In the past, I never even thought about the publishing companies behind the books I read. That changed when the Harper Collins strike last year, and now I habitually check the publisher due to curiosity. I recently read two books by Kensington Books that I thought were poorly written, even though they had creative and intriguing premises. It has made me wary of reading other books published by this company. I might give one more book by them another shot (“three strikes you’re out” sorta deal).
Are there any publishers that you actively avoid due because you’ve consistently disliked their books? Or the opposite, publishers you trust more than others to come out with books that suit your tastes?
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Edit: Just realized that I used the phrase “vice versa” wrong. Please ignore!
by Curiousfeline467
13 Comments
I’ll read basically anything from Persephone, NYRB Classics, or McNally Editions. They publish such great books.
I don’t think I have ever consciously chosen or disregarded a book based on the publisher.
I lovvvve Querido Levine.
I sometimes notice Thomas Nelson and pass on a book. They publish Christian books without it otherwise being obvious sometimes.
I’ll always keep an eye on Obverse as they publish lots of Doctor Who-adjacent fiction and non-fiction, the most notable of which is Faction Paradox.
I really don’t pay attention to the publisher. I can’t think of any publisher I read regularly that I have a problem with. Maybe I just don’t pay enough attention.
I have a problem with Semiotext(e). I love so much of what they publish but I’ve noticed many of their books use cheap, bright white paper that almost hurts my eyes and there seems to be more errors than in books from bigger publishers. I won’t stop reading Semiotext(e) books, I just wish they were presented a little better. I’d gladly pay more.
Likewise, I enjoy almost everything I’ve picked up from New York Review Books but many of them also have printing errors with font size issues.
I just want literature that was published with the same care as mainstream genre fiction.
As someone who reads mostly non-fiction: absolutely, yes!
I’m aware of several small, highly specialized publishers in my country. I often listen to interviews with authors in English, and if there’s a translation, it’s usually managed by one of these small publishers.
On a different note, I followed Humble Bundle for a long time and got a good sense for tech books. There’s a number of established, widely known and respected publishers (No Starch Press, O’Reilly, several large academic publishing houses), but I also learned that Packt and Mercury Learning will publish *anything*, including tutorial blogs or mediocre lecture slides put into book format.
I honestly don’t pay that much attention to who publishes a book. I may have to start to see if there are any that stick out as good!
I love black cover penguin classics. They can do no wrong
Daw books. The quality of the paper itself seems to be slipping.
I dont have any publishers I avoid.
On the flip side, I’ve learned to love Orbit. It was not conscious at first. I just noticed all the books I was buying seemed to have their signature black orb on the spine. Pretty soon I came to respect them and trust what they put out (fantasy books like Abercrombie, Tchaikovsky, Bancroft, Lee, Abraham, etx.)
I don’t actively avoid them, but Tor seems totally captured by peddlers of poorly written social justice garbage.