Books are what most people read when they want information and when they want to learn the most that they can about a subject. The internet has become a valid option to search for information, but posts on the internet often lack structure. The structure that is often found in books, particularly those that deal with specific scientific topics, is what makes the difference.

Most books have to be published in some way or shape or form. Publishers are kind of like advertisers for books. Just like an online casino would advertise their business with promo codes like the Pokerstars bonus code, so do publishers advertise a certain book by putting their name and logo on it.

Here are the world’s top publishers at the moment.

Pearson

One would think that the world’s top publisher would be selling bestsellers and they would be right, but only in a sense. Pearson is an educational publisher, founded in 1844 in London, England. It is the world’s number 1 publisher and not the kind you expected. While bestselling novels might be popular in some bookstores, educational books, particularly those meant for schools and corporations, are apparently more popular. Pearson sells the most books and in some ways, that is understandable. Educational books, particularly for schools, sell annually in large numbers.

RELX

RELX is another publisher that deals in books which you will not find in the popular section, but are more popular than one would expect. RELX is another British publisher, founded in 1993. They deal in scientific books or rather, books dealing with all sorts of technical knowledge which is often used in the corporate world. Science and learning sells much more than a typical novel would, which might be surprising, but business comes first.

Thomson Reuters

Thomson Reuters is a Canadian publishing company. They were founded in 2008, but despite their age, they are the world’s third largest publishing company. Like the other two on the list, they deal with corporations and selling books of a technical nature. It is safe to say, at this point, that most of the world’s largest publishers deal with non-fiction material.

Hachette Livre

With such a name, you can expect this publisher to be from France. Indeed, they are, and have been since 1826, headquartered in Paris. They have subordinate companies in all the major regions of the world, from the UK, US, and even Australia. With such a large market, they sell all sorts of books to a variety of customers, from consumers who love thrillers and interesting novels, to those thirsty for knowledge.

Bertelsmann

This publisher comes from Germany and has been around since 1835. Opposite to most large publishers, this one is not in the capital city, but rather in a city called Gutersloh. Bertelsmann does more than just publish books, they are a media conglomerate which handles anything from TV and radio, music and arts, magazines, and even printing.

These are the world’s largest publishers and as one can see, they mostly deal with education, science and non-fiction books, albeit many of their subordinate companies publish almost everything.