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

[alicebentley]

I don't really expect readers to notice - there are only a few publishers that work at getting their look-and-feel into the reader's perceptions (I'm thinking of you, Baen). But for the writers it really should be a different sort of thing.

These are their partners in bringing this work to the point where someone else can see it, and in most cases their source of income. For most of them, it's a long-standing relationship that both sides hope will continue. And yet, I'd guess that less than half of the author-generated lists of "here's what I pubished last year" had any publisher information with it. *That's* the part that bugs me.