Featuring . . . Great Imprints into 2011

It's Friday, so it must be imprint day here at Beth Fish Reads. For a long time now, I've been on an imprint awareness campaign here and on Twitter. As part of this effort, I featured two of my favorite imprints in 2010.

I introduced you to every book published under the wonderful Amy Einhorn Books imprint and to 22 titles published under the exciting Harper Perennial imprint. Further, I gave you some insight into the people and philosophy behind these imprints.

In 2011, I will continue to be an advocate for both imprints. I will be featuring every title published by Amy Einhorn Books next year. I'll also continue to spotlight some of the Harper Perennial books I'm most looking forward to reading. I'll be gushing about at least 16 books.

In the past, I featured these imprints separately, each in one big block. I hope that by so doing, I was able to showcase the depth and breadth of these imprints, which run the full range from literary fiction to humor, nonfiction to fiction, and long works to collections of stories. This format allowed you to get a good feel for both Amy Einhorn Books and the Harper Perennial imprint.

The down side was that sometimes I featured a title months before its release date. That seems a bit unfair: You see a book you want to read, only to realize that you have to wait three or four months until it is published. Sometimes you remember to track down that book right away, but it is all to easy to forget until long past the book's initial release.

What to Look for in 2011

I can't tell you how excited I am about my plans for 2011. I've been working with marketing people and publicists from four of my favorite imprints and have an outline of imprint features that stretches all the way into next summer.

First, I'm adding one more small imprint: Pamela Dorman Books, which you'll meet in December. By the time August 2011 rolls around, you will have learned about every book published by this relatively new imprint, and we'll all be looking forward to taking a look at Pamela Dorman's fall books.

Then, in January, I will introduce you to one more larger imprint: Algonquin Books, whose tag line is "Books for a Well-Read Life" (I love that!). Over the course of next year I'll have featured at least 16 Algonquin titles that I just can't wait to share with you. I know you'll be adding many of these to your reading list.

After giving you a chance to get acquainted with Pamela Dorman Books and Algonquin Books, I'll be featuring one book from one of these imprints or from Amy Einhorn Books or Harper Perennial every Friday. I'll spotlight titles close to their release dates, which means I won't be rotating through the imprints in any particular order and sometimes the same imprint will be featured on consecutive weeks.

Next, I'll be adding more author input throughout the year, with interviews, guest posts. short Q&As, and other features. I will also be sponsoring a few giveaways from all four imprints -- so be sure to watch for those.

As always, I'll introduce you to each book; will let you know why I'm excited about it; and then will share other reviews, book trailers, blogs, websites, third-party interviews, and/or extracts so you can really get a feel for each title. I'll also continue to spotlight a variety of books from these four imprints. I am an eclectic reader with eclectic tastes, so I hope to be able to tempt every single one of you at least once and, I hope, many times.

Finally, look for more full-length reviews of the featured books from me. I will also continue to collect reviews from these imprints and will work hard to keep the alphabetized imprint review indexes up to date.

I am giddy with anticipation for Imprint Fridays in 2011 and hope my enthusiasm will rub off on you.

Before I close I want to mention that I read books from many other imprints and follow the editorial tastes of a number of small presses as well. If you take a look at some of your favorite books from the last several years, you may find that you are already following an imprint or a small press, even though you hadn't realized it.

I'd like end with a nod to my good friends Kathy from Bermudaonion's Weblog and Julie from Booking Mama. They have been strong advocates for Reagan Arthur Books, another great imprint. Be sure to check out their dedicated blog and perpetual reading challenge. I am a fan, and you should be too.