Something that always bugged me

[alicebentley]

Now that I'm putting a little effort into compiling a list of Hugo eligible works, I am reminded once again of how few people refer to the publisher when mentioning that a book or story has come out.

With some it may be on purpose, with the thought that the publisher is so small, or self, or POD, that maybe mentioning where the work came out will not be a boost. But with the great majority, it's clear that the author and/or reader/reviewer just never considered mentioning who the publisher is.

And it bugs me not only because it makes my list-tabulating that much more difficult, but because there's this inherent assumption that now that the writer<-->reader connection has been made, the channels that made that connection are unimportant. As if the risk, money, support, etc of the publisher are just not important now that the deed is done.

I know darn well that's not what most authors think of their publishers, but it still surprises me when there's no mention of them.

Comments

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure that I've ever particularly noticed which publisher a title came from. I suppose at some point in the past a publisher with a reputation might mean something, but these days I generally go to a site like goodreads.com when looking for a new author to read. Peer-to-peer reviews and independent suggestion engines that say what other people who liked books that I like also liked work very well for me. Before I started using them I was often picking up books that I really didn't like. These days I have more good stuff in the stack than I can possibly read.

EDIT: I should note that Baen is an exception. If I want to buy a book, I go to Baen first. If I'm just looking for something new, I go to Baen's site first. This is because they're pretty much the only publisher that does eBooks correctly.