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Check out this link to a great website: they only review Regencies from before 2000: http://hibiscus-sinensis.com/regency/retroread.htm … Amazon is a great source: usually they sell for a penny (plus $3.99 shipping LOL!).

How I miss those old Signet Regencies.

I can see how branding is more useful for the browsing shopper. I will admit that I avoid publishing lines that I associate with “inspirational” books since I rarely read those. So, if I’m browsing and a publisher has their inspirational line imprint on the front cover I’d most likely skip over it automatically.

Yes, because the covers don't have to sell the book. The cover could be plain brown paper with the title and author name in block black ink and still the book would sell.

But the orange and white (and blue, and green) aren’t their covers for classic books. Most of ones I’ve acquired were first editions for people like John Wyndham. Penguin Classics have their own covers and obvious branding. The Orange and white, at the time, was branding to tell readers that these books were cheap and enjoyable (genre-wise, I’ve seen one site describe the orange as code for “fantastical”, though really it’s anything other than mysteries and kitchen sink).

I admit, I tend to start with the author when I’m buying a book. Even in print publisher branding’s significantly reduced in significance, so I rarely know who published the book of the moment. With so many major publishers having multiple lines and imprints, it’s hard to keep straight which belongs to who. Penguin, Puffin and Pelican were easily identifiable as lines in the same brand, the branding telling readers they could expect similar quality and attitudes to pricing, even if buying a children’s book.

(utter aside, but wouldn’t anyone else love to see Penguin resurrect its vending machines at stations and airports? Maybe as POD machines?)

I’m pretty far from conservative, but my thoughts on sex in literature is that if you can’t say something well… don’t say it at all. And 90% of the time I find sex scenes campy and corny instead of hot, and so I tend to try to steer clear of publishing lines that stress “erotica” over dialogue and character development.

I generally use this stick as a no-buy branding rather than a buy recommendation.. as I don’t know of any Romance lines that have limited or no sex scenes, without any religious angle going on (which would turn me right off)… but if I did I’d likely direct my purchasing habits that way… Fear of silly sex ruining the mood is my #1 influence in romance novel selection.

A lack of publisher branding on covers wouldn’t do much harm when it’s me as the customer – though I’d probably feel the need to skim through the book before buying to test what this publisher considers to be quality.

Author branding definitely works on me when it’s Urban Fantasy, Horror, or Mystery, but when it comes to Romance I’m universally suspicious. I’ve learned the hard way that just because I like one of their books, doesn’t mean I’ll like the next. There is no such thing as auto-buy authors for me.

I don’t think lack of brand on the cover was a big deal when publishing was print dominated – the publisher was on the spine. The cover caught your eye, you picked it up to look at the spine so at least it was in your hand, which is a step closer to the register. Moving to e-pub, I do think cover branding will rise in importance.

I find few of my favorite authors have the same taste as I do. There was an exception, an author whose suggestions I always took, but mostly I don’t find author promotion a reliable tool for me.

Challenges vary in level of difficulty. I find it a challenge to find new authors when I’ve exhausted backlists. I don’t think that makes me dumb, and I resent the implication that it does. I think it makes me discerning.

Now, that sort of challenge is not as challenging as, say, reforming health care, but it’s still difficult.

I weigh a number of factors when I buy new authors’ work. I consider average ratings on Goodreads and Amazon, reviews on blogs and past publisher experience.

For example, a book needs stellar reviews on the internets and from people I know before I buy from Ellora’s Cave, since 9 times out of 10 their books are god freaking awful. However, Samhain has treated me so well that I’ll buy on blurb alone. Avon’s books are almost all the same, so I’ll also pick those up on blurb alone if I want a light, fluffy, predictable wallpaper historical.

Publisher branding usually counts pretty high for me. I’d say it weighs about the same as reader and blogger ratings.

I replied to this but it has diappeared; could you please check the slushpile, sorry spam filter, to see if it is there. If not I will redraft tomorrow.

I don't agree. I am more apt to check a review site that rated an author's work well to see what else they have rated well than to check what the author themselves recommend. I might be in the minority here, but (to me) just because I like someone's writing, that doesn't mean I will enjoy authors they like to read, too. There's a distinction there, IMO

Indeed, that’s your preference, and it works for you; I was moved in part to comment because the notion of the reader as someone so dumb that they think coming to the end of an authors lists of publications is challenging is really not doing readers any favours, particularly coming on the heels of the H Ho debacle.

Getting humans to Mars is challenging; clearing the National Debt is challenging. Jane’s scenario isn’t.

Now, unless it is Harlequin, I do not pay attention to publisher. I do read some series romance, but even that is tapering off. Most of the books I pick are because the author is a favorite or because of a review I read. I read Romantic Times magazine and check out various blogs for recommendations. However, as I am now cutting back on my book purchases big time (from about $300/month to $100) I am being more careful of what I buy. My last trip to the bookstore netted me a bunch of books I could not finish.

So, all in all, it is author branding that gets to my check book, rather than publisher branding. What will be interesting for me to see, is when I re-organize my book shelves later this month – what publishers will I find?

I think Harlequin is a different kettle of fish in some ways. Even though I have read a lot of books published by Harlequin and their various lines and imprints that were not to my liking, I never seem to give up on them. All publishers are constantly introducing new authors. But because Harlequin does have its various category lines, it's easy to find new authors there based on whatever type of story you are in the mood for. And once I find an author I like, I will then search out other books by the same author regardless of publisher/line. I think the line branding as well as the fact category books are less expensive make it very easy for readers to try new authors with Harlequin.

Harlequin and their authors also benefit from the fact I often use eHarlquin.com to shop. There have been numerous times I'll add a Mira or HQN book, or a book from a line I don't often read to my shopping cart because it's one of their featured books on sale and/or I need another book to qualify for free shipping. So the website often brings books to my attention that I would pass by at Borders or Walmart, etc. And if the blurb and/or excerpt sounds interesting I am easily hooked.

Harlequin is also the only print publisher that has a website where I routinely shop. I will visit the Simon & Schuster/Pocket site, the Random House site, and the Penguin/Berkley/Putnam/Jove site to get info on upcoming books, but I do not use any of them to actually shop for books. To be honest, I'm not even sure they all even sell books via their websites. I believe that's probably the main reason why I don't associate publishers' branding with the books I buy expect with Harlequin and various epublishers.

And though a favorite author may bring another author to my attention, I wouldn't read another author just because one of my fave authors recommended her. The blurb would have to interest me on its own.

FTR, I did not pass the quiz – LOL.

Genre branding is the reason why publishers persist in beefcake covers despite reader complaints against them.

… so even though I and others complain, publishers persist because it moves the merchandise. Is that a correct assessment? Cause it’s not moving books into my shopping cart and it’s making me more reluctant to sample their wares. I am beginning to hate the “all-knowing” voice that tells me how successful a marketer this or that publisher is. I think we learned from Harlequin Horizons that success needs to be measured by more than the bottom line: especially when it comes to loyalty and branding.

Like Simon and Garfunkel said, I am a rock, I am an island and when it comes to something I love as much as books, I want the marketing to be a helluva lot more subtle. Again, Penguin Puffins: good consistent quality made a BRAND BUYER of me. And it could happen again. Who knows how big I am? What if my feelings were multiplied into infinity?

For finding a new author… I like anthologies, though it can be a little misleading because not all authors write well in shorter and longer formats. I’ve checked out authors based on author quotes of the covers I’ve liked.

I’ve used the literature map: http://literature-map.com/ to find authors read by people who like reading authors I like.

When I first started reading this post my gut reaction was that I read totally by author, but then I remembered my recent love affair with all books Blaze. And that made me remember that I’ve enjoyed several HQN books as well.

My other source of books is review sites.

So, I’d say I’m about 50% author based, 25% review based and 25% pub based.

Same with those Jo Walton rereads on Tor.com of Fantasy and SF classics she enjoyed:
http://www.tor.com/index.php?blogger=Jo_Walton

As a reader, I don’t pay much attention to the publisher. As an author, I would rather have my books look similar to each other than have them resemble other books from my publishing house.

A successful cover has to have FOUR types of branding (genre, sub-genre, publisher, and author) as well as be representative of the story. It's a tall order for a cover.