The hiatus on the polls is over. But as always, before I tackle the new one, let's return to my last interrogation in my non-scientific search for the complete description of the typical Fantasy reader and to its results. I asked you fellow readers two questions:
Do you like battles in Fantasy?
and
The more detailed the better?
The idea behind these two questions came to mind after I read the insightful guest post Grieftongue, written by Jeff Salyards (that you can find on the blog). He mentioned in his text that he knew that some readers (dare I say Fantasy readers?) don't like battles. While I agree that it was certainly the case, I thought that it must be a minority in the Fantasy readers crowd. And the results are in.
96% of readers answering my poll like battles in Fantasy and 79% of them think that the more detailed the better. So, it can be concluded that Mr. Salyards is hitting the bullseye when he so deftly describe a battle in his books. Don't forget though that I focus on Epic Fantasy...
***
Next up is the publishers!
For the first several years of Fantasy reading I indulged in, I didn't really care about the publishing houses behind the books I picked up. Even when I began blogging in 2009, that was the last of my concern. But eventually, I tended to favor some publishers over the others, without putting real thoughts behind it. And then the ARCs began coming my way and I got a better understanding of the nature of most of them.
The Fantasy genre has a great number of publishers investing into it but some of them clearly stand out from the crowd, be it for the sheer number of novels they print or for the quality of the authors they sign and the editors they employ.
While browsing the web for a complete list of them, I stumbled into an interesting one from Worlds Without End. This isn't a list strictly for Fantasy publishers (there isn't that many who focus only on the particular genre) but for Fantasy, Sci-Fi and Horror. The top list is based on the awards the books they publish received and the number they won. Anyway, I'm not here to talk about awards and judging from the connection we can make between the number of books and authors and the wins, there's no big surprises except that Gollancz clearly stand out.
Here's the top 20:
Gollancz
Tor
Ace Books
Bantam Spectra
Orbit
William Morrow & Co.
Doubleday
Ballantine Books
Bantam UK
Ballantine Del Rey
Del Rey
HarperCollins
HarperCollins/Voyager
DAW Books
St. Martin's Press
HarperCollins UK
Eos
Pyr
Roc
Timescape Books
Night Shade books could have been on the top 20 if it hasn't been for their misfortune. Here's the link for the complete list.
A comparison could probably be made with the movie studios or the recording companies. For these two industries, I dodn't care much about the company behind the works and when I think about it, I'm more interested in the book and gaming publishers.
It would be though to point out a favorite and Tor is clearly more present on my shelves. However, I admit that I always had something for them, Orbit books, Gollancz and Pyr more recently. Feel free to comment about the publishers you care about (or the ones you might despise).
And now, for my poll question:
Is the publisher of a book influencing your acquisitions?
- Yes
- No
4 comments:
Yes. I am more apt to give a book by some of these publishers a try when I don't know the authors.
Honestly? Yes. (Though I try not to let the publisher influence me)
In terms of publishers I have a preference for/care about, it would be Tor, Gollancz, and Orbit.
Would you consider those who are self-published?
@J.K. - I didn't consider them in this poll, but that's a good idea. I think I'll make a poll about the self-published books/authors in the near future.
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