Each year Publishers Weekly selects a short list of standouts from among small independent presses. There are 11 on the list in the March 6 issue. The most interesting thing to me in the 4-page article (Making a Name) was the blurb at the beginning: “While large publishers work to build authors whose names are recognized by consumers, small presses have found that a key to their success is to create a name for themselves that is trusted by retailers, authors, and agents.”

Trust is something that has to be earned and it’s a good way to build any business. Instead of small presses learning from the large publishers, it looks like the “bigs” would do well to learn from the little guys.