Branding: Does the publisher matter to you?

[Kumabjorn]

Ok, I'll pick up the challenge. What makes Mills & Boon special?

[ATDrake]

Well, for better or worse, when you pick up a Mills & Boon (who are the UK division of Harlequin) book, you know pretty much exactly what you'll be getting.

They have a particular longstanding style and standard to their romance imprints, so people are pretty much guaranteed a certain sort of read. Quality will vary a bit according to the individual author's skill, but generally the stories and plots and outcomes in each particular line will be fairly similar to the point where the books are relatively interchangeable for subgenre niche readers.

So they end up being rather reliably recognizable.

[Just4kix]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

Well, for better or worse, when you pick up a Mills & Boon (who are the UK division of Harlequin) book, you know pretty much exactly what you'll be getting.

They have a particular longstanding style and standard to their romance imprints, so people are pretty much guaranteed a certain sort of read. Quality will vary a bit according to the individual author's skill, but generally the stories and plots and outcomes in each particular line will be fairly similar to the point where the books are relatively interchangeable for subgenre niche readers.

So they end up being rather reliably recognizable.

This, plus I have the writers' guidelines from Mills & Boon so know exactly what to expect.

[simplyparticular]

Before eBooks, back in the 90s, I was familiar with the big publishing names in the romance genre, and yes, I knew what to expect from Avon/Zebra/Topaz/Kensington/Harlequin. Then every publisher decided to make money off romance and came out with their own imprints, and big name authors hopped around for the best advances, and it became harder to distinguish one company for another. And then there was an explosion in sub-imprints, so it was a total morass.

By the time I got into eBooks, the parent publishers of the imprints "publish" the eBooks, and it was impossible to remember that Avon was owned by whomever, so I stuck with my familiar authors, and then dabbled occasionally when price was good.

Until 2010, when agency hit. Then I started paying attention to which publishers, and only shopped from Random House, and borrowed from the other 5. Except two favorite authors whose publishers don't support library borrowing. I went from spending $1200+ annually on books to about $210 since April 2010.

I've still got such a backlog of TBR, and my libraries have good selection, that I don't need to buy for awhile anyway.

[idraw22]

With me it's a drm thing. Who's letting me borrow their library books, who's letting me back up my books. That's the only way the publishers matter for now.

[Synamon]

Publisher matters to me only because I'm trying to avoid buying books from the publishers who won't supply their ebooks to libraries. I do have a few must read authors who I'll cross my picket line for (ie. I edited a book for a friend and she was published this year by Penguin), otherwise I'm mostly buying ebooks from small publishers, Random House, and HarperCollins.

Other than a few of the specialty imprints, I don't see much value in branding by the publishers. I've never chosen a book with the publisher as a starting point.

Yes.

Imprint is essential when dealing with academic or technical literature.

Imprints are also useful visual cues when sifting thorugh unsorted second hand books.

[Rob Lister]

Originally Posted by BWinmill

Yes.

Imprint is essential when dealing with academic or technical literature.

On that, there is absolutely no doubt. Getting the right publisher is key to being read; to being taken seriously...to being part of the lucrative required reading list those stuffy professors demand ($120 second hand! ).

That's a different breed of publishing though.

Still, maybe there are some lessons Simon & Schuster can take from that.

Originally Posted by Rob Lister

On that, there is absolutely no doubt. Getting the right publisher is key to being read; to being taken seriously...to being part of the lucrative required reading list those stuffy professors demand ($120 second hand! ).

It isn't just the professor's demands. Certain imprints pursue certain audiences and choosing the wrong one (as a reader) is a sure way to ensure that your needs aren't met. Also, some publishers have so little editorial oversight that they may as well be print houses for self-publishers.

Contrary to popular belief, publishers do play an important role.