Do You Notice Publishers?

Following up Justine’s thought provoking post on her blog the other day, do you notice who publishes the books you’re reading? I said in her comments that I thought such things were more common for romance readers, and reading Justine’s comment trail, it appeared that most of the commenters were SFF people (they said things like, “big publishers like Tor and Del Rey.”)

For a long time, I had no concept of different publishers. I picked most books by author. I knew I liked the historical romances of Johanna Lindsay but not the ones of some other historical writers; I knew I liked the teen horror novels of Christopher Pike but not the ones of R. L. Stine; I knew I liked Jane Austen but not Emily Bronte.

When I began reading category romance novels, I picked by premise. I’d read the back. As I read more and more category novels I realized that I tended to like the red ones a lot more than the purple, blue, or white ones. So I started reading more red ones. Then I became aware that there were certain red authors I could always count on (Jill Shalvis, Jo Leigh) and that I’d enjoy their books even if they weren’t red. So, once again, back to author loyalty.

So I tend to read by author loyalty. The first time I pick up a book, it’s usually about premise, but what keeps me coming back for more is the author. I probably would not have read Midnighters if I didn’t already enjoy Scott Westerfeld, but the series is one of my favorites now.

What about you?