Not fifteen minutes after pressing ’send’ and publishing my last blog, what should I find but this article over at the excellent Three Percent? Always reassuring to have the words taken right out of your mouth.
Non-industry people don’t pay attention to who publishes what… especially when we’re talking about best-sellers or mainstream titles. Who really gives a shit whether Simon & Schuster or Penguin published French Women Don’t Get Fat? (It was Knopf.)
But I think the situation is different when you look at literary fiction and independent presses. Presses like New York Review Books, Archipelago, New Directions, Dalkey Archive, Soft Skull, Melville House, etc., all publish a certain type of book, and because of this, they all have loyal followings.
Apart from one glaring omission from that list (!), I couldn’t have said it (actually, didn’t say it) better myself.
Ellie
