Bird Book Publishers

This cannot be an exhaustive list of publishers in general that have published bird at some time. However, below is a series of links to those bird book publishers that Fatbirder is aware of that have established an internet presence. All the really large worldwide publishers like Bloomsbury and Random House, and several of the internationally well-known university presses, such as Princeton, Johns Hopkins or Oxford publish ‘popular science’ books and more academic works.

Many people self-publish to a relatively small but dedicated readership and there are, still, a few very niche publishers catering to birders. However, they come and go and many have been absorbed by larger, generic publishing houses that maintain those imprints, such as Bloomsbury having taken into the fold Christopher Helm, Helm, Pica Press and T & A D Poyser. Very recently (2025) Whittles was sold to Porto Press.

So, I have chosen some of the leading names for the use of any of you budding authors or illustrators looking for a suitable publisher.

Like birds some large publishers absorb small rivals. Crimson-rumped Tucanet eating a Cloud-forest Pygmy Owl – ©Dubi Shapiro

I’ve also tried to track down as many of the extant niche publishers as I can, those which concentrate on bird or wildlife books. But, to reiterate, small publishers come and go. The books I have written have been published by Helm (absorbed), Pelagic (still independent), Bloomsbury (took over Helm), Brambleby (independent), Whittles (recently sold) and Johns Hopkins.

When you look at the ‘useful reading’ sections on geographical or bird family pages you will note that a lot of bird book authors are self-publishers. For the most part, this is not vanity publishing but a recognition that sales may well be low and getting information out there in the form of a book is worth doing even if sales are focussed on covering costs rather than making a profit.