This is a list of book distributors, companies that act as distributors for book publishers, selling primarily to the book trade. The list includes defunct and merged/acquired companies, and distributors whose primary business is not books, such as comic books. The companies may provide exclusive distribution rights, or act as a wholesaler or warehouser of publisher's titles. Many of the companies distribute other products, and some also sell directly to the public. Book distributors offer a consolidated list of publisher's titles, such that bookstores can purchase from a wider range of publishers than if they had to open separate accounts with each publisher, who often require a minimum order that the bookstore cannot meet. Most small or independent publishers have relationships with a distributor, including self-published authors, who often use services like

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential economi ...

to sell to the public. The large publishing companies, including the "Big Five" (

Penguin Random House Penguin Random House LLC is an Anglo-American multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, from the merger of Penguin Group and Random House. On April 2, 2020, Bertels ...

Hachette Hachette may refer to: * Hachette (surname) * Hachette (publisher), a French publisher, the imprint of Lagardère Publishing ** Hachette Book Group, the American subsidiary ** Hachette Distribution Services, the distribution arm See also * Hachett ...

, Macmillan,

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...

and

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...

), act as distributors for the numerous imprints they have acquired over the years.

United States

AK Press AK Press is a worker-managed, independent publisher and book distributor that specialises in radical left and anarchist literature. Operated out of Chico, California, the company is collectively owned. History AK was founded in Stirling, S ...

Alibris Alibris is an online store that sells new books, used books, out-of-print books, rare books, and other media through an online network of independent booksellers. History Martin Manley founded Alibris in 1997 with the team behind early o ...

Anchor Distributors Whitaker House is a Christian publishing house in New Kensington, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny C ...

, not strictly a distributor to the trade, but acts as a de facto distributor for many self-published authors and small presses *

Baker & Taylor Baker & Taylor, a distributor of books to public and academic libraries and schools, has been in business for over 190 years. It is based in Charlotte, North Carolina and currently owned by President & CEO Amandeep Kochar. Before being acquired ...

(portions of Baker & Taylor were acquired by

Readerlink Distribution Services Readerlink Distribution Services, is a publisher and distributor of books based in Oak Brook, Illinois. Readerlink is the largest distributor of books to mass merchandisers in United States,Milliot, Jim (23 February 2015)"Readerlink Buys B&T Publ ...

in February 2015)Milliot, Jim (23 February 2015)
"Readerlink Buys B&T Publishing, Warehouse Units"
''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

''. Retrieved 20 December 2015 (sold to book distributor Follett in April 2016, ending B&T's status as an independent and forcing change in B&T's management) *

Barnes & Noble Barnes & Noble Booksellers is an American bookseller. It is a Fortune 1000 company and the bookseller with the largest number of retail outlets in the United States. As of July 7, 2020, the company operates 614 retail stores across all 50 U. ...

Blackstone Audio Blackstone Audio is one of the largest independent audiobook publishers in the United States, offering over 30,000 audiobooks. The company is based in Ashland, Oregon with five in-house recording studios. Blackstone distributes directly to consu ...

* Casemate *Children's Plus Inc. (Children's & Teen Specialist) *

Diamond Comic Distributors Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. (often called Diamond Comics, DCD, or casually Diamond) is an American comic book distributor serving retailers in North America and worldwide. They transport comic books and graphic novels, as well as other po ...

(comics) ** Capital City Distribution (comics, acquired by Diamond) **

New Media/Irjax New Media Distribution/Irjax Enterprises was a comic book distributor and publisher active from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s. In 1978, the company's legal actions against the dominant distributor of the era, Sea Gate Distributors, widened the fi ...

(acquired by Diamond) * D.A.P./Distributed Art Publishers *

Follett Corporation Follett Corporation is a Westchester, Illinois-based company that provides a variety of educational products to schools, colleges, and public libraries through its subsidiaries. History Follett Corporation was founded in 1873 when Charles M. Bar ...

Greenleaf Book Group Greenleaf Book Group is an independent book publisher and distributor, which was established by Clint Greenleaf in 1997. Greenleaf was a CPA and accountant at Deloitte & Touche before writing his first book, ''Attention to Detail'', in 1997 and ...

, distributor and hybrid publisher *

Heroes World Distribution Heroes World Distribution Co., originally named Superhero Enterprises, was an American comic book distributor. It was founded by Ivan Snyder, active from 1975 to 1997, during the growth and consolidation of the direct market. Heroes World was acqui ...

, owned by

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

Independent Publishers Group Independent Publishers Group (IPG) is a worldwide distributor for independent general, academic, and professional publishers, founded in 1971 to exclusively market titles from independent client publishers to the international book trade. As per ...

, owned by

Chicago Review Press Chicago Review Press, or CRP, is a U.S. book publisher and an independent company founded in 1973. Chicago Review Press publishes approximately 60 new titles yearly under eight imprints: Chicago Review Press, Lawrence Hill Books, Academy Chicago, ...

Ingram Content Group Ingram Content Group is an American service provider to the book publishing industry, based in La Vergne, Tennessee. It is a subsidiary of Ingram Industries. Shawn Morin is CEO, and John R. Ingram is chairman of Ingram Industries. History The ...

Publishers Group West Publishers Group West (PGW) is a book distributor founded in 1976 in Berkeley, California, which distributes to bookstores in the U.S. and internationally. They were the largest distributor of independent presses in the U.S. in the 1990s. In 2007, ...

**Two Rivers (formerly Perseus Distribution) *

Last Gasp Last Gasp or The Last Gasp may refer to * Last Gasp (publisher) * ''Last Gasp'' (''Inside No. 9''), a TV episode * '' The Last Gasp'', a 2007 album by Impaled * ''The Last Gasp'' (novel) * "Last Gasp" (song) {{dab ...

Midpoint Trade Books Midpoint Trade Books, Inc. is a Sales, Marketing, and Distribution Company founded by Eric M. Kampmann and Chris Bell in 1996. Midpoint represents over 250 independent publishers across the United States, Canada, England, Scotland, Australia, and ...

Perseus Books Group Perseus Books Group was an American publishing company founded in 1996 by investor Frank Pearl. Perseus acquired the trade publishing division of Addison-Wesley (including the Merloyd Lawrence imprint) in 1997. It was named Publisher of the Ye ...

(largest book distributor to mass merchandisers in United States) *

Rowman & Littlefield Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an independent publishing house founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the company offers scholarly books for the academic market, as well as trade books. The company also owns the book distributing compa ...

Send the Light Send the Light (STL) was a British Christian book distributor which had absorbed other Christian publishers and bookshops, and eventually merged with the International Bible Society to become one of the largest non-profit book distributors in t ...

Small Press Distribution Small Press Distribution (SPD) is a non-profit literary arts organization located in Berkeley, California. As their name indicates, the core of their mission is to act as an umbrella distributor and marketer for hundreds of smaller literary publi ...

Smashwords Smashwords, Inc., based in Los Gatos, California, is a platform for self-publishing e-books. The company, founded by Mark Coker, began public operation in 2008. Authors and independent publishers upload their manuscripts as electronic files t ...

, global ebook distribution *

TAN Books TAN Books is a traditionalist Catholic American book distributor and publisher. History TAN Books was founded in 1967, as "TAN Books and Publishers," in Rockford, Illinois by Thomas A. Nelson (not to be confused with the founder of the Bible-pu ...

* Texas Bookman *

Tuttle Publishing Tuttle Publishing, originally the Charles E. Tuttle Company, is a book publishing company that includes Tuttle, Periplus Editions, and Journey Editions.

University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including ''The Chicago Manual of Style'', ...

, distribution (warehousing, fulfillment, and marketing) for many university presses and small non-profit publishers.

Canada

Fitzhenry & Whiteside Fitzhenry & Whiteside is a Canadian book publishing and distribution company, located in Leaside, Ontario. It publishes trade titles in children's and young adult fiction, textbooks, reference, history, biography, photography, sports and poetry. ...

Raincoast Books Raincoast Books is a Canadian book distribution and wholesale company. Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Raincoast was founded by Mark Stanton and Allan MacDougall in 1979 as a consignment wholesaler that shared overhead, warehouse space and ...

Thomas Allen & Son Dundurn Press is one of the largest Canadian-owned book publishing companies of adult and children's fiction and non-fiction. The company publishes Canadian literature, history, biography, politics and arts. Dundurn has about 2500 books in print, ...

University of British Columbia Press The University of British Columbia Press (UBC Press) is a university press that is part of the University of British Columbia. It was established in 1971. The press is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and has editorial offices in Kelo ...

University of Toronto Press The University of Toronto Press is a Canadian university press founded in 1901. Although it was founded in 1901, the press did not actually publish any books until 1911. The press originally printed only examination books and the university cale ...

Asia

* Booktopia, Australia *

Flipkart Flipkart Private Limited is an Indian e-commerce company, headquartered in Bengaluru, and incorporated in Singapore as a private limited company. The company initially focused on online book sales before expanding into other product categorie ...

, India *

Diamond Comics Diamond Comics is an Indian comic books publisher and distribution company, headquartered in Delhi. It is the largest comic book distributor and publisher in India. Diamond Comics created several original Indian comic characters like Chacha C ...

, India *

India Book House India Book House Pvt. Limited (IBH) is an importer, distributor and publisher of books and magazines in India. Formed in 1952, India Book House published paperback editions of children's authors such as Enid Blyton and Frederick Forsyth, as well ...

, India *

Reformers Bookshop Reformers (Reformers Bookshop) is a non-profit Christian wholesaler and bookseller operating in Australasia, plus telephone, internet and mail order worldwide. Originally set up in 1983 as a faith-based book ministry by a married couple of Sta ...

, Australia *

Dangdang E-commerce China Dangdang Inc. (), known as Dangdang, is a Chinese electronic commerce company, founded by Peggy Yu and Li Guoqing in 1999. It is headquartered in Beijing and its main competitors are Amazon.cn (or Amazon China, formerly Joyo. ...

, China *

JD.com JD.com, Inc., also known as Jingdong (), internationally known as Joybuy and formerly called 360buy,

, China * Jarir Bookstore, Saudi Arabia

Europe

, United Kingdom *

Bertrams Bertrams was the second largest United Kingdom based wholesaler of books, owned since 2018 by Aurelius Investments. It has 200,000 titles available for same-day despatch and has access to over 13 million books in print. The group includes Bertram ...

, United Kingdom *

Gardners Books Gardners’ is an international wholesalers of books, eBooks, music and film. They work with multi-channel retailers worldwide, both online and on the high street, to supply physical and digital products. They offer back to store or direct to co ...

, United Kingdom *

Logista Compañía de Distribución Integral Logista Holdings, S.A., or Grupo Logista, through its subsidiaries, operates as a distributor of products and services to proximity retailers in Southern Europe. The company distribution includes different prod ...

, Spain

References

{{Books *

Distributors A distributor is an enclosed rotating switch used in spark-ignition internal combustion engines that have mechanically timed ignition. The distributor's main function is to route high voltage current from the ignition coil to the spark plugs ...

Book A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical arr ...