List of largest UK book publishers
Encyclopedia
This is a list of largest UK trade book publishers, with some of their principal imprint
s, ranked by sales value, according to Nielsen BookScan
:
Imprint
In the publishing industry, an imprint can mean several different things:* As a piece of bibliographic information about a book, it refers to the name and address of the book's publisher and its date of publication as given at the foot or on the verso of its title page.* It can mean a trade name...
s, ranked by sales value, according to Nielsen BookScan
Nielsen BookScan
Nielsen BookScan is a data provider for the book publishing industry, owned by the Nielsen Company. BookScan compiles point of sale data for book sales.-History:...
:
Year to end of 2009
- Hachette LivreHachette Livre-France:*Calmann-Lévy*Deux Coqs d'Or*Disney Hachette Edition*EDICEF*Editions 1*Editions du Chêne**E.P.A*Éditions Dunod*Editions Foucher*Editions Stock*Fayard**Editions Mille et Une Nuits**Editions Mazarine**Pauvert*Gautier-Languereau*Grasset...
(UK) £287.9m (16.4%)- Headline; Hodder & StoughtonHodder & StoughtonHodder & Stoughton is a British publishing house, now an imprint of Hachette.-History:The firm has its origins in the 1840s, with Matthew Hodder's employment, aged fourteen, with Messrs Jackson and Walford, the official publisher for the Congregational Union...
, Sceptre; Little, Brown, Abacus, Sphere, Piatkus, OrbitOrbit BooksOrbit Books is an international publisher that specialises in science fiction and fantasy books. It was founded in 1974 as part of the Macdonald Futura publishing company...
, ViragoVirago PressVirago is a British publishing company founded in 1973 by Carmen Callil to publish books by women writers. Both new works and reissued books by neglected authors have featured on the imprint's list....
; OrionOrion Publishing GroupOrion Publishing Group Ltd. is a UK-based book publisher. It is owned by Hachette Livre. In 1998 Orion bought Cassell.-History:Full history of the group can be found on Orion Publishing Group is owned by -Imprints:...
, Weidenfeld & NicolsonWeidenfeld & NicolsonWeidenfeld & Nicolson Ltd is a British publisher of fiction and reference books. It is a division of the Orion Publishing Group.-History:...
, GollanczVictor Gollancz LtdVictor Gollancz Ltd was a major British book publishing house of the twentieth century. It was founded in 1927 by Victor Gollancz and specialised in the publication of high quality literature, nonfiction and popular fiction, including science fiction. Upon Gollancz's death in 1967, ownership...
, Phoenix, Everyman; John Murray; OctopusConran OctopusConran Octopus is a division of Octopus Publishing Group, a cross-platform illustrated book publisher. It was founded by Sir Terence Conran and Paul Hamlyn to publish high-quality book in terms of both design and content.- External links :*...
, Cassell, HamlynHamlyn (publishers)Hamlyn is a UK publishing company founded by Paul Hamlyn in 1950 with an initial investment of £350. His desire was to create "fine books with the common touch" which remains the foundation of its commercial success...
, Mitchell BeazleyMitchell BeazleyMitchell Beazley Publishers Limited is a British book publisher which is particularly specialised in atlasas, reference books, natural history books, cook books, garden books, and wine books.-History:...
, Philips; Orion Children's Books, Hodder Children’s Books, Orchard BooksOrchard booksOrchard Books is a publisher of children's books active in the US and UK.Orchard Books was founded in 1986 by Grolier, an encyclopedia publisher, as a children's publisher. Grolier was acquired by Hachette two years later...
, Franklin WattsFranklin Watts-History:Franklin Watts Inc. was formed in 1942. The company was sold to Grolier in 1957. When the namesake founder retired in 1967, he moved to London to start Franklin Watts Ltd. in 1969. Franklin Watts retired again in 1976....
, Wayland, Hodder Education, Chambers HarrapChambers HarrapChambers Harrap Publishers is a reference publisher formerly based in Edinburgh, Scotland, which held the property rights of the venerable W.R.Chambers Publishers and its competitor George G. Harrap and Company .-History of Chambers:Chambers was founded as "W. & R...
- Headline; Hodder & Stoughton
- Random HouseRandom HouseRandom House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
(UK) £239.4m (13.7%)- Century, HutchinsonHutchinson (publisher)Hutchinson & Co. was an English book publisher, founded in 1887. The company merged with Century Publishing in 1985 to form Century Hutchinson, and was folded into the British Random House Group in 1989, where it remains as an imprint in the Cornerstone Publishing division...
, William HeinemannHeinemann (book publisher)Heinemann is a UK publishing house founded by William Heinemann in Covent Garden, London in 1890. On William Heinemann's death in 1920 a majority stake was purchased by U.S. publisher Doubleday. It was later acquired by commemorate Thomas Tilling in 1961...
, Arrow; Chatto & Windus, Jonathan CapeJonathan CapeJonathan Cape was a London-based publisher founded in 1919 as "Page & Co" by Herbert Jonathan Cape , formerly a manager at Duckworth who had worked his way up from a position of bookshop errand boy. Cape brought with him the rights to cheap editions of the popular author Elinor Glyn and sales of...
, Harvill Press, Secker & WarburgSecker and WarburgHarvill Secker is a British publishing company formed in 2004 from the merger of Secker and Warburg and the Harvill Press.Secker and Warburg was formed in 1936 from a takeover of Martin Secker, which was in receivership, by Fredric Warburg and Roger Senhouse...
, VintageVintage ClassicsVintage Classics is a paperback publisher of contemporary fiction and non-fiction. It is part of the Vintage imprint, which is itself a part of Random House Publishers. The famous American publisher Alfred A. Knopf originally founded Vintage Books in the United States in 1954 as a paperback home...
, Pimlico, Bodley HeadThe Bodley HeadThe Bodley Head is an English publishing house, founded in 1887 and existing as an independent entity until the 1970s. The name has been used as an imprint of Random House Children's Books since 1987...
; TransworldTransworld (company)Transworld Publishers Inc. is a British publishing division of Random House and belongs to Bertelsmann, one of the world's largest media groups. It was established in 1950, and for many years it was the British division of Bantam Books. It publishes fiction and non fiction titles by various...
, Doubleday, Bantam PressBantam PressBantam Press is an imprint of Transworld Publishers which is a British publishing division of Random House.It is based on Uxbridge Road in Ealing near Ealing Broadway station, the same address as Transworld....
, Black Swan, Bantam, Corgi; Ebury Press, BBC BooksBBC BooksBBC Books is an imprint majority owned and managed by Random House. The minority shareholder is BBC Worldwide, the commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation...
; Virgin BooksVirgin BooksVirgin Books is a United Kingdom book publisher 90% owned by the publishing group Random House, and 10% owned by Virgin Enterprises, the company originally set up by Richard Branson as a record company.-History:...
, Black Lace, Nexus, Cheek; Andersen PressAndersen PressAndersen Press is a British book publishing company. It was founded in 1976 by Klaus Flugge, and was named after Hans Christian Andersen. Random House has a holding in the company and has a strong association with Andersen....
- Century, Hutchinson
- Penguin BooksPenguin BooksPenguin Books is a publisher founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane and V.K. Krishna Menon. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its high quality, inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths and other high street stores for sixpence. Penguin's success demonstrated that large...
£170.5m (9.7%)- PenguinPenguin BooksPenguin Books is a publisher founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane and V.K. Krishna Menon. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its high quality, inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths and other high street stores for sixpence. Penguin's success demonstrated that large...
, Hamish HamiltonHamish HamiltonHamish Hamilton Limited was a British book publishing house, founded in 1931 eponymously by the half-Scot half-American Jamie Hamilton . Confusingly, Jamie Hamilton was often referred to as Hamish Hamilton...
, Allen Lane, Michael Joseph, Viking, Rough GuidesRough GuidesRough Guides Ltd is a travel guidebook and reference publisher, owned by Pearson PLC. Their travel titles cover more than 200 destinations, and are distributed worldwide through the Penguin Group...
, Dorling KindersleyDorling KindersleyDorling Kindersley is an international publishing company specializing in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 51 languages. It is currently part of the Penguin Group....
, PuffinPuffin BooksPuffin Books is the children's imprint of British publishers Penguin Books. Since the 1960s it has been the largest publisher of children's books in the UK and much of the English-speaking world.-Early history:...
, LadybirdLadybird BooksLadybird Books is a London-based publishing company, trading as a stand-alone imprint within the Penguin Group of companies. The Ladybird imprint publishes mass-market children's books.-History:...
, WarneFrederick Warne & CoFrederick Warne & Co was a British publishing firm famous for children's books, particularly those of Beatrix Potter. It was founded in 1865 by a bookseller, who gave his own name to the firm.- History :...
- Penguin
- HarperCollinsHarperCollinsHarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
£132.3m (7.6%)- HarperCollinsHarperCollinsHarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
, 4th Estate, Avon, Voyager, Collins, HarperPress, Blue Door
- HarperCollins
- Pan Macmillan £57.3m (3.3%)
- Pan BooksPan BooksPan Books is an imprint which first became active in the 1940s and is now part of the British-based Macmillan Publishers owned by German publishers, Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group....
, PicadorPicador (imprint)Picador is an imprint of Pan Macmillan in the United Kingdom and Australia and of Macmillan Publishing in the United States. Both companies are owned by Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group....
, Macmillan New WritingMacmillan New WritingMacmillan New Writing is an imprint of the British publishing company Pan Macmillan. Designed to attract previously unpublished authors, it offers aspiring novelists 20% of royalties from the sale of their book but no advance on signing...
, Macmillan, Boxtree, Sidgwick and Jackson, Tor (UK), Kingfisher
- Pan Books
- Pearson EducationPearson EducationPearson Education is an international educational publishing and technology company providing textbooks and other educational material, such as multimedia learning tools...
£40.7m (2.3%) - Oxford University PressOxford University PressOxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
£37.6m (2.1%) - Bloomsbury £35.6m (2.0%)
- Bloomsbury, A&C Black
- Simon & SchusterSimon & SchusterSimon & Schuster, Inc., a division of CBS Corporation, is a publisher founded in New York City in 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. It is one of the four largest English-language publishers, alongside Random House, Penguin and HarperCollins...
£27.2m (1.6%) - John Wiley & SonsJohn Wiley & SonsJohn Wiley & Sons, Inc., also referred to as Wiley, is a global publishing company that specializes in academic publishing and markets its products to professionals and consumers, students and instructors in higher education, and researchers and practitioners in scientific, technical, medical, and...
(UK) £26.7m (1.5%)- Faber Independent Alliance £57.4m (3.3%)
- Faber & Faber, Atlantic Books, CanongateCanongate BooksCanongate Books is a Scottish independent publishing firm based in Edinburgh; it is named for The Canongate, an area of the city. It is most recognised for publishing the Booker Prizewinner Life of Pi...
, Granta Books, Icon Books, Portobello Books, Profile BooksProfile BooksProfile Books is a British independent publishing firm founded in 1996 to publish stimulating non-fiction. It publishes across a wide range of subjects including history, biography, memoir, politics, current affairs, travel and popular science. It also publishes all The Economist Books.In 2003 it...
(including Serpent's TailSerpent's TailSerpent's Tail is a British independent publishing firm founded in 1986 by Pete Ayrton. It is notable for its translated works, particularly European crime fiction, and is the British publisher of Elfriede Jelinek and Lionel Shriver...
), Quercus Publishing, Short Books. A number of financially independent smaller publishers that have formed an alliance to share promotion and administration, led by Faber.
- Faber & Faber, Atlantic Books, Canongate
- Faber Independent Alliance £57.4m (3.3%)
Historical comparisons
| # | Company | Sales 2010 | Sales 2009 | Sales 2008 | Sales 2007 | Sales 2006 | Sales 2005 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hachette Livre Hachette Livre -France:*Calmann-Lévy*Deux Coqs d'Or*Disney Hachette Edition*EDICEF*Editions 1*Editions du Chêne**E.P.A*Éditions Dunod*Editions Foucher*Editions Stock*Fayard**Editions Mille et Une Nuits**Editions Mazarine**Pauvert*Gautier-Languereau*Grasset... (UK) |
£m | (15.2%) | £287.9m | (16.4%) | £282.5m | (15.9%) | £299.8m | (16.6%) | £277.3m | (16.4%) | £206.1m | (12.5%) |
| 2 | Random House Random House Random House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,... (UK) |
£m | (13.8%) | £239.4m | (13.7%) | £262.7m | (14.8%) | £263.4m | (14.6%) | £261.0m | (15.4%) | £229.9m | (14.0%) |
| 3 | Penguin Books Penguin Books Penguin Books is a publisher founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane and V.K. Krishna Menon. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its high quality, inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths and other high street stores for sixpence. Penguin's success demonstrated that large... |
£195.3m | (11.5%) | £170.5m | (9.7%) | £177.2m | (10.0%) | £177.3m | (9.8%) | £180.6m | (10.7%) | £174.9m | (10.6%) |
| 4 | HarperCollins HarperCollins HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide... |
£120.9m | (7.1%) | £132.3m | (7.6%) | £147.5m | (8.3%) | £142.7m | (7.9%) | £141.6m | (8.4%) | £134.8m | (8.2%) |
| 5 | Pan Macmillan | £60.9m | (3.6%) | £57.3m | (3.3%) | £57.9m | (3.3%) | £61.4m | (3.4%) | £53.2m | (3.1%) | £54.8m | (3.3%) |
| 6 | Pearson Education Pearson Education Pearson Education is an international educational publishing and technology company providing textbooks and other educational material, such as multimedia learning tools... |
£40.7m | (2.3%) | £42.2m | (2.4%) | £32.3m | (1.8%) | £34.0m | (2.0%) | £32.6m | (2.0%) | ||
| 7 | Bloomsbury | £m | (2.1%) | £35.6m | (2.0%) | £43.3m | (2.4%) | £74.7m | (4.2%) | £31.1m | (1.8%) | £62.3m | (3.8%) |
| 8 | Oxford University Press Oxford University Press Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as... |
£m | (2.0%) | £37.6m | (2.1%) | £34.5m | (1.9%) | £33.1m | (1.8%) | £33.1m | (2.0%) | £30.9m | (1.9%) |
| 9 | Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster, Inc., a division of CBS Corporation, is a publisher founded in New York City in 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. It is one of the four largest English-language publishers, alongside Random House, Penguin and HarperCollins... |
£31.1m | (1.8%) | £27.2m | (1.6%) | £24.9m | (1.4%) | £26.9m | (1.5%) | £23.9m | (1.4%) | £24.3m | (1.5%) |
| 10 | John Wiley & Sons John Wiley & Sons John Wiley & Sons, Inc., also referred to as Wiley, is a global publishing company that specializes in academic publishing and markets its products to professionals and consumers, students and instructors in higher education, and researchers and practitioners in scientific, technical, medical, and... |
£26.7m | (1.5%) | £27m | (1.5%) | ||||||||
| Egmont Egmont Publishing The Egmont Group is a media corporation founded and rooted in Copenhagen, Denmark. The business area of Egmont has traditionally been magazine publishing but has over the years evolved to comprise media generally.... |
£24.9m | (1.4%) | £27m | (1.5%) | £24.9m | (1.4%) | £22.9m | (1.4%) | |||||
| Elsevier Elsevier Elsevier is a publishing company which publishes medical and scientific literature. It is a part of the Reed Elsevier group. Based in Amsterdam, the company has operations in the United Kingdom, USA and elsewhere.... |
£23.0m | (1.4%) | £21.4m | (1.3%) | |||||||||
| Faber Alliance | £m | (3.9%) | £57.4m | (3.3%) | £47.5m | (2.7%) | £39.1m | (2.2%) | £41.4m | (2.4%) |
External links
- 2009 figures and analysis, The Bookseller
- Tom Tivnan, Half-year review 2011: publisher performance, The Bookseller, 8 July 2011