Publishing House

So, I am going to look at five big publishing houses and give my impression of them.


Little, Brown and Company:

Little, Brown and Company is having their 175th anniversary, which is really freaking cool.  I was greeted by a Thomas Jefferson quote that says, "I can not live without books."  I can fully agree with that.  I was also greeted by an advertisement of J.K. Rowling new book, the Causal Vacancy.  It made me go "Ooo! Love her!"  So they have published fiction and non-fiction with one of their writers being Louisa May Alcott who wrote Little Women.


Penguin Group:

Penguin Group is one of the largest English-language trade book publisher.  Theodore Roosevelt joined G.P. Putnam's Sons, which one say would become the Penguin Group, as a special partner.  He published several books with them.  How cool is that? 



Harper Collins Publishers:

Harper Collins Publishers is a publishing company that is located in New York City.  I found a website that said they were established in 1817 and made Mark Twain a household name.  They also made one of my favorite authors a household name also and that is Kim Harrison.


Random House:

Random House says that it brings you the best in fiction, nonfiction, and children's books.  Random House successfully defended in court the U.S. publication of James Joyce's Ulysses, which set a major legal precedent for freedom of speech.  It also publishes the Webster's Dictionary.  Who doesn't like a good dictionary?


St. Martin's Press:

St. Martin's Press is apart of Macmillan.  From the Macmillan website, they say that "Palgrave Macmillan is a global crossmarket publisher. Palgrave Macmillan’s trade list is comprised of serious non-fiction representing the best thinking and research in the core areas of Politics, Business and History along with Current Affairs titles across a range of subjects."  Their website has a clean looking setup.


Conclusions:

It is hard to compare and contrast all these publishing houses.  They all have sweet histories and individual and nice websites.  They each have their own niche, followers, and style.  I say each to their own.  I would go with any of these publishing companies if they would take my book and get it out there.

If I could choose though, I would first rule out St. Martin's Press due to the fact I am writing a fiction piece and non-fiction being their thing. All the others have urban fantasy and romance, so it was hard to narrow it down.  To help narrow it completely down, I picked one of my favorite authors, Kim Harrison, and looked up her publisher.  So if I had a choice, I would go with Harper Collins Publishers.