What's
in a (Publisher's) Name?
FROM PUBLISHING
TRENDS (FEBRUARY 2004)
Industry
pundits and publicists have noted and mourned
the declining space given to book reviews in newspapers
and magazines over the last decade. But now that declining
space has wiped out what was once an inevitable accoutrement
to the book’s author and title — the publisher’s name.
While the NYTBR, Time, and The New
Yorker may still list publishers and pub price in
their reviews (though not necessarily elsewhere), plenty
of other media have dispensed with both. People
no longer mentions publishers (or studios or labels,
for that matter) in its Picks & Pans section. New
York Magazine abandoned publishers and prices in
its reviews mid-2003. Entertainment Weekly —
a magazine that is, after all, devoted to reviewing
— still lists publisher and price, while the website
(www.ew.com) includes
the pub date and allows the user to check on all previous
books by that publisher that have been reviewed.
On the other hand, though it still covers music and
movies, Newsweek doesn’t even bother to review
books. It usually mentions a topical one somewhere in
its pages, sometimes referring to the publisher. Reader’s
Digest has an “Editors’ Choice” page, with author,
title, mini-review, even pictures of the favored books
— but no publisher nor price (nor any explanation of
what an Editors’ Choice is).
What’s behind the demise of publishers’ imprimaturs?
One reviewer at a prominent magazine for young women
told PT that the section editor “made a command
decision about a year ago not to ‘waste space’ in the
reviews by mentioning the publisher. ‘The reader doesn’t
know or care about the publisher,’ she told me.” But,
adds the reviewer, she still makes review decisions
based on who the publisher is.
Carol
Fitzgerald, whose bookreporter.com site contains
reviews (with publisher) and author interviews (without
publisher), agrees that consumers aren’t won over by
the colophon. “We have never heard a reader say, ‘I
would love to read another Doubleday book,’ or
‘I love Time Warner titles.’ We joke that if
I stood on the corner telling people they would get
$1,000 if they could tell me who published Dan Brown,
no one would win. Unless I was on the corner of 56th/Broadway.”
So what effect, if any, is this having on publishers?
Martha Levin, Publisher of Free Press,
says that “it’s a terrible blow to the publisher’s ego,
but we all know the consumer doesn’t care.” And, she
adds, for those who do care — like other publishers
— it’s more cumbersome when there’s just a title or
author, requiring visits to Amazon.com or bn.com to
track down the missing data. Steve Fischer, US
Director of Sales and Marketing for Thorsons,
said that, ironically, it was sometimes a benefit. The
company is part of HarperCollins UK, which means,
if the books are not listed by imprint (Thorsons or
Element) but under HarperCollins, readers are
sometimes confused when they ask for the book in a store
or go to HC’s US website and don’t find it there. Ultimately,
says Fischer, “I’m happy to get a mention anywhere,
especially when they mention the author.”
©2004
Publishing Trends
