Branding: Does the publisher matter to you?

[Nyssa]

I couldn't tell you who publishes what. If I like a series or an author then I buy what I can when I can.

[bgalbrecht]

I find that there are a number of authors that I like who are published by Tor. Since Tor is owned by Macmillan, which I despise, I don't buy their works as often as I would if they were published by Baen or some other press. I also think that Tor tends to overprice ebooks (for example, their Isaac Asimov books are priced at $10, Random House prices theirs at $8), which is another reason why my ebook dollars go to other publishers.

[Tattncat]

I voted no. I tend to go by author and genre irregardless of the publishing house.

[Kumabjorn]

Originally Posted by bgalbrecht

I find that there are a number of authors that I like who are published by Tor. Since Tor is owned by Macmillan, which I despise, I don't buy their works as often as I would if they were published by Baen or some other press. I also think that Tor tends to overprice ebooks (for example, their Isaac Asimov books are priced at $10, Random House prices theirs at $8), which is another reason why my ebook dollars go to other publishers.

Then it seems more like a price decision, the publisher you choose becomes a consequence of that price decision.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by HarryT

For paper books, yes, because it's nice to have all the books from a given author and publisher have a similar appearance on the shelf. For an eBook, no, it doesn't matter.

This, in part.

It's not so much the publisher I look at, but rather the book. If I already have a pbook in the series, I'll search for the matching pbooks. The chance that I actually know the publisher is close to zero....

(and I was very cross when I ordered Gai-Jin when it came out, as the publisher hadn't continued his previous style!)

[Pookeysgirl]

I voted no, I don't pay attention to who publishes the book. If it's an author I like, or a book in the genre I like and the price is right, I'll buy it.

One thing I have noticed though are that most of the books I've bought that were published by Penguin have a lot of errors, mostly typos. Not enough that I would stop reading the book, but enough that I've noticed they're all by the same publisher.

[laughingdragons]

I've only learned who the publishers are on my fav authors to avoid buying from them until the prices go down.

When I have a coupon for kobo I go down the list seeing who the publisher is and pass them on by. I don't even look at the book unless it's not from the big 6. It's rare a new book is under $10 from them.

Before the big 6 fiasco I never noticed who the publishers were.

I guess one good thing has come from all this I have finally started reading some books I've had on my reader for a few years and I've really enjoyed them.

[Blossom]

It matters some what. I find formatting in ebook a big issue and they're certain publishers that do a good consistent job in turning their books into ebook format. One publisher that comes to mind is Harlequin. The formatting in their books are always well done. Harpercollins is another good example with their Avon line.

A Bad example would be Sourcesbook, Inc although they seem to be getting better as of late but I have found their ebooks full of embedded fonts, font size tags and just horribly formatting. I have bought a Kindle version only to have to return it and buy the epub which was much better done.

Another point with me is price. Kensington who has the Zebra Book imprint always catches my eye because they do not charge ridiculous prices on most of their books and usually the formatting is good.

Penguin is another publisher that has inconsistent formatting though it usually only needs a few tweaks before they are eReader ready.

Maybe I am just picky which is why I use Calibre to fix such issues but publisher does matter to me some before buying.

[wodin]

I couldn't care less, a good read is a good read, no matter who's presses (metaphorically speaking) it comes off.

[Iphinome]

Note i read a lot of scifi and fantasy so in another niche I wouldn't know off the top of my head what publisher has what traits.

If you have a feel for what a publisher likes you have a feel for if that urban fantasy story is more action or more paranormal romance. You have a clue if they enforce tight pacing or let info dumps and political filibusters through.

So for me its a factor, not a huge one but something to consider when trying some author I haven't read.

[tubemonkey]

Yeah; it matters, because I won't buy from the Big Six. I'll take their free stuff and read library books from them, but I won't buy until they change their evil ways - LOL

[Xanthe]

Originally Posted by Tattncat

I voted no. I tend to go by author and genre irregardless of the publishing house.

I concur.

[Rob Lister]

Even though we have twice as many No votes than Some or Yes votes, the number of posts that steadfastly supported an official No vote did not come close to large No tally. Most conceded that a difference existed. On that alone, we can build a marketing strategy. Hopefully one that avoids the grotesque overkill that DiapDealer pointed to in his post on page one.

I see room here. And that's all a marketer needs...well, that and a budget!

I'll give them this one for free:

Tired of reading in the gutter? read Random House instead!

Of course, only typesetters would get it.

[scottmarlowe]

I answered "no". I couldn't tell you the publisher (or if there even is one for indie/self-pub'ed titles) for all of the books and eBooks I own.

[Just4kix]

Unless it's something like Mills & Boon I don't notice the publisher.