Top Book Publishers
So, you’re an aspiring author and want to learn about the top book publishers and book publishing process that would catapult you to fame and fortune. You have finally managed to pen that book that you’ve long been planning. Congratulations! Who knows, you could be on your way to becoming the next JK Rowling of the world. But before you get all excited and giddy, you need to get into all the details of the process.
First you should have the book manuscript format before anything else. Consider this as your rough draft. You’ll have to go over it not just once, twice, or even thrice. Remember, these rough drafts are going to be turned upside down by top book publishers who will most likely be turned off by even the smallest of errors. So check it and check it well at least four times.
If you’re planning on having it published by a book publisher, know that your chances of having your work accepted is a mere 2%. 98% of submitted manuscripts are rejected outright by book publishers. Well, that’s just life, everybody wants to write a book. Having a literary agent do the negotiation and the representation for you can really help a lot.
There are numerous processes in between the submission of the manuscript to the printing press, but most of these generally have to do with reviews and other business related matters. Just understand that top book publishers want to make money off of you and are considering every little detail that can affect that. The manuscript will go through editors, business analysts, researchers and more. You also have to accept the possibility that your work would have to be rewritten, reorganized or restructured several times if you are a part of the lucky 2%.
All of the patience and the hard work will eventually lead up to the design of the cover, an ISBN number application, blurbs by the editors, a short autobiography and a photograph of you at the back of the book, more reviews and finally the printing.
So there you have it, this is the reason why a lot of authors decide to self publish their work.
I couldn’t find a site that listed them, other than a site for independent publishers. (which was immediately blocked by the Chinese internet) I think three of the top publishers are: Random House; Penguin; Warner Books; Alfred A. Knopf; Doubleday; HarperCollins; Putnam
You should get the 2007 edition of “Writer’s Market”, most bookstores carry it. It will give you the publishers who publish in the genre you are writing in.
Hey, From what I found the top 10 publishers are
1. Random House 18.0%
2. HarperCollins 12.4%
3. Pearson 9.3%
4. Simon & Schuster 9.0%
5. Hachette 5.9%
6. Thomas Nelson 4.8%
7. Holtzbrink 4.6%
8.Tyndale House 2.0%
9.John Wiley 1.7%
10. Scholastic 1.5%
I hope I have helped you. Bye!
This is the top ten in order
Random House
Penguin
Scholastic
HarperCollins
Simon & Schuster
Disney (formerly Hyperion)
Little, Brown
Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt
Candlewick
All ten deal only with agents and do not accept unsolicited queries.
You have chosen the most difficult thing in the publishing business – getting a children’s book published.
Let me describe for you the current nature of the children’s book market. I just finished ghostwriting two children’s books for a very major sports figure – already sold to a very major NY publisher. The first is with artist now and due out in Spring. I am currently working on another one with others to follow. This information was given to me by a Senior Editor at the publisher I write for (one of the top 5 on that list) …
40% of children’s books published today are by celebs like Madonna, Jamie Lee Curtis etc.
40% are written by existing, established children’s authors like Eric Carle.
15-20% are reprints of children’s classics like Curious George.
That leaves at best 5% for new authors.
And that percentage is being cut into by adult authors like Carl Hiaasen and Mary Higgins Clark entering the childrens’ market recently.
To that, add the fact that most of the large publishing companies are backlogged with children’s books they have under contract but havent gotten out yet.
As a result, most A list publishers aren’t even reading childrens’ books right now, which means agents arent either. Agents only read what they can sell.
There is very little room to break into the children’s market. Only books that are extremely exceptional and have huge appeal stand a chance. Forget any holiday related books – the selling season is too short to make money.
Take a walk through any major childrens’ book department and you will confirm what I am telling you. Getting a childrens’ book done is almost impossible – and getting an advance for it is virtually out of the question anymore. Unless you fall into one of those categories above. I am fortunate to have the backing of a very major sports star to get me in the door with kids books. I write adult novels, but believe me I have tried with kids books before and failed for exactly the reasons I list here. Ghostwriting has gotten me in through the back door, and now I will be able to sell some of the children’s books that have my name on them. For now, someone else’s name is on the cover. Someone whose name sells books – big time. Don’t ask me how you can get a ghostwriting deal for a major sports star … I really backed into this. It was a gift from Heaven really and it is a blast working with this person too!!! My mantle is now covered with sports memorabilia worth a fortune!! Presents.
That is the nature of the beast. You might get a copy of Writers Market and search for some small publishers who are reading childrens’ books, but searching through the agents section, you will see that almost NO agents are reading childrens’ books. Try for some small publishers that read without going through an agent. Expect a lot of rejection. Develop a really thick skin and learn to advocate for yourself.
Always remember that before you send anything to anyone, check them out. Preditors and Editors, Absolute Write Water Cooler’s Bewares and Background Checks, Writers Weekly.com and Writers Wall are all great sources and totally free – although if they help you, it is nice to contribute a donation. Someone has to pay for running the sites. If you do not see information on the publisher or agent in question, write to Dave K at Preditors and Editors, Victoria Strauss or James Macdonald at Absolute Write or Angela Hoy at Writers Weekly. They are happy to pass along any info they have to help you.
As for self publishing it – it will get you nowhere. Self published books dont make it to bookstores. Childrens’ books are impulse buys. What is out on the tables for kids to see is what sells. Kids don’t shop at websites for things like books. They have to hold them in their hand and nag Mom to buy it. The only way to achieve that is through a good traditional publisher. Good luck. Pax – C
follow this link
The top 10 book publishers in the US are as follows of 2001:
From the sales figures noted (all in millions) we could infer their
individual market share. Remember that the total book sales for the US
are $25,356,500,000.
1. Mc-Graw Hill $4,645.5 (in millions) (18.32% market share)
2. Random House (Owned by Bertelsmann) $1,760.8 (6.9% market share)
3. Harcourt General (owned by Reed Elsevier Group) $2,408.2 (9.5%
market share)
4. Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck $2,214.4 (8.7% market share)
5. Scholastic $1,962.3 (7.7% market share)
6. Pearson $6,290 (24.8% market share)
7. Houghton Mifflin (owned by Vivendi Universal Publishing) $1,027.6
(4%)
8. HarperCollins (owned by News Corp.) $975.5 (2000 figures) (3.8%
market share)
9. John Wiley $613.8 (2.4% market share)
10.Simon & Schuster (owned by Viacom) $648.7 (2.6% market share)
From these figures it can be surmised that the top 10 book publishers
have 88.72% of the market.
None of the ten (or any of the other A List publishers) can be contacted directly. They do not accept unsolicited manuscripts. They deal with A List Agents only. Pax – C
I wouldn’t take if they paid me – what could her book be about? How to be a perfect incubator, or how to spread legs and churn out kids. Or maybe how to teach your kids to ignore school and have underage unprotected sex? She is a slutty idiot, end of story about her.
I wouldn’t be surprised if she hired a ghost writer to write some fairy tale in which she will be presented as an intelligent being but who in their right mind would read that garbage?
Puffin only publishes children’s books, so to compare them with Oxford or Penguin isn’t comparing like with like.
Personally, my favourite publisher of classics is Penguin, either for just reading for studying, because the design is lovely and they’re very well annotated with good introductions and notes. Wordsworth score brilliantly on cheapness, though, so I approve of them for making classics actually more affordable than trash.
I think that there need to be major steps taken to move into the digital age (with the rest of the world), but I think it will take more than a few pushes to make them really fall.
Do you read agent and editor blogs? Just curious. They address this topic often.
Even as we speak, though, the big publishers are taking great strides to prevent this. Right now they’re having to cut people right and left to make ends meet, which is so terribly unfortunate, but they’re going to come back up. We’re all learning that there is going to be much more to the book world than physical books in the very near future, and with the advent of ereaders this is becoming an ever-present reality. However, they’re starting to embrace this. Ebooks are becoming a new standard for publishers, just as film companies are starting to sell digital copies with the DVDs/Bluerays.
I predict that within the next two years, we’ll see much more digital publishing from the big publishers. They’ll adapt, and quickly. It’s going to take more than a new way to make oodles of money to take them down.
It is going to make authors’ work different. Publishers are going to have to tackle the beast of making sales when it’s so easy to put stories up online.
I feel melodramatic saying this, but I think everything about the publishing industry is going to change in the next ten years. It’s going to get uprooted and turned into an entirely new industry. I’m personally thrilled about going into an industry that’s going to have to be on the edge of innovation, and I can’t wait to see where it goes.
EDIT
I hope not to offend, but in my opinion, the publishing industry has desperately held onto the statement that Bolt has made. They insist that real books will always be the standard and that ebooks are a passing fad. I respectfully disagree. Everything is going digital now, as much as everyone, including myself, hates to admit it.
It would be wonderful if physical books could remain forever, but this isn’t going to happen. The older generations will stick to physical books, but even children now are much more interested in technology than in collecting books. I’m only 10 years older than my little brother and he has already mastered the home computer and saved up his money to buy an iPod touch.
I don’t mean to shoot anyone down, honestly, but I just can’t agree that books will remain the gold standard for new generations, not with the growth of ereaders. The Kindle 2, while still not ideal, is a vast improvement over the first, and I predict ereaders will become more like physical books and more desirable even within the next year.
Who are the top book publishers in the US?
i need a listing, or i’m looking for a site that can give me a listing
Which are the top 10 world publishers in sales and book porduction? Is there any intenet source?
What are the top american book publishers? Is there a list in order of size available online?
What are the top 10 book publishers in the U.S.?
I want to work in the publishing field and I was wondering what are the top 10 bookw publishers in the U.S..
What are the names of the top ten children book publishers in the USA?
How much should Sarah Palin get for her book advance? There are stories it could go up to 7 million dollars?
There will be a book, there have been book offers with top publishers. But how much would you pay for Sarah Palin’s book? Do you think a book advance would fetch 7 million?
Could the big publishers be closed out or marginalized?
With digital reading now looking like the immediate future of the book industry are the big traditional publishers going to be able to stay on top?
Digital distribution of books will cut the overhead costs of publishing and distributing books drastically. New publishers offering only digital prints will start popping up left and right, and there will inevitably be a new class of literary all stars who are strictly digital. Will this increase in competition and talent diminish the long standing reign the big publishers have had over the industry?
Given, authors probably won’t be able to make as much money, however with a lower overhead royalties will become significantly higher and that will appeal to a lot of high output, already-working-two-jobs writers, it is very conceivable that plenty of writers would jump ship to the new format.
What are your thoughts?
(Keep in mind that I’m not talking about tomorrow, but it will be much faster than people seem to be thinking. Remember how quickly the iPod became the standard for personal music?)
Good answers.
Reader, as usual I agree with you, excellent answer.
Top Classic Book Publisher?
Pinguin, Oxford, Wordsworth, Great Illustrated, Puffin, Holiday, Bantam, Scholastic, Tor, Apple
There all out there and they all think theyre the best. My question for you is, which is tops its catagory for
Just Reading (no essays, questions, biblis, etc)
and for
Studying (essays, biblies)
what are the top global children’s book publishers?
what are the top global children’s book publishers, like Scholastic, DK, random house and so on?
Where can I find the top 10 book publishers?
My cousin has been working on a book for a while now, and it’s a really great book even though he (always being the negative type) don’t believe it is. I was looking to help him out and I got a small list of local publishers and such, but I was wondering if anybody can help me find where I can get the contact info for the top 10 book publishers in the united states? Any help would be appreciated.
Or even a list of the top 10 should be fine 🙂