Some other houses are the other way around — it doesn’t keep me from buying a book that grabs me by the throat, but if I’m not sure, the publisher’s track record can make me decide “meh, I’ll wait and see what my friends think.”

SF is the only field I follow well enough to keep track, though. I read a lot of mysteries, focused microhistories, a few literary fictions, but not enough to have a sense of anyone’s lists.

It’s mostly important for new, or new to me, authors, anyway. Once I’m familiar with an author’s work, the importance of their name as brand trumps all other considerations.

Also, imprints matter more than their parent corporations. Their lines can be tightly focused enough to give a sense of what they’re looking for, whereas the newest from Penguin Putnam as a whole could be anything.