"Having one’s first book published by a top five publisher conveys all kinds of non-financial kudos to the author. That prestige is hard to replace with pure sales dollars. In some cases, that prestige can lead to lucrative opportunities like speaking gigs, increased seminar sales, and better academic prospects."
Speaking as someone who has a very good reason for having gotten into collecting bookcases (the last one is a sweet, 7', 6-shelf oak stack with mullioned glass; when I saw it at an auction, I knew it had to come home with me), this is really kind of a strange situation.
I recognize that many people, particularly commercially published authors, see publishers as a source of prestige, which is what gives the publishers prestige, but for me a publisher is more of a liability. If I see Apress, Morgan Kaufmann, Springer, or (heaven forbid) Baen on a cover, I'm much more likely to set it aside for later rather than buy it now. Offhand, I can't think of any publisher that adds something; maybe MITP, but academic books are pretty sketchy anyway.
"The benefits from the legitimacy of a well-received book go well beyond the sales numbers, and working with an accomplished editor helped make the book a critical success, earning positive reviews from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Review."
One wonders whether the editors efforts best come under the heading of "improving the book", or under "getting it on KR or PW's list".
Speaking as someone who has a very good reason for having gotten into collecting bookcases (the last one is a sweet, 7', 6-shelf oak stack with mullioned glass; when I saw it at an auction, I knew it had to come home with me), this is really kind of a strange situation.
I recognize that many people, particularly commercially published authors, see publishers as a source of prestige, which is what gives the publishers prestige, but for me a publisher is more of a liability. If I see Apress, Morgan Kaufmann, Springer, or (heaven forbid) Baen on a cover, I'm much more likely to set it aside for later rather than buy it now. Offhand, I can't think of any publisher that adds something; maybe MITP, but academic books are pretty sketchy anyway.
"The benefits from the legitimacy of a well-received book go well beyond the sales numbers, and working with an accomplished editor helped make the book a critical success, earning positive reviews from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Review."
One wonders whether the editors efforts best come under the heading of "improving the book", or under "getting it on KR or PW's list".