Publishers in Germany
German publishers and the groups behind them
Many well-known German publishing houses belong to a larger group, and a group name says little about the programme of an individual house. This overview lists thirteen publishers with their location, ownership and programme. Read the profile of the house you want to approach rather than the name of its group.
The publishers
Springer Nature
Berlin. A listed company; main shareholders are Holtzbrinck (50.6%) and BC Partners. Specialist books and journals in research, education and health, plus open access.
Piper
Munich. With Bonnier (Sweden) since 1995. Fiction, thriller, fantasy, non-fiction and travel (imprint Malik).
Carl Hanser
Munich. Independent and family-owned. Literature, non-fiction, children's and young adult books, and specialist books on computing, technology and business.
Suhrkamp
Berlin. Independent; sole owner Dirk Möhrle since 1 November 2024. German and international fiction, academic titles, and Insel Verlag.
S. Fischer
Currently Frankfurt am Main; with Holtzbrinck since 1962. A move to Berlin is announced for 2027. Classic modernism and contemporary literature, fiction and non-fiction.
Heyne
Munich. Penguin Random House (Bertelsmann). Paperbacks and hardcovers for bestselling authors: thriller, fantasy and entertainment.
Goldmann
Munich. Penguin Random House (Bertelsmann). Broad fiction and non-fiction, strong in paperbacks.
Bastei Lübbe
Cologne. A listed company shaped by the Lübbe family; not a large group like the others in this list.
Droemer Knaur
Munich. Holtzbrinck. Fiction and non-fiction, plus the "Bewusst Leben" (conscious living) line and gift books.
Kiepenheuer & Witsch
Cologne. Holtzbrinck since 2002. Critical and popular non-fiction, plus literary works.
Ullstein Buchverlage
Berlin. With Bonnier since 2003. Imprints include Ullstein, Propyläen, List and Econ.
Rowohlt
Hamburg. With Holtzbrinck since 1982. Fiction and non-fiction, known for its rororo paperbacks. No children's and young adult books, poetry, short stories or science fiction.
dtv
A paperback general publisher with fiction, non-fiction and children's and young adult books, and hardcovers since 2012. Shareholders include Hanser, Oetinger and C. H. Beck; C. H. Beck takes over the shares of the Ganske group on 1 July 2026.
Groups and houses
The Holtzbrinck group includes S. Fischer, Droemer Knaur, Rowohlt and Kiepenheuer & Witsch. Programme profiles still differ from house to house within a group, so the group name tells you little about what a house publishes.
Approaching a publisher
Read the programme of the individual house rather than the group name. Submission routes differ: some houses ask for a digital submission or an online form. Check the contract carefully before you sign. A literary agency is another route to a publisher. If you would rather keep control of the process, see self-publishing. Either way, a clean manuscript makes a better first impression: see book editing.