Wiley

Overview

This profile considers the John Wiley publishing group.

It covers -

• Introduction
• Evolution of the group
• Chronology
• Imprints

Introduction

US-based publisher John Wiley & Sons specialises in print and electronic products for the professional, consumer, scientific, technical and higher education markets. Its corporate site is here.

Wiley has around 22,700 active titles and 400 journals, publishing about 2,000 new titles each year. Around 25% of global sales are "web-enabled". The group has around 3,150 employees in the US , Europe (UK and Germany), Canada, Australia and Asia. Approximately 40% of revenue is generated outside the US.

In contrast to McGraw-Hill it has not diversified out of publishing. Prominent competitors are Kluwer, Thomson and Elsevier.

The group

Wiley dates from 1807 when Charles Wiley opened a printing, publishing and bookselling business in Manhattan, going on to publish authors such as writers such as Washington Irving (he was a partner with Cornelius van Winkle in the 1820s), James Fenimore Cooper, Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville.

Wiley was in partnership with George Putnam for a decade but after 1848 came to specialise in science and technology publishing. Putnam's departure reflected disagreement about copyright: Wiley considered that the partnership couldn't afford to be the only American publisher to pay royalties to foreign authors and still compete in the US market.

In the 1960s Wiley expanded overseas (an Australian subsidiary was established in 1963) and like its competitors the company went on the acqusition trail, buying niche book and journal publishers such as Scripta-Technica and the German VCH group before buying major educational publishing interests from Pearson and Thomson.

In November 2006 it agreed to acquire Blackwell Publishing for £572m.

Chronology

An indication of the group's history is here.

Imprints

Major imprints are identified here.