I've known a lot of music geeks and very often they have one or more favorite record labels. I'm just curious if lit-geeks (I'm using 'geek' in the good sense) have favorite publishers or imprints. It can be for any reason: the kinds of stuff they publish, the quality of their cover designs, whatever.
Anybody have one?
Big Ones:
Knopf
Scribner
Farrar, Strauss, & Giroux
Medium-Small:
MP Publishing (only really since checking out e-books extremely recently, and they seem to do great ones)
Dzanc
Subterranean Press
Verso
Melville House
Ecco
Norton
I love Hardcase Crime. Old pulp covers. Old pulp stories. Just great, great stuff if you're into that kind of shit.
Random House
Harper Collins
Penguin
Knopf
Akashic
Black Lizard
Scribner
And everything Popeye said
I rarely take notice of publishers, but Cemetery Dance is one I'm a huuuge fan of. If you're a horror fan, they are the best, bar none. Check em out.
Yes! Cemetery Dance is another great publisher.
Sorry folks, but a reason as to why these are your favourites would be really helpful. I don't pay particular attention to publishers, but I'm familiar with many of them - why are they your favourites? I couldn't say I've thought about it enough, or noticed a particular differences between publishers. A little help.
Growing up, my favourite was penguin, because I was young and liked penguins. Up until the end of university, I'd probably read more books published by them than anyone else. They will always have a warm spot in my heart (which is helpful if you're publishing books in Antarctica).
New Directions is one I came to appreciate, becaus they publish a lot of experimental fiction which otherwise might be relegated to university libraries. I've read quite a bit that they've put out, and am glad they're still in business.
Drawn & Quarterly do some great work for independent comics/graphic novels without a single superhero (unless you count Daniel Clowes' Death Ray)
Does Cemetary Dance have a magazine? That sounds really familiar
I was going to write reasons for why I like Cemetery Dance, but then I realized there was way too many and I couldn't pick just a few.
Honestly, if you just stumble around their site for two or three minutes I think anyone will come to see why they are amazing.
Great books, great authors, great quality, great art, great extra features, great fan appreciation, great everything.
If you like old hardboiled crime novels(Jim Thompson, etc), you'll love Black Lizard.
Oh, but their prices do leave a little to be desired -- not that I'm really complaining, because I see how the books/extras are worth the high cost, I'm just bitter because I can't really afford them. If I could though, man, I would be all over everything they released. CD is truly a collector's dream.
Cemetery Dance did have a magazine, yeah, ran for a long time too. Stopped a few years ago, I think? Have no idea why, I'd subscribe in an instant. I've only read a couple of issues, but I have the impression that they were a truly fantastic magazine. And if you look at the lineup of authors and essays they had in their magazines, you can tell it had true star quality.
Cemetery Dance still has a magazine, I believe. I got a copy of it just a few months ago. But haven't received one since then.
Seriousssly? I better check that out right now. For some reason I was under the impression they hadn't released anything in a few years. No idea why.
some good names here. here are the places that i sent my recent novel, my second book, Disintegration, a neo-noir, transgressive thriller. may give you some ideas
ChiZine Publications (pending)
Underland Press (will take a 2nd look if i get an agent)
Dzanc (passed, liked it, but doesn't fit catalog)
Blank Slate Press (micro-press in St. Louis)
Cemetery Dance (backed up until 2014)
Soho Press (pending)
Medallion (passed)
Two Dollar Radio (books by Joshua Mohr and Grace Krilanovich)
FSG (passed)
Bad Moon Books (pending)
Angry Robot Books (UK) (passed)
Raw Dog Screaming Press (passed)
Hard Case Crime (pending)
Tyrus Books (pending)
New Pulp Press (pending)
Aqueous Books (pending)
Dark Sky Books (pending)
Snowbooks (passed)
Thomas & Mercer (Amazon) (pending)
Mixer Publishing (pending)
Small Beer Press (Kelly Link, Jedediah Berry)
Coffee House Press (passed)
Emergency Press (pending)
PM Press / Switchblade (love partial, but closed for now)
MP Publishing (pending)
Unbridled Books (passed)
Kensington (passed)
Hope this helps!
My favorite on here is probably ChiZine. If you love Cemetery Dance, check these guys out. I won a contest there, that's how I discovered them. They did Paul Tremblay's IN THE MEAN TIME and Craig Davidson's SARAH COURT, two of my favorite books of 2010. Beautiful books, out of Toronto, they are one of the best independents out there.
If you like old hardboiled crime novels(Jim Thompson, etc), you'll love Black Lizard.
- Black Lizard is awesome!
@Richard: How was In the Meantime? I just finished The Little Sleep and thought it was great. I discovered Tremblay in Warmed and Bound. It'd be awesome, to me anyway, if Hardcase picked you up. I'm a big Hardcase fan. I love their books. The art work is amazing. Christa Faust is amazing.
I'm still trying to decide who the anthology would be a good fit for. Do you know which publishing houses do anthologies regularly?
@r.moon. yeah, i loved In The Mean Time, here's a link to my full review at TNB:
http://www.thenervousbreakdown.com/rthomas/2011/01/itmt_tremblay/
HCC is really hard to get into, i'm not holding my breath. Christa is great, need to read more of her work. Have you read any Sara Gran? both DOPE and COME CLOSER are really good.
@aliensoul77 - it's going to be a hard sell unless you approach a small press that is hungry. for this anthology i'd suggest maybe Mixer Publishing because they're new, and open to a wide range of dark and strange stuff. maybe Dark Sky, although they lean lit. you could try Dark Moon Books, i didn't list them here.
@Richard: No, never heard of Sara Gran. I'll have to check her out. Thanks, man. Is HCC really that hard to get into? I've only read Money Shot, but I think it's probably my favorite of the HCC books I've read. Looking to get Choke Hold soon. Thanks for the link, too. I'll have a look.
So, to explain why I picked the following:
Verso: They do a lot of important critical theory and philosophy titles. A lot of them. And the quality of the physical books they release keeps improving.
Melville House: Their Art of the Novella and Art of the Contemporary Novella series are fantastic. They're not afaid of making risky choices.
Ecco: They release some fringey world lit stuff that nobody else does.
Norton: Their critical editions are incredible.
Good call with Ecco, they published Joyce Carol Oates short story stuff that was pretty bizarre.
I started this so I'll throw a couple out -
The New York Review of Books Classics line is a pretty fascinating catalog which I will continue to sample.
The Penguin Great Ideas series is awesome in the breadth of the selection and the books' design.
