There is no reason to attack me, Nishtdayngesheft, if you disagree with something I said you can feel free to argue with the points and I will either concede or respond. I didn’t say that they do anything wrong – I said that like any successful business, there are criticisms that can be raised on some things that they’ve done.
I’m debating between writing a detailed post that seems to criticize them when that wasn’t my intention, and cutting it short in a way that unintentionally makes it seem like I have some inside information. I’ll do something in the middle.
1. I maintain that many of their books are also sponsored, but even if I’m wrong, the market position is mainly based on the sponsored books.
2. Even if the sponsorships are warranted for something like the Gemara, they are arguably not warranted for something like the Siddur Yitzchak Yair, which was sponsored in advance, marketed extremely aggressively, and had the effect of putting several smaller distributors in a bad position.
3. Even if they have done nothing wrong, a position that I am perfectly happy agreeing with, if they hold themselves out as Klal Yisroel’s publisher one could argue that they should have a more expansive view of what they should be doing. If there’s no money in Sephardi Biographies, let them start raising money for Biographies. 🙂
4. I am happy to continue to discuss this, but ad hominem attacks reflect well on nobody.