Book branding/curation | Tomorrow Museum

This is an aside titled 'Book branding/curation' dated 10/11/09

Bob Stein if:book (via.) talks about branding “Over time publishers yielded the primacy of publishing house brands to the aggregators (Barnes and Noble, Borders, Amazon). and having lost the power of their brands, publishers relied more on the star power of individual authors which made it much more difficult to launch new writers etc., making the publishers even weaker over time.” He uses the example of Criterion Collection DVDs in one shelf together, regardless of genre. Patrick Brown at Vroman’s further explains, “[If] Melville House publishes it, I will likely give it a shot. Why? Because somebody other than you — and somebody who reads a lot of fiction, no less — also says that it’s good.” Here’s my post from last year on the matter. Publishers need to act like a record labels. I trust the taste of the editors at Dalkey Archive and New York Review Books reprinting many overlooked classics, but no publisher of new titles. If there were a Tony Wilson of publishing, you bet I would buy every book printed, (disposable income permitting.)

Posted by Joanne on Oct. 11, 2009 Tagged: Books, publishing

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