General question about types of publishers

First off, if your agent is "open to suggestions for publishers," then you might rethink your agent. They are the ones who establish relationships with publishers, in and out of NY.

Loving NY as I do, it's hard not to see them as the center of the Universe - but there are many excellent publishers who aren't in NY and sell many terrific books and are well-reviewed.

Wait... why is it *not* a good idea for your agent to know which publishers are good ones?

Shouldn't they have the inside track on what's selling and what's going on in the biz?

Miss Plum said:

Not what I meant at all. I'm saying they needn't be the only ones to know.

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I'm not sure what you mean. If an agent has to ask you for suggestions about where to submit a book, you either have a rotten agent, or one that is not well-versed in the genre of your book, which means she's rotten for you.

Miss Plum said:

Hey, all

I'm wondering if there are any industry prejudices against publishers located outside New York (and by outside New York I don't mean Chicago -- I mean Georgia) and publishers that accept submissions directly from authors as well as from agents.

Do either of these give a publisher less cache, less influence with retailers, less likelihood of having their books reviewed by major publications, less snob appeal?

My agent (in New York) is open to suggestions for publishers and I'm wondering if there are any drawbacks to these types of publishers.

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A publisher's reputation has little to do with location. There are reputable and well received publishers in many, many places.

In order to see if a publisher is well-respected, well-distributed, and well-reviewed, you should do actual research - ie, look in book stores for books by the publisher, look in credible and respected review journals for reviews of books by the publisher, check prestigious awards lists for books published by the publisher, etc.

Google is your friend - look for interviews and articles and what respected people in your genre think about the publisher.



And I would agree, to some extent, about having concerns over any publisher you agent hasn't heard of. But I think there are times when a submission hasn't sold and the author looks to smaller presses, and that is an instance in which teh agent may not know the presses and input may be useful.

But, you need to decide how you want your book published - in addition to if you want it published.

And then do your research - carefully - look at how many actual stores carry that publisher's books, how often that publisher's books are reviewed by respected reviews/reviewers (not randome blogs), etc.

~suki

Agents really shouldn't need suggestions about publishers; it's their job to know what editors at what publishers are looking for what kind of books. I would be uncomfortable with an agent who asked me to make suggestions along those lines.

And yes, there are many fine university presses and small presses all over the US.

Miss Plumb, what do you write? Perhaps knowing that would enable people to provide you with more suggestions.

Cheers