publisher

American  

[puhb-li-sher] / ˈpʌb lɪ ʃər /

noun

• publishers
  plural

1. a person or company whose business is the publishing of books, periodicals, engravings, computer software, etc.

2. the business head of a newspaper organization or publishing house, commonly the owner or the representative of the owner.

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publisher British  

/ ˈpʌblɪʃə /

noun

1. a company or person engaged in publishing periodicals, books, music, etc

2. the proprietor of a newspaper or his representative

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• publishers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of publisher

1425–75; late Middle English: one who proclaims publicly; see publish, -er ¹

Explanation

A builder builds. A dancer dances. A publisher publishes — which is to say, oversees the printing, editing and, most importantly, the selling of books, magazines, websites, and even music. It's a matter of debate who is more important at a magazine, the editor or the publisher, but I'm sure you could get convincing arguments for either. The editor is in charge of content, while the publisher runs the business side of things and often owns the operation, too. The publisher of a newspaper is often also the owner. When a writer wants to get their book published — printed and sold — they send it to a publishing house, which may become the book's publisher.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

publisher publishers

Udio signed with Merlin, which licenses music on behalf of independent labels, and with independent publisher Kobalt.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026

A federal court ordered LibGen to shut down in 2015 and academic publisher Elsevier received a $15 million judgment against the site in 2017.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026

Upon Lozano’s death in 1953, Ignacio E. Lozano Jr. became publisher of the paper, continuing a family legacy that would span three generations.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026

He said he was told bookstores weren’t buying it and the publisher would no longer ship copies.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026

“Chelukwa. Wait a minute. Your brother is Eugene Achike? The publisher of the Standard?”

From "Purple Hibiscus" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Songs typically carry two copyrights — one for the composition, usually held by songwriters and their publishers, and one for the sound recording, usually owned by the label.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026

In July, a Munich court ruled against Suno in a case brought by GEMA, which collects royalties for German songwriters and publishers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026

Most of these ads were removed automatically by Meta, however Mantzarlis said many ads it identified had promoted domains or publishers that his site, Indicator, had previously flagged to the tech giant.

From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026

In 2021, it enacted a so-called news media bargaining code aimed at pressuring Meta and Google into commercial deals with publishers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026

I discovered that I’d received several offers from movie studios and book publishers, all interested in buying the rights to my life story.

From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline

Related Words

• journalist
• magazine
• media
• newsperson
• reporter
• writer