Winter 2012/13 10.9 - Cory Bigler's task - NOT a Random Penguin

[Liz M]

10.9 - Cory Bigler's task - NOT a Random Penguin:
In protest of the consolidation of major publishing houses into ever-larger entities, read a book published by a small/independent press. (The edition you read should NOT be published by Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group/Macmillan (and its imprints), HarperCollins (and its imprints), Lagardère/Hachette Publishing (and its imprints), Penguin Group (and its imprints), Random House (and its imprints), or Simon & Schuster (and its imprints).) This task can only be completed once and cannot be claimed as bonus points.

[Liz M]

Here are 25 publishers that should qualify for this task:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06...

[Liz M]

And at the Brooklyn Book Festival, I talked to several small/independent publishers. Browse the list of vendors for ideas:

http://www.brooklynbookfestival.org/B...

This task will be edition specific, so for those looking for older, classic works, you might want to check out Melville House or NYRB classics:
http://www.nybooks.com/books/imprints...
http://mhpbooks.com/

University Presses might be another good way to avoid books published by "the big six".

[Rosemary]

Love this task! Great idea. Thank you!

I have a lot of books from http://persephonebooks.co.uk so it will be one of those for me!

[Deedee]

http://quirkbooks.com/page/about
includes
Taft 2012
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

And, here's a list of small press fantasy/science fiction publishers:

http://www.sfsite.com/depts/small01.htm

[Deedee]

And, from the list
http://www.sfsite.com/depts/small01.htm

I found
http://www.nightshadebooks.com/about-us/
After fifteen years, and more than two hundred and fifty books later, and Night Shade Books has become a significant publisher of genre fiction. With the help of an essential and dedicated group of editors, artists, and designers, we publish between three and five books a month.

Turns out I have alot of Nightshade Books publications on my TBR :0) I'll just have to make a list!!!

http://smallbeerpress.com/category/bo...
is another smaller publisher

[Liz M]

Thanks for the additional resources Deedee & Rosemary!

We were concerned about the possible headache publisher research would cause, which is why it's limited to a one-time only task.

[Kathleen (itpdx)]

The Huffington Post article does mention University presses but I would like to add that they are often good sources for books of regional interest. My favs are Oregon State University Press http://osupress.oregonstate.edu/ and University of Washington Press http://www.washington.edu/uwpress/
What a great task!

[Denise]

What about ebooks? I have downloaded this exact edition published by RosettaBooks: To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf from Overdrive. I'll probably read it whether I can use it for this task or not. But I want to be sure ebooks are considered to fit the spirit of the task. (Apologies if I've overlooked RosettaBooks on the lists of the six publishers and their imprints. I've copied and pasted all of them to a file and used the search function, and might not be seeing it.)

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

RosettaBooks is apparently NOT one of the Big Six. On their website they actually refer to the Big Six in a somewhat disparaging tone.

Let us know what you think of this one!

[Denise]

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "RosettaBooks is apparently NOT one of the Big Six. On their website they actually refer to the Big Six in a somewhat disparaging tone.

Let us know what you think of this one!"

Great! I wasn't sure about the concept of ebooks in general, and am glad they are acceptable. I hope I enjoy this book as much as I did A Room of One's Own. Somehow I'd never read anything by Virginia Woolf before. And thanks to all involved for yet another original and creative task!

[Cory Day]

You guys did a great job implementing this already! I'm stuck at work meetings and things are happening in the background. Such fun /)

[Joanna]

What about an independant publisher that's distributed by one of the Big 6:

http://www.europaeditions.com/aboutus...

Europa Editions was founded in 2005 by Sandro Ferri and Sandra Ozzola Ferri, who are also the owner-publishers of Rome-based Edizioni E/O, one of Europe’s most prestigious independent publishing houses. ... In North America, we are distributed by Penguin USA and Penguin Canada

[Joanna]

Joanna wrote: "What about an independant publisher that's distributed by one of the Big 6:

http://www.europaeditions.com/aboutus...

Europa Editions was founded in 2005 by Sandro Ferri and Sandra Ozzola Ferri, ..."

To clarify, the book that I have is

Cooking with Fernet Branca

The book doesn't seem mention Penguin anywhere that I can find, but I don't know if the distribution mechanism defeats the spirit of the task.

[Bea]

It looks to me like this one would qualify also.



Kensington Books

[Jayme(theghostreader)]

.I went on the Isfic Press and found by Tanya Huff

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Christine wrote: "I need an approval or rejection for this book:



The 20th Century in Poetry

In the US, this book is published by Pegasus, an imprint of Norton. Not one of the 6 majors and a very cool publisher...."

This task is edition specific. If the edition you read is Pegasus, then you're good to go.

[Sam]

Would Blackout, published by Orbit, work?

[Cory Day]

Sam wrote: "Would Blackout, published by Orbit, work?"

Unfortunately Orbit is an imprint of Hachette, which is one of the big six: http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/publ....

[Karen Michele]

I've forgotten to come on and say how much great this task is! My only problem is I've found so many I want to read. Some fit in other tasks, but I have two that I'm trying to decide between that I don't see an alternative for:

McSweeney's:

The Children's Hospital by Chris Adrian

And from Canongate(original myth series and I do own a copy)

Girl Meets Boy: The Myth of Iphis by Ali Smith

This is the one I thought had a December pub date, but it turned out to be November.

Decisions, decisions!

Does anyone else see an alternative spot for either of them?

[Karen Michele]

I found some books I wanted to read at Graywolf Press and I just discovered that there is a Goodreads Group for their books!

[Rosemary]

Karen GHHS wrote: "I've forgotten to come on and say how much great this task is! My only problem is I've found so many I want to read. Some fit in other tasks, but I have two that I'm trying to decide between that I..."

Ali Smith was born in Sylvia Plath's lifetime!
20.4 is my catch-all task :)

[Karen Michele]

Rosemary wrote: "Karen GHHS wrote: "I've forgotten to come on and say how much great this task is! My only problem is I've found so many I want to read. Some fit in other tasks, but I have two that I'm trying to de..."

Oh, my gosh, sorry for the bother - it's my catch-all, too and I even already had her on my list when I looked again! More and more senior moments in my life;)
Thanks for taking the time to look that up for me, Rosemary!

[Liz M]

Joanna wrote: "What about an independant publisher that's distributed by one of the Big 6:

http://www.europaeditions.com/aboutus...

Europa Editions was founded in 2005 by Sandro Ferri and Sandra Ozzola Ferri, ..."

The task only refers to the publisher & its imprints. It does not excluded distributors. Europa editions should be fine for this task.

[Liz M]

Christine wrote: "These guys should work, right?

http://www.torchlight.com/"

Looks good.

[Sam]

Cory (Bigler) '00-'05 wrote: "Sam wrote: "Would Blackout, published by Orbit, work?"

Unfortunately Orbit is an imprint of Hachette, which is one of the big six: http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/publ...."

Darn. I've actually never heard of Hachette before. Oh well, I know I have some books by the publishers in the links you provided, so I'm sure I'll find something that works :)

[Rebekah]

Are Dover books acceptable for this task?
I they are, they have a lot of the classics including the color fairy books.
www.doverpublications.com

[Camille]

I have a book from Gibbs Smith publishing, I have looked at all the imprint lists and can't find it....I'm hoping it qualifies!

[Isabell]

I suppose that self-published books would work for this task?

I've just finished the audiobook Désirée: The Bestselling Story of Napoleon's First Love by Annemarie Selinko. The book has "BlueBarnProductions" listed as publisher on the audible site (which I don't find on any of the imprint-lists). From what I gathered when the narrator read the disclaimer at the end, this is actually self-published by the narrator (she said that the copyright lies with "Nicole Quinn", who is the narrator; no mention of a publisher).

So would this book work for this task?

[Liz M]

Don (The Book Guy) wrote: "Not sure but does "The Dial Press" work for this challenge?"

It looks like it is part of Random House, so no.