I was thinking the other day on how much I actually judge books by their publishers. I feel like I create the judgemental notion that, if a book comes from a popular publisher such as HarperCollins or Penguin, then it will be better than a book from a publisher I haven't heard of. I judge books by their publishers so much that I knew I had to do a post on it, and I'm going to be focusing on a number of factors.
I'm just gonna come out and say it: I usually only ever read books from mainstream publishers. And I fully admit that this makes me look like a crappy person, because I'm thinking that a book only gets better when it's picked up by a mainstream publisher. When in reality, there are a ton of diamond in the ruff's out there, especially from indie authors, that need more attention. I myself am an aspiring writer and know that it takes a lot to be picked up by one of the big guys. I don't understand why I'm not exposing myself to those books more?
One might also judge a book by their publishers because the publisher might be a bit sketchy. Take Simon and Schuster for example. Simon was recently going to publish a racist book by Milo I don't care that much about him to put his last name. Because of this, a lot of people started to boycott Simon and refuse to buy books from that publisher. I seem to not read a ton of Simon books, but I'm definitely more aware than I used to about the company.
So the question is, is it ok, for whatever reason, to judge a book by their publisher? Whether that would be from stereotypes, from the publisher being sketchy, or by something else? Do all books published by a publisher fit into that publisher's worldview? It's an interesting thing to think about where we normally gravitate towards.
For me, I typically read Penguin and Harper novels. But Harper has had a history of publishing some problematic books in the past as well, so should I distance myself from Harper novels? I think that the views of the author do not necessarily reflect the views of the company. However it makes you wonder, if Simon and Schuster considered themselves not racist, why would they pick up the deal for a racist book? I think it is important to be cautious where you're putting your money into.
So I kinda talked about two sides to judging a book by a publisher. On one hand, I have this stereotype that they will be better, and on the other hand, it seems more moral to not support publishers who publish racist books. But where do you draw the line?
I want to know what you think. Do you judge books by their publishers, and if so, for what reason?
Emily @ Paperback Princess
Interesting post. I don't even bother looking up who the publishers are for most of the books I read. I don't care about the publishers because I've learned that good and bad books can come from anywhere. To me the most important thing is the quality of the book, not who publishes it.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could be like that! It's something that I notice first about a book and I'm trying to shake the habit.
DeleteI think that each book can be taken on merit - but that people with particular issues with a publisher are free to boycott said publisher.
ReplyDeleteI also think that some smaller publishers are *exceptionally* good at picking which books to publish. I've noticed a definite higher quality in Rock the Boat Press books (an MG/YA publisher,) LT3 Press books (an LGBTQ+ publisher,) and Rosarium Publishing (a PoC publisher with a focus on SFF.) Possibly, this is b/c they publish so few books, that they want to take the best of what they're offered! (Also, you should totally check out those publishers - they're great!)
I've never heard of those publishers! I definitely have to do more research on smaller, and particularly diverse, publishers. Thanks for the recommendations, Cee!
DeleteNp - I'm always around to bug people with my random knowledge ;)
DeleteThis is something I've never thought of. I don't really notice which publishers I read but after this post I checked my bookshelf and most books are from Pan Macmillan (and related imprints such as Tor) and Harper...But I also have quite a bit of indie novels.
ReplyDeleteOf course people should feel free to boycott books from a publisher when they're being problematic BUT I think that would affect good authors indirectly. Say a big publisher X publishes a problematic book A and a really wonderful book B. Because of A, many people boycott publisher X leading to a down in sales of book B. Now the author of book B didn't do anything wrong. They didn't know the publisher was also going to publish a racist book. They probably are a first time author who went for publisher X because they're a huge publishing house. So I think it would be better if everyone boycotted book A and spoke out to the publisher that they won't read such problematic books. i'm not saying that would work though..just something to think about :)
I wish I had more indie authors on my shelf! I definitely need to work on that. I think your method works best! It would hinder an author who has an amazing book but just picked the publisher that offered them the deal. It's not their fault. I just wish more publishers would listen when people tell them that some books are very offensive.
DeleteThis was a very interesting post. Since I'm not American and I don't read books in English oftenly, I don't really know much about each publisher. I pick up books based in reviews, not really on the publisher behind them. But in Brazil, there's a similar feeling. We know the publishers that are likely to pick up good YA releases, the publishers with good translations and the publishers that are involved with problematic topics. I definitely try to stay away from those, but they hardly ever publish YA, so it's easier to do so. I think, overall, I try to focus more on the book and story and support mainly the author, despise the publisher, but I understand that it can be more complicated than this at times.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I totally understand where you're coming from! And most of the time, I try not to pay attention to the the publisher as much as I want to, although it can be kind of hard for me. I don't know why I think about it so much!
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