Poll
When choosing a book, how important is the company that published it?
I almost never notice who published the book.
I have a few publishers I especially like, but mostly I choose the book based on other criteria (story, author, etc.).
Not very important, but I usually make a note of it.
never ever!
Very important. I know if [my favorite publisher] published it, it will be a great read!
Have learned a LOT over this past year and I do take good notice of publishers. However I've become a HUGE indie author supporter over time. MUCH respect for indie authors, anti-pirating and promote the best I can for them!! So basically what matters most is do I like the authors work. If I do I'm going to promo like crazy the best I can!! Support both, care about the content and the author very much regardless of how it's published!!
It matters for eBooks because the quality range is so huge.
I notice the publisher if the book is badly edited. Otherwise it's not very important, though I actually check the publisher out just for curiosity.
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It doesn't factor into my purchasing decisions.
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only if it is a part of a series i'm collecting
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Wait, WHY would people care who the publisher of a book is? IT DOESN'T MATTER!!!!!!!!!!!!! (at least not to me)
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Somewhat important - knowing the publisher will give me a vague idea of what the book will be like. It's not generally make or break if I'm deciding what to read, but it can tip the balance one way or another.
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it can make a whole lot of difference if it is a translation
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I've never even noticed.
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never !
I always check the publisher, but I base my reading decisions on other criteria, such as recommendations.
It's only important when the book has been published by several different publishing houses. Some I love for their lay-outing, so that will influence my choice.
Holy cow. WHO CARES?
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This poll is too long and there are too much too read
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I avoid self-publishing houses, but otherwise the subject, author, and personal recommendations are most important.
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Never
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Publishers don't write books. I'm more interested in the author or what the promise of the book is.
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depends-certain publisher are known for a genre. But most of my authors jump publishers
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I will favor Baen, Random House, and other publishers who do not participate in Apple's Racketeering Model.
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Some publishers are more reliable, carry better made or attractive books and reputable writers. I also find that some publishers are work harder for the best translations, and in classics. I like Scribner, Penguin, and Oxford. However, I don't fully determine my book buying by publishing house, it is only a factor.
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I think it only matters if someone needs to know, or you are doing a work cited.
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I prefer certain publishers over others when it comes to classics
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Very important. I don't support mess.
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I usually don't mind the publisher, but i hate it when a certain publisher has a more attractive book cover than the one i bought first!!..other than that i care more about the book and author itself
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Who the fuck cares about the publisher
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While selecting a translated book it matters..Sometimes translators differ with publishers and so their translation.. better read the review to find these kind of discrepancies..
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I only check when the book is in the genre I would write, that way I would have a better notion of where to turn to when I look for publishing.
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only when they r on my bookshelf
Rarely matters--except nonfiction, in which case I'll occasionally check as a preliminary gauge of bias & credibility. Otherwise, doesn't matter.
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Not at all unless I'm looking to replace a specific edition.
What's important is the content, not the publisher. And the author of course, but sometimes I don't care.
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I definitely judge books partially by their covers, and some publishers match my preferred aesthetic more than others. Usually Picador for contemporary, Penquin for classics.
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I check the publisher, and some mean more to me than others - but I ALWAYS check the original publication date. Every book's a time capsule!
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add more answers next time
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Very important, but only because I work in the business. Before then, publishers didn't mean anything to me.
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It only matters to me when buying a physical book (exception: ebooks being free or not). When finishing out a series, I want them all to match. And for classics, I'm almost always drawn to Barnes&Noble. They're the cheapest at my favorite used bookstore.
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I check the publisher because I know which houses publish genres I have absolutely no interest in reading. Other than that, I'm open to any publisher that has produced competently edited books in the past in the wide variety of genres I *do* want to read.
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If i dont see anything this first time, i go back and look at the publisher of books ive liked in the past.
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yep
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I usually take notice when I first pick it up, because as I writer, I want to know not only what's on the market, but whom it's selling to. So yeah, it's mostly out of curiosity, but if it's something I really enjoyed or even something I'd write, I make a mental note of which publishing company decided to support it. :D
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Idk
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For print books, the publisher doesn't matter to me at all, but for e-books it does, because I only buy DRM-free,
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I have some favorite publishers, but I dont think it's THAT important. I have just two publisher that I really don't like and it was kind of hard for me when they published a book I REALLY wanted to read. I got over it, but I still dont like them any better.
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Touchdown
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I notice the publisher, but don't really care. What does it matter, anyway?
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Avoid publishers in general, choose the most obscure editions and especially avoid HarperCollins, Puffin, Random House, Bloomsbury etc. Self and indie publishers FTW. Definitely worth noting though.
It is important to me if it is a non-fiction historical work, especially if it is an ebook
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I'm only just now looking at them to be honest. Sometimes I'd take a glance but only now am I semi-looking for it.
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There is like 2 that I avoid
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The chronicles of audy
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For science fiction, I do. Other genres, not so much.
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og poll
I don't really care, but there are a few (mostly defunct) publishers I collect books by (Paperback Library, for example)
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Poll added by: Patrick
Comments Showing 101-131 of 131 (131 new)
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message 101:
by
Madeline
(new)
May 31, 2013 08:28PM
For me, it really makes big difference in terms of translation. Some companies have a specific group of translators for each type of books, which means if they're bad, they kind of screw up the whole genre. I experienced this myself 'a lot' when I was younger and still need a translated version of many books such as Roald Dahl's.
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Halley wrote: "For the most part, it doesn't really matter to me what the publisher is. Sometimes, it I like the design, I'll make note of them. Also, I've been researching different publishers that accept work f..."I'm going through this as well and belong to a writer's guild. Also, I've taken a class that deals exclusively with the 'getting published' part of writing. There are a lot of companies out there that 'accept' submitted manuscripts from people who don't have their name out there but they are not going to be the bigger companies. While it is true that an agent can get your foot in the door, you are going to pay said agent to do so. I know I don't have the money up front for that...especially because it's not a done deal that you'll be picked up by any publishers. Writer's Digest is a phenomenal magazine that talks a lot about this. There are also searches you can do online to find smaller publishers that are accepting your exact genre. I am NOT saying anything good OR bad about this book but here is an example. Everyone has heard of 50 shades of grey, unless you live under a rock. She started out with a small company called The Writer's Coffee Shop. THEN after the book went CRAZY and people started buying it up like nut jobs, a large publisher picked it up. What's important is your story. Sometimes, if you have something good going, it's okay to let it speak for itself. Sorry, I know you probably posted this comment forever ago but I stumbled upon it and felt like I might be able to help. Good luck!
The only time I notice or care about a publisher is with Art books.
On the whole it makes no difference, but I avoid publishers who publish only genre romance. Doesn't matter if the cover is enticing- I can pretty much bet I won't like the book.
Sometimes I don't even care about the author.
Julian21 wrote: "i actually dont care books are stupid why read a book when you can watch the movie"What are you doing on Goodreads, then? Since you prefer movies, maybe you should be socializing on facebook or imdb.com instead.
Non ho mai comprato un libro sulla base dell'editore. Certo ci sono editori che pubblicano parecchi titoli che mi piacciono, per esempio Adelphi, ma la casa editrice in sé non è mai stato un vero fattore di scelta. PERÒ da quando il gruppo Mondadori ha deciso di togliere la vendita dei loro ebook da Ultimabooks, il mio store online preferito, ho deciso di non acquistare più i loro titoli: se vorrò leggerne qualcuno (e ne avevo un po' che avevo intenzione d'acquistare!) mi servirò della biblioteca.
I do not put to much thought into the publisher but always do check to see who it is. The author and story are my main concern but if I come across a publisher I have read from in the past that seems could not bother with simple things like checking sentence structure or even spell check which these days is but a click of a button I may think twice about my purchase.
Only time I notice is when it is the 2 of the Big 5 Publishers then it goes on my DO NOT BUY list. Sorry, but when a publisher refuses to sell their eBooks to libraries then I am not going to buy for any reason.
Na when ever I buy a book I almost never even notice the publisher . So......, I think it's not important . But , people hav difference in opinion .
I usually don't pay too much attention to publisher, but I tend to make note of it. I am very picky about the covers I purchase, especially if the book has multiple publishers. I mainly started with my Jane Austen books, ALL of them are from Headline Publishing in the UK. I absolutely LOVE the creativity of Penguin Classics Deluxe Editions of the Classics genre. Lately I've been reading and buying a lot of Philip K Dick books and they are ALL by Mariner. I LOVE those covers!
Oh jeez...I didn't realize that publishers had anything to do with bias and credibility (blush).I am now compelled to acquiesce to the task of looking into this as I mutter--out of context,mind you--"O, woe is me, T'have seen what I have seen, see what I see!" - William Shakespeare, Hamlet.
So long as FFF aren't the publishers, I don't care.
The only publisher that I actually give a damn about, and refuse to EVER actually buy from is Amazon.
The majority of my book purchases are ebooks, and I ONLY purchase DRM-Free ebooks. So since that's the case, the publisher matters a TON! However, even before the electronic age, I trusted certain smaller publishers to deliver the type of book I was interested in, like TOR.
Uh, there is too many options for what you chose.
I rarely pay attention to the publisher. I pretty much only check it when choosing here which edition of the book I'm reading/have read.
I do check the publisher, mainly because if I know that it's published decent to very fine books in the past, chances are that this book will be good as well. No guarantees, of course, but usually quality puts out quality. Having said that, I also look at the genre I'm interested in, the author, check the cover, and read the blurb or excerpt and then decide.
When I choose a book to read, it's more about the things inside.
I really don't care at all who published the book. I don't even care if it's self-published. A good book is a good book regardless of publisher.This is coming from an employee of a publisher....
Some publisher imprints are specifically fir certain genres. You know what genre of book you'll be getting with Penguin Classics, TOR, Orbit, Harlequin, ...
I want to congratulate whoever is putting together these polls. As a reader and an author, I am fascinated by the questions and the tallies.
I've taken note of a few publishers utilizing unethical or otherwise deplorable practices so that I can avoid supporting them, but beyond that I give special attention to indie authors. I have a lot of love for independent creators so my dollars are weighted in that direction.
Oh my gosh, this poll has a million options! I picked "I never notice".
I don't really care for Harlequin Teen books, each of them have this writing style that I just don't care for. Sometimes, I'll pick up a book from them if I am super excited about it, otherwise I am pretty skeptical.Here are some publishing companies that I would recommend that i almost always enjoy their books from.
The Chicken House
Baltzer and Bray
Knopf
Square Fish
Scholastic
Speak
Yearling
Candlewick Press
Harper Teen
Harper
Little Brown Books
Great wrote: "i check the year because in a series coz its sometimes hard to tell the order of a book in a series, but otherwise WHO CARES! Amulet, scholastic, Random House, what does the publisher have to do wi..."I think, in my opinion, it matters because of the stories they buy to produce, and the genre of books they put out, and the quality of their books, and if they have a bunch of misspelled words, or lots of profanity. Anything.
Or sometimes you can be really biased because this said company had really good books, almost all the time, or all of the time.
I pay attention to publishers affiliated with either universities or specific writers that I like. If it is a classic novel or history, then I pay attention to both the publisher and the editor who writes a forward or preface that I need. I have to have a reliable publishing house and editor if I read Shakespeare, for instance. After all, I am not gifted in reading middle English, so I need all the help I can get!!
