The Publisher & The Writer Podcast: 2. Publishing Companies Explained

In this episode we take a tour of the publishing landscape in the English speaking world.

Check out the biggest to the smallest traditional publishers to see where your book might fit in. 

We discuss the following publishing companies, with stories of how they operate, which ones use their own sales representatives and which use distribution companies. 

Examples of books and publishing within these companies are given from our own experience. 

The Big Five – histories and who runs them here in Australia

Penguin Random House – Bertelsmann Germany

Penguin Random House in Australia

Harper Collins – News Corp US 

Harper Collins in Australia

Macmillan – Holtzbrinck Germany 

Pan Macmillan in Australia

Hachette Livre  – a French company 

Hachette Australia website

Simon and Schuster – KKR, a venture capital company 

Simon & Schuster in Australia 

NB Bloomsbury, the  home of JK Rowling and Sarah J Maas do not publish in Australia. We are a sales market only. 

Medium size Australia companies

Allen & Unwin: www.allenandunwin.com

Affirm Press: www.affirmpress.com.au

Black Inc.: www.blackincbooks.com.au

Scribe: www.scribepublications.com.au

Pantera Press: www.panterapress.com

Thames & Hudson Australia: www.thamesandhudson.com.au

University Presses

UQP (University of Queensland Press): www.uqp.com.au

NewSouth Publishing: www.newsouthpublishing.com

Melbourne University Publishing (MUP): www.mup.com.au

ventura press logo

Small Presses in Australia

Magabala Books: www.magabala.com

Transit Lounge: www.transitlounge.com.au

MidnightSun Publishing: www.midnightsunpublishing.com

Puncher & Wattmann: www.puncherandwattmann.com

Ventura Press: www.venturapress.com.au

Also discussed are:

Australian Society of Authors is www.asauthors.org

Australian Publishers Association is www.publishers.asn.au

We discuss the impact of COVID on sales of books here in Australia, and the downsides of that and then the more recent contraction of the publishing industry here. 

The books we have bought or read recently are:

To Sing of War by Catherine MacKinnon

Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

Jane Curry Links

Seana Smith Links

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/swoop/blue-sea

License code: JIDFICQZAHSVHXUS

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