Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A person or business that produces and distributes something, such as a book or magazine, in printed or electronic form.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One who publishes.
  • noun One who, as the first source of supply, issues books and other literary works, maps, engravings, musical compositions, or the like for sale; one who prints and offers a book, pamphlet, engraving, etc., for sale to dealers or to the public.
  • noun One who utters or passes counterfeit paper, or puts it in circulation.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One who publishes.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun One who publishes, especially books.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a firm in the publishing business
  • noun a person engaged in publishing periodicals or books or music
  • noun the proprietor of a newspaper

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

to publish + -er

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Examples

  • Okay, in all honesty, I didn't receive a free copy of this book anyway because the publisher is a BIG MEANIE!!!

    April Christian Science Fiction & Fantasy Blog Tour 2010

  • Okay, in all honesty, I didn't receive a free copy of this book anyway because the publisher is a BIG MEANIE!!!

    Archive 2010-04-01 2010

  • And. If this big name publisher is going to expect me to pay $27.00 for a book, I'd like to know its been properly edited, which is NOT always the case.

    Do publishers matter? 2008

  • Self-published authors receive a lot of negative feedback (primarily from critics and reviewers - you know who you are), but not having the financial backing of a publisher is actually a blessing in disguise .... in that it teaches a writer very quickly what he/she needs to do to break even on a book.

    The Peripatetic Scribe 2008

  • They rely on publishers to do the sorting, and the better a publisher is at sorting, the more likely that publisher is to be profitable.

    April « 2007 « L.E. Modesitt, Jr. – The Official Website 2007

  • They rely on publishers to do the sorting, and the better a publisher is at sorting, the more likely that publisher is to be profitable.

    Those Awful Secrets « L.E. Modesitt, Jr. – The Official Website 2007

  • My favorite dismissive comment by a publisher is the one that sunk Charlotte Perkins Gilman's only mystery novel, _Unpunished_ (written in 1929):

    Ah, Rejection Bill Crider 2007

  • Apparently, a publisher is arguing that a reviewer needs permission to review a book.

    Archive 2006-04-01 2006

  • Apparently, a publisher is arguing that a reviewer needs permission to review a book.

    I Need Permission? 2006

  • For most authors, finding a publisher is a Tolkienian adventure.

    June 2006 2006

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