Small Genre Publishers in Ohio; You Have Been Summoned! (But what is a publisher, anyway?)

I mentioned Post Mortem Press; if you’re a small genre publisher, let her know on Twitter.

I did comment – and I think this is a conversation worth having – that the criteria for being a publisher is pretty vague. I tend to insist on not publishing your own work (I have a separate imprint for that) in order to be a publisher. (Perhaps controversial, yes, but I think the role of a publisher of someone else’s work is fundamentally different in attitude than the role of someone publishing their own work. Whether that distinction is good or productive is a different question.)

Providing publishing services doesn’t necessarily disqualify you from being a publisher, but it certainly makes that line a lot clearer. (To create that line is why I quit providing eBook conversion for the public at large, for example.)

What do you think “makes” someone a publisher?