A while ago, I posted Investigated – Indie and Self Published Books, but today we are going to talk about “mainstream” publishers. Publishers like HarperCollins, Random House, Harlequin, etc… The question of the day is do you judge books based on what publishing company published them?
The Story
I never really payed attention to what publisher published a certain book. I always payed more attention to the cover, the author, and the title. The publisher was something that sometimes registered, but usually not. It didn’t impact if I wanted to read a book or not, or what standards to hold it up to. Sadly, I only really became more aware of the different publishers after I started blogging. Only then did I start to somewhat “categorize” publishers and the books they publish. For example, take Disney Hyperion. They generally are more of a middle school level and sometimes can seem more childish. However, I cannot remember a Disney Hyperion book I did not like. Some books published by them include the Percy Jackson series, the Gallagher series, and the Heist Society series, all of which I absolutely enjoyed reading.
Reputations
The question about the different “main” publishers and the prestige they hold came up when one of my friends asked me for a book recommendation. I told her Book A was a really good book. But she said “No way! But that’s published by Publisher A, and the books they publish usually suck!” I honestly did not understand what she was talking about. With my knowledge of publishers (which still isn’t a lot), no publisher really stood out above the rest. Sure maybe I think Disney Hyperion is a bit more childish, and HarperCollins has a penchant for dystopians, but to me, they are all just as likely as one another to publish good books. It’s not like I’m going to come across a book to read and put it back down because of who published it. Even if that publisher hasn’t published a lot of books that I liked, the publisher of a book still isn’t something I consciously pay attention to.
Conclusion
Okay, okay, I will admit if I do notice the publisher and it happens to be one I don’t really like, I will approach the book more warily. I probably will still give it a try though. It’s just that sometimes the big publishers are looking for something in particular. Not so much of a formula, but more a specific genre or like a certain taste. And if I feel a publisher has a reputation of publishing certain types of books that I don’t particularly enjoy reading, I will tend to spend more time debating if reading a book published by them is worth it. I will, however, never refuse a book straight out after finding out the publisher, unlike my “friend”.
What about you?
Do you think some publishers have certain reputations?
I never pay attention to what publisher published what book. Really. I always choose what I read based on the book description and recommendations. But I understand if for other people this aspect is just as important as the others.
There is just one case when I do pay attention to whoever published a certain book, and that is with translations. I’m from Romania, and when I want to buy a book that was translated in my language, the publisher does matter. That’s because I know that books published by a certain publishing house might have a good or a bad translation. Also, there are publishing houses that have huge problems with editing their books. Oh… and there are some publishers that are simply too expensive, and I avoid buying books from them, unless there’s a promotion. 🙂 But most of the time, I just prefer to read the book in English and avoid all that trouble.
Oana @All Fantasy Worlds
I don’t notice publishers at all. I know some people do though and I think I might like to start doing so a little more know that I’ve reached a point where I could feel comfortable reaching out to a publisher and directly requesting an ARC.
I’ve started paying more attention just because I look up publisher info when requesting books and writing reviews, so they’ve started to coalesce in my brain ;-). The only one that stands out currently is Harlequin Teen since I’ve had a string of bad luck with their books. If I really really was interested, I would still request from them, but they also tend to publish books that interest me less since they tend to have a romance focus (though Pawn is a huge exception to that!)
I actually have thoughts for specific publishes…Penguin is so tough and intimidating! I’ve never contacted them for books or approach them for anything. I feel like they are way up there and I’m down here lol. The publishers I really like are Harlequin, Entangled Teen, and HarperCollins because they have my reading taste which are young adults. Also, Epicreads helps me get comfortable with their publishing company because they are so nice and we actually get to see and chat with the people in their company.
Leigh
Little Book Star
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