forward to Chronicle, both adult and children’s books, because visually its titles are above and beyond most others. They aim for illustrated books that are like no others and they pretty much always hit it out of the park.

October 7th, 2006 at 12:11 am
AM Says:

As I said before I don’t really notice or care about publishers as a reader, but I noticed that as I’m reading other people’s post I can see the publisher’s or imprint’s logos in my head.

October 7th, 2006 at 12:51 am
Di Says:

i’ve not so much noticed a particular publisher, but rather a particular agent, who seems to work with a particular publisher and represents a selection of aussie authors i enjoy reading.

October 7th, 2006 at 4:55 am
ben peek Says:

i notice. i do a lot in the independent presses, and it ain’t all equal out there, you know? content is good, but it helps to be in something that doesn’t look like it was designed by a five year old on the nod.

October 7th, 2006 at 7:37 am
Gwenda Says:

I notice, but it only ever influences me if the publisher is small or independent. There are some books I’ll pick up more readily because they look interesting AND they come from Soft Skull, etc.

October 7th, 2006 at 9:34 am
37. Justine Says:

I second on the small press comments. It feels like when I buy books from a really good small press I’m doing my little bit to keep that press alive.

October 7th, 2006 at 9:40 am
Gwenda Says:

And, also, I think it’s easier to develop trust in the taste of small publishers — since they’re putting out fewer books. Random House, well, it’s just not feasible to think a book is good because Random House is putting it out. But if Small Beer’s doing it, I know it will at least be interesting.

October 7th, 2006 at 11:41 am
C Munro Says:

I almost never notice. Unless it’s one of my favorite writers and they switch, but it matters not to me if they do. I do notice that Tor publishes a good many of the books I buy, but that’s just coz they’re so big in SF.

October 7th, 2006 at 12:03 pm
jocelyn Says:

i haven’t always paid attention to publishers, but i do now. i do not know who has published every book i like, but i do a lot of them. it doesn’t affect my decision to buy very much, though. that’s mostly about cover and author and story.

October 7th, 2006 at 12:18 pm
Rebecca Says:

No. Although, since all my books now sit on my desk were I (allegedly) do my homework, I have noticed, way after the fact, that Delacorte and Razorbill publish a lot of the stuff I like. But that had nothing to do with me buying the books. I bought yours b/c Scott recommended them, and after I read the first one, I couldn’t not get the second one. I read Scott’s books b/c I happened to discover Uglies one day, and after that I wanted every single book he’d ever written, even the historical stuff and ghostwrites. Ditto with pretty much all the authors I get hooked on. Actually, now that I’m looking at them all, a lot of my most recent choices have been recommendations from other authors. Diana Peterfreund, for example. Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Robyn Schneider (don’t actually have her book yet, but I will), Lauren Barnholdt, Ally Carter, etc. I just bought two Maureen Johnson books, even though I’ve never read her stuff before, solely on the recommendation of either you or Scott. Can’t remember which. Could have actually been someone else entirely. Anyway, it was some one of these blogs or other.

October 8th, 2006 at 1:37 pm
Peter Hollo Says:

I do notice, but it doesn’t influence me if it’s something I want to read anyway. However, I suppose that occasionally a new book from a publisher I like might be more attractive because it comes from that publisher – just like a new anthology edited by someone good could initially spark some interest. In the end, content is king (although good presentation helps…)

October 9th, 2006 at 10:52 am
Gillian Says:

I’ve noticed publishers since I was a kid. I discovered early on that publishers had distinct preferences and when I ran out of auhtors I knew, my next step was exploit those preferences by finding other writers from the same imprint. It’s how I first read Sylvia Engdahl and Joy Chant and the Dune books. I would run my eyes along the library shelf, checking for books that had a bit of lookalikeness to them then I would just check the title page for the imprint name and I would borrow the book. When I got too bored I would look for a publisher I *didn’t* know and sample the sorts of things they liked, which led to some marvellous discoveries. I still do this, except there seem to be more books round now and I find it harder to run out.

October 9th, 2006 at 8:24 pm
Carbonelle Says:

once only, in the days before (as a librarian) these matters were naturally of consequence: Margaret K. McElderry. (Late of Simon and Schuster) as a teen I happened to notice that many and many an Andre Norton fave bore her imprint: So I gave other books that bore it a friendly eye.

Later, HBJ had the inestimable Jane Yolen as an imprint and she had the incomparable Trina Shart Hyman as a cover artist. As someone who shamelessly admits to buying books by their cover, TSH never disappointed. Naturally, the Yolen/TSH combo was a winner.

So yes: I think imprint matters, but you have to be “a hot chick with super-powers” (see also “Firebird”

October 13th, 2006 at 2:58 am