On Dec 30, 2008, at 10:43 AM, Chris Miller wrote:
Doesn't a for-profit publisher have a primary responsibility to the
shareholders and employees ?
Publishers, like airplanes and bailouts, have a limited capacity.
Little Brown might have to postpone or withdraw from publishing Book B
in order to publish Book A, and in their considered judgment, they
want to print A.
As a reader -- I admit that I never pay any attention to the name
of the
publisher when selecting a non-fiction book for study. Should I ?
Some publishers have a good reputation in one field, but when they
venture into another, people withhold early applause until they see
that the new venture is up to the standards of the field and the
publisher's established reputation. Many university presses specialize
in one or several fields, rather than spanning the range of possible
topic areas. They are known for their specializations, such as the
reputation UNC Press has in the fields of history and Southern
American history and lore.
But you, as the emptor who needs a caveat, should ask yourself: Does
it matter whether the news item was originally reported by Fox News,
the New York Times, NPR, or the National Inquirer? Tuypically, Fox is
in the tank for the troglod--um, conservatives, NYT and NPR for
liberals, and we all know that the Inquirer doesn't break big stories,
just trashy tabloid stuff, like the Edwards' scandal. Oops, the
Inquirer didn't make that one up! But most people treated it like
kryptonite until it was sanitized by another publisher, e.g., the NYT.
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Michael Brady
[email protected]
