Sometimes, your school, including your assignments, defines the textbooks you should read. Some professors may insist that you study from specific textbook publishers or accredited authors relevant to the subject or class they’re presenting.

This guide will show you the top leading educational book publishers to help you in your studies.

We understand how textbooks can be expensive. So if you get a chance to earn some money back, you should take it. With that said, here are the top 20 best textbook publishers. 

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20 Best Largest Textbook Publishers 

1. McGraw-Hill Education

Students, parents, administrators, educators, administrators, and professionals can benefit from McGraw-Hill Education’s resources. The website includes online modules and a textbook catalog for accounting, business communication, finance, economics, business law, marketing, management information systems, management, and organization. 

In 2017, they earned $1.7 billion in sales, and their relationships grew to include over 14,000 authors and educators, including more than 50 Nobel laureates. In addition, McGraw-Hill owns a credit rating agency, stock index, a combination publisher, and Standard and Poor’s.

2. Pearson 

Pearson originated as a building company in England in 1844, and by the 1880s, it had grown to become one of the world’s largest construction companies. The company is now rebranding to concentrate only on education.

Pearson owns Penguin Books and administers the SAT in the United States in collaboration with the College Board. Every year, the firm earns $1.7 billion from educational testing worldwide. This accounts for a significant amount of its $6 billion in sales, the most in the publishing sector.

3. Scholastic 

Scholastic is a publishing house and one of the top textbook publishers that focuses on children’s literature and educational supplies. Books, television, video, and toys are among their offerings. 

Scholastic is known for its school-based book fairs held in elementary schools across the United States. In the United States, the firm publishes the Harry Potter series. In 2017, they made a stunning $1.7 billion.

4. Cengage Learning 

Cengage Learning, one of the top educational publishers, publishes secondary, higher, and graduate educational products in hard copy and digital formats. 

Apart from textbooks, the textbook corporation offers a variety of educational resources like digital works, library marketplaces, and numerous training programs. 

They created the Gale Program to help libraries, colleges, schools, and universities with technology and content to improve educational experiences. Cengage also owns National Geographic Education, which creates instructional materials for kids from pre-kindergarten to 12th grade and teaching materials for instructors. 

It offers an interactive learning experience that incorporates cutting-edge technology to bring the excitement of photographers, scientists, National Geographic expeditions, and authors into classrooms. Their revenue in 2018 was $1.7 billion.

5. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing was purchased for $4 billion by Harcourt (previously Houghton Mifflin) in 2007. The company is one of the most well-known school textbook publishers, offering a wide range of instructional resources in both hard copy and digital formats for students of various ages.

They are also leaders in specialty educational sectors such as homeschool materials, GO Math! Academy, and Channel 1 News, allowing young residents to stay up to date on current events and academic news. 

Cliffsnotes is a diverse and helpful Study Guide that provides information on taking SAT examinations in biology, English, Algebra, History, Economics, and others.

6. Emerald Group Publishing 

Through their efforts and various partnerships, Emerald Group Publishing focuses on research. Emerald manages over 300 periodicals, 2,500 books, and 1,500 teaching cases, in addition to conducting research and facilitating partnerships. 

Their work has intended to advance scientific topics with real-world applications since 1967. Emerald is a member of the Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative due to this.

7. Macmillan Learning 

Macmillan Learning is a company that focuses on higher education learning (high school and college). They provide resources for instructors and students in various subjects, including psychology, economics, nutrition, chemistry, and political science, among others. In addition, the Macmillan website provides digital materials for instructors and students to help them grasp courses and topic areas.

8. Wolters Kluwer 

Wolters Kluwer offers a wide range of materials for attorneys, business executives, and law students, including books, journals, CDs, and online products. Taxation, economics, and paralegal education are among the themes covered in the goods.

9. Wiley Publishers 

For undergraduate and graduate students and lifelong learners, Wiley provides textbooks and other instructional products. Also, students, instructors, authors, and librarians can access online eBooks, texts, modules, and events on the website. Accounting, business management, economics, and other broad disciplines are covered in these materials.

10. Routledge Taylor & Francis Group

Routledge is one of the best textbook publishers; they publish a wide range of academic tools and research for instructors, students, and librarians. Textbooks, online journals, eBooks, educational books, and online references in over fifty topic areas, including business and management, finance and accounting, and economics, are all available through the website.

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Other Notable Textbooks Publishers You Should Know

11. Oxford University Press 

Oxford University Press is one of the prominent educational publishers in the world’. And it’s also the largest and second-oldest university press worldwide. 

They publish scholarly books, sheet music, bibles, research journals, and more. 

12. Sage Publications 

SAGE Publications is an independent firm that started in New York in 1965 and is now based in Thousand Oaks, California. SAGE also owns and manages textbook publishing houses like Corwin Press, Learning Matters, CQ Press, and Adam Matthew Digital, which publish books and journals.

13. CRC Press

CRC Press is a scientific, medical, technology, engineering, and mathematics publisher based in Florida. They were founded in 1903 and became a Taylor & Francis division in 2003. Every year, they publish roughly 3000 new titles in life science, biomedical science, agricultural science, clean technology, medicine, engineering, healthcare, and others.

14. Renaissance

Renaissance is a long-time pioneer in the education technology sector, providing assessment and practice solutions with learning analytics to more than a third of American schools. Acquisitions and product development have both helped the company grow.

15. Hodder Education 

Hodder Education is a London-based educational publisher. They primarily publish textbooks for high school and college students and other student and educator materials. Science, law, general studies, psychology, business mathematics, accountancy, media and film studies, and other areas are covered in their books, which are available in both print and digital formats.

16. Schofield & Sims 

Schofield & Sims, based in the United Kingdom, specializes in providing textbooks, teaching aids, and other materials for primary school students, with a concentration in science, arithmetic, and English. Their publications are authored by experienced classroom teachers who are always looking for fresh ways to engage pupils in the learning process.

17. Penguin Random House 

You may recognize Penguin Random House’s orange label from books in your home collection. This company is one of the top educational book publishers and has one of the world’s largest fiction and nonfiction collections. 

Penguin Random House offers over 15,000 printed books and over 70,000 digital publications every year! As indicated above, Pearson and Bertelsmann are two of Penguin’s significant stakeholders. They do, however, have their headquarters in New York City and offices on five continents, allowing them to reach a global audience.

18. Emerald Group Publishing 

Emerald is a significant publisher of academic and professional literature in business, economics, engineering, library and information studies, language and linguistics, management, social sciences, and transportation in the English language. 

Emerald publishes journals, books, ebooks, bibliographic databases, and case studies on various business issues, including accounting, finance, human resource management, and marketing.

19. Nelson Education 

Nelson is a Canadian publishing house specializing in textbooks and other educational materials for children in kindergarten through grade twelve. They also publish books in mathematics, health, science, business and economics, technology, and the humanities for higher education and professional development.

20. Springer Nature 

Springer Nature is a multifaceted international publishing house situated in the United States. They were founded in 2015 by a group of well-known firms, including Nature Publishing Group and Macmillan Education, and they have a long track record of reliable research. 

Many scientific journals, including Scientific Reports, extend their reach. They publish almost 13,000 books and 300,000 articles in 3,000 journals every year.

Final Thoughts 

Textbook publishers impact the industry, but the industry is changing as well. Publishers are devising new strategies to maintain their dominance in the book and information industries. 

As seen above, to maintain or boost engagement among all users, most educational book publishers have expanded their platforms to include digital articles and tech-based solutions. 

Publishing houses are creating new apps and databases for professionals and educators. Many educational publishers are expanding their student books available in digital format. Even though it’s a good improvement, that can also increase the prices of textbooks. 

However, you can sell textbooks on BookDeal to make extra cash.

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