Navigating the publishing industry as a writer of children’s books can be confusing at first. With so many children’s book publishers, you can easily feel overwhelmed by the options.
This article will walk you through important vocabulary and show you the six types of publishers on the market. If you already have a good grasp of terminology, jump straight to the six publishers.
Otherwise, to start off, here are five key terms you should know.
Publisher
Since the words “publisher” and “imprint” are sometimes used interchangeably, let’s start by defining what a publisher is: a company that organizes, prepares, and distributes material for purchase. Some publishers are tiny; others are huge corporations with dozens of imprints.
Keep in mind that imprints and publishers are not the same thing. An imprint belongs to a publisher. Ditto for publishing groups. A publisher is the head or main company behind both.
Imprint
An imprint is a trade name, or brand, that a publisher uses for a specific audience. It’s a type of marketing, attaching different names to different books to create niches.
For example, instead of selling kids’ books and romance novels under the same name, a publisher will create imprints for each category. This way, customers will see a child-oriented brand on their children’s books, and an adult-oriented brand on their romance novels.
Publishing Group
If a publisher is big enough to have hundreds of imprints, it might create different publishing groups to organize and manage their imprints, keeping similar brands under the same umbrella.
For example, Penguin Random House is a massive publisher with 275 imprints. A couple dozen are managed by The Penguin Publishing Group. Another handful are managed by Random House Children’s Books.
This management strategy can make it sound like a bunch of publishers are working together, but really, it’s like a puppet theater. One publisher is still behind everything. Customers see the brands (the puppets), while the publisher holds the financial strings.
Parent Company/Organization
Sometimes, private equity firms purchase and invest in publishers, hoping to increase their profits and get a return on their investment. For example, Trustbridge Partners is a Shanghai-based private equity firm that owns Trustbridge Global Media (TGM), a children’s content company that has acquired Holiday House, Walker Books, and Peachtree Publishing.
TGM is now the parent company of those publishers. It supports them financially while also pushing them to perform well and increase their profits.
This relationship is somewhat similar to how imprints belong to a publisher. Because TGM holds the financial strings, the publishers must ultimately report to TGM, at least financially.
Typically, customers don’t realize this relationship exists. Private equity firms have no reason to be open about their investments, especially when it can hurt the companies they’re investing in. Knowing American customers might balk at Chinese investors, the firms stay low-key and hide behind other names, like The Little Bridge instead of Trustbridge.
Also, publishers with a parent company still present themselves as “independent” because it’s good for their brand. And, from a content perspective, they are still independent. A parent company won’t necessarily tell a publisher what to publish, as long as their profits are increasing.
This relationship is particularly common among competitive publishers looking to increase their market power. In other words, all the biggest publishers have parent companies.
Distribution agreement
A distribution agreement is a contract where a publisher is allowed to sell another publisher’s books in a particular territory. For instance, an Australian publisher might have a distribution agreement with an American publisher, so their books can be easily sold in the U.S.
Small, independent publishers sometimes use distribution agreements to expand their market. It’s a way to reach more customers without becoming a huge company, as long as they can reach a fair agreement with another publisher.
Reaching a fair agreement can be difficult if one publisher has significantly more power than the other one, though. Below are the main types of publishers, from the biggest (or most powerful) to the smallest (or least powerful).
6 Types of Publishers for Children’s Books
“The Big 5”
Five multinational publishers dominate the English-speaking publishing industry. Commonly called “The Big Five,” these publishers control 80% of the market:
- Penguin Random House (owned by Bertelsmann)
- Hachette Book Group (owned by Hatchett Livre/Lagardère Publishing)
- Harper Collins (owned by News Corp)
- Simon & Schuster (owned by Paramount Global, a.k.a. ViacomCBS)
- Macmillan (owned by Holtzbrinck Publishing Group)
Note that “The Big Five” might become “The Big Four,” since Penguin Random House is attempting to acquire Simon & Schuster. The American Justice Department is suing to block the merger, since the resulting company would then control a third of the publishing industry.
The size of these publishers is sometimes underestimated due to their many, many imprints. For an idea of how many imprints these companies have, check out this incredibly long list compiled by 9th Street Books.
Since imprints can look like independent publishers on the surface, customers don’t always realize how prevalent and powerful these companies are. They are behemoths hiding behind hundreds of other names.
Besides their imprints, these companies also have distribution agreements with smaller publishers, expanding their influence and the number of books they sell. But their power is slowly being matched by another massive company…
Amazon Publishing
To clarify, Amazon Publishing (APub) is different from self-publishing. It’s also different from its parent company, Amazon. It’s an actual publishing house, founded in 2009, which seeks out authors to publish and promote.
Although similar to a traditional publisher, APub differs from the Big Five in several significant ways. First of all, it accepts self-published manuscripts that are selling well. By polishing and promoting these manuscripts with a professional team, it increases the success of these books even further, taking a cut of the profits in the process.
Unlike traditional publishers, APub also focuses on selling books online or in Amazon book stores. While some book sellers like Walmart accept books published by Amazon, the majority of book sellers have bad blood with Amazon and won’t sell any books the company publishes.
Similarly, the New York Times bestsellers list never features books published by APub. In other words, if an author works with APub, they get full support from Amazon, but nobody else.
Still, the business model works because Amazon is so powerful. It controls at least half of book distribution in the United States. For some suppliers, its impact is even greater, accounting for at least 70-80% of sales.
APub can afford to do its own thing, sidestepping independent bookstores and traditional marketing methods, because its parent company has enough power by itself. For more details on APub and how it works with authors, read this excellent article from Reedsy.
Independent Publishers
Because so many publishers have distribution agreements or get acquired by private equity firms, the definition of ‘independent’ in publishing has become murky. On this website, we define an independent publisher as a private company that has no parent company. They’re also smaller, with anywhere between 10 and 250 employees.
Because Amazon and The Big Five dominate the majority of publishing, it’s common for independent publishers to survive by selling via Amazon or distributing their books via a bigger publisher. They’re still independent, albeit with ties to bigger companies.
For example, Little Bee Books is an independent publisher of children’s books in New York City with less than 50 employees. It relies in part on Simon & Schuster to distribute its books, since that publisher’s network is far bigger than Little Bee Book could manage on its own.
However, some independent publishers choose to network with each other rather than negotiate with a giant publisher. Firefly Books, a Ontario-based publisher, provides distribution and marketing for other independent Canadian publishers, namely Robert Rose, Mikaya Press, and Fitzhenry & Whiteside.
This strategy can help independent publishers maintain their independence long-term, since collaborating with a massive publisher can sometimes tip the scale towards an acquisition in the future, as it did with Little Tiger Group.
Nonprofit Publishers and University Presses
All of the publishers mentioned so far have business models that depend on making a profit and increasing profits over the years. Not all publishers share that model, though.
Nonprofit publishers like The Feminist Press and Heyday are more interested in publishing and promoting books that fit their mission, ethics, and vision for society. They want to publish meaningful books which deserve to exist regardless of how much money they make.
Nonprofit publishers depend partially on donations to maintain their independence and commitment to their values. In an industry squeezed by corporations, these donations allow them to keep their freedom.
Here’s a great list of nonprofit publishers to check out. In addition, you can look at university presses, which often operate in a similar way. Although universities don’t always publish children’s books, some do, especially if the book has local significance.
Micropublishers
Micropublishers are a subset of independent publishers that have embraced being small and cozy, 100%. They don’t want to become large companies with several imprints and lots of employees.
Mainly, they want to stay local, publish good books, and build positive relationships with the authors they team up with. They’re not nonprofits, but their small size and limited operational costs allow them to do well even when they’re selling fewer books. They’re like microbreweries, only in publishing.
This mentality means that they’re unlikely to have distribution agreements with one of the behemoths. Instead, they typically choose distributors for independent publishing, like Publishers Group West.
Another thing that sets micropublishers apart from bigger publishers is that they often accept unagented submissions and engage more with the community through writing contests, poetry readings, and library/school visits.
For instance, when Bailick Press in Fort Collins, Colorado, does a school event, they donate 20% of their book sales from that event back to the school. In other words, micropublishers tend to enrich their community, not just draw money from it.
Self-publishing Companies
If you’re ambivalent about working with a publisher yet intimidated by self-publishing, you could consider working with a self-publishing company, like Indie Publishing Group, which supports authors through the publishing process.
Self-publishing companies offer a range of helpful services, from book editing and formatting to cover illustrations and guidance with online selling. You can cherry-pick what you like about traditional publishing with the independence of self-publishing.
Of course, all of these services come at a fee, but you also maintain full control of your book and profits. They won’t put down your ideas or push you to make different decisions, and you can always step away once you’re done with their services.
Although they’re not technically publishers, self-publishing companies can enable you to become your own children’s book publisher. By getting the right help from skilled people, you can create high-quality books that look professional and marketable.
Whether you self-publish or sign with a traditional publisher, it’s important to choose a publishing route that works best for you. In the end, your success isn’t determined by a publisher, but by your peace of mind and happiness as a writer.