Publishing : Typical employers

Big players

The publishing industry in the UK is dominated by European and global business conglomerates, many of whom own a portfolio of media businesses. One example is the Pearson group - the largest publisher in the world - with divisions covering many sectors across the industry including Penguin, Pearson Education and the Financial Times Group.

The four main consumer publishers in the book industry are:

• HarperCollins
• Random House
• Hachette
• Penguin

Other companies include:

• Bloomsbury
• Faber & Faber
• Macmillan
• Kogan Page
• Walker Books

Educational, academic, specialist and technical publishers include:

• Wolters Kluwer
• Elsevier
• Macmillan
• Oxford University Press (OUP)
• Cambridge University Press (CUP)
• Wiley Blackwell

A publishing house is usually made up of several divisions, each concentrating on a different area of publishing, e.g. fiction/non-fiction, textbook/monograph, journal/directory. Each division manages its own subdivisions, such as adult fiction or children's fiction. These divisions or subdivisions may publish books under a separate brand name known as an imprint. Examples of the more popular imprints within the Penguin Group include Dorling Kindersley, Ladybird, Puffin and Putnam.

Large consumer magazine publishers include:

• Future Publishing
• Dennis Publishing
• IPC Media
• National Magazines
• Bauer
• Condé Nast
• BBC Worldwide

Business media, data and directory publishers include:

• Haymarket 
• Incisive Media
• Informa/Taylor & Francis
• RBI
• Yell
• Dun & Bradstreet
• KCOM

There are a number of agency publishers, these include:

• Redwood Publishing
• Seven Squared

Newspaper publishers in the UK include:

• Trinity Mirror
• News International
• Newsquest
• Johnston Press
• Archant
• Telegraph
• Guardian News & Media
• DMGT

Larger companies are more likely to operate formal graduate recruitment schemes, although the number of places offered is often small, normally between two and ten. The role usually consists of working on rotation in the different areas of the business before choosing an area in which to specialise on a more permanent basis.

Small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)

SMEs are organisations with fewer than 250 employees and an annual turnover of no more than £44million. Working for a smaller company can be rewarding because you are more likely to forge a path for yourself within the company, although opportunities to try other departments may be limited.

SMEs are unlikely to use the testing and assessment techniques of larger companies or follow lengthy recruitment procedures. SMEs are more likely to advertise their vacancies through the local press, university careers service bulletins, local graduate vacancy listings, jobcentres, and word of mouth, rather than rely on their reputation and a presence at graduate recruitment fairs.

Your university careers service should have listings of jobs with small firms. See also the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) .

The publishing industry has a significant number of influential small and independent publishing houses, with almost 90% of companies having ten employees or fewer (Creative Skillset: The Sector Skills Council for the Creative Industries , 2011).

Self-employment

Freelance work is common in the publishing industry, and employers are predicting the level of freelancing to increase.

Publishing companies typically employ freelancers for writing, graphic design, proofreading, editing and research. Freelance work is more common in book and journal publishing than in newspaper publishing.

Find out more about self-employment.