I'm 100% with you on branding and discernment as important (though double-edged). In my work, I spend a lot of time helping people wary of branding to understand that they have a reputation anyway. Part of branding is taking some responsibility for that reputation (individual or institutional). I also see another layer to all this: trust. When a person (or publisher) has clarity of mission, principles, and activities, this helps other people establish who they consider trustworthy purveyors of information, content, books, what-have-you. It is not morally suspect to genuinely build trust and thereby reinforce the reputation you aim to have. (In my case, I'm sharing these reframes with scientists, science grad students, science communication professionals, and academic administrators. But I have worked in a lot of sectors, and trust and reputation mattered in all of them.)
One of the reasons Substack and Twitter are such consistent destination sites is that there’s so much content with so little gatekeeping. It may sound like a flex to some to not share a publisher with Mike Pence but I spend the most time at places -- and with publishers-- where I can find lots of points of view.
I think it's healthy that there are platforms for sharing ideas with minimal gatekeeping. As a book publisher, though, it feels like the advantages of curation and identity-building become that much more exciting in the current moment, with its glut of information, opinions, etc.
I'm 100% with you on branding and discernment as important (though double-edged). In my work, I spend a lot of time helping people wary of branding to understand that they have a reputation anyway. Part of branding is taking some responsibility for that reputation (individual or institutional). I also see another layer to all this: trust. When a person (or publisher) has clarity of mission, principles, and activities, this helps other people establish who they consider trustworthy purveyors of information, content, books, what-have-you. It is not morally suspect to genuinely build trust and thereby reinforce the reputation you aim to have. (In my case, I'm sharing these reframes with scientists, science grad students, science communication professionals, and academic administrators. But I have worked in a lot of sectors, and trust and reputation mattered in all of them.)
One of the reasons Substack and Twitter are such consistent destination sites is that there’s so much content with so little gatekeeping. It may sound like a flex to some to not share a publisher with Mike Pence but I spend the most time at places -- and with publishers-- where I can find lots of points of view.
I think it's healthy that there are platforms for sharing ideas with minimal gatekeeping. As a book publisher, though, it feels like the advantages of curation and identity-building become that much more exciting in the current moment, with its glut of information, opinions, etc.