Droemer Knaur

Publishing group Droemer Knaur GmbH & Co.KG
legal form	GmbH & Co. KG
Seat	Munich
management	Bernhard Fetsch; Doris Janhsen; Josef Röckl;
Branch	publishing company
Website	www.droemer-knaur.de

Droemer Knaur is a publishing group based in Munich . The group consists of the book publishers Droemer , Knaur , Pattloch Verlag and OW Barth. Droemer Knaur belongs to the Georg von Holtzbrinck publishing group . The publishing group also cooperates with neobooks , which is a free provider among the self-publishing platforms for self-publication of e-books .

program

Droemer Knaur Verlag traditionally publishes novels and non-fiction books by German and international authors. Thanks to the broad programmatic structure and the acquisition of many bestselling authors such as Johannes Mario Simmel , the company quickly developed into one of the most renowned publishers for fiction in Germany. The entertainment literature is represented with a wide range of historical novels, crime novels, thrillers, fantasy and romantic literature. In the non-fiction area, non-fiction books, biographies, guides, esoteric and conspiracy theories are published. The publisher publishes international bestselling authors for the German market and sells licenses for German-language authors all over the world.

history

The origins of the publisher lie in the Leipzig steam bookbindery Theodor Knaur , which can be traced back to 1846. After individual publications, the publishing bookstore Theodor Knaur had the first regular program in 1884. The publishing house was sold to the Berlin bookseller Gabriel Hendelsohn and renamed Theodor Knaur Nachf. Verlag in 1901 .

In 1902 Adalbert Droemer joined the publishing house as a representative. He took over the publishing house in 1934 from the Hendelsohn brothers, who emigrated to the USA. Two years later, Droemer's son Willy Droemer joined the management team and, after Adalbert Droemer's death, took over responsibility for the publishing house in 1939.

In 1943 the publishing rooms and production were destroyed in an air raid. After the end of the Second World War , Willy Droemer re-founded the publishing house in Wiesentheid Castle (Lower Franconia) as Droemersche Verlagsanstalt , which soon moved to Munich . Willy Droemer quickly succeeded in building on old successes and continuously increasing the publisher's awareness.

From 1970 Willy Droemer and Georg von Holtzbrinck worked together and exchanged shares. In 1980 the Georg von Holtzbrinck publishing group took over the entire publishing house, and Droemer retired from the management. In 1982 the publishing house took over Kindler Verlag .

Since 1999 Droemer Knaur Verlag has belonged as a joint venture to the Georg von Holtzbrinck and Weltbild publishing groups ; In 2013, Holtzbrinck took over 100 percent of the shares again. In 1999 Pattloch Verlag was integrated into the Droemer Knaur publishing group. The Pattloch publishing house was founded in 1946 in Aschaffenburg founded and was since 1987 part of Verlagsgruppe Weltbild.

The Droemer Knaur publishing group was the No. 1 bestseller publisher in 2005 and 2006 according to the bestseller list from Der Spiegel / Buchreport .

Droemer Knaur has also been publishing e-books since 2008 . In 2009 the PAN publishing house "for Fantastic Entertainment" was founded, which existed until 2012.

In 2010 the OW Barth Verlag (previously S. Fischer Verlag ) was taken over. OW Barth was founded in Munich in 1924 and went to Scherz Verlag in Bern in 1973 . With this he was taken over by S. Fischer in 2002.

Also in 2010, the online platform was neobooks.com founded as a digital imprint of the publishing group, which in cooperation with the also the publishing group Georg von Holtzbrinck belonging Rowohlt Verlag as a free provider under the self-publishing platforms occurs. Here authors can produce and market their works as e-books free of charge. In addition, the authors, together with “pure” readers and the publisher's own editing department , can make a selection from the works presented at neobooks.com , which may then be available as a regular paperback by Droemer Knaur or as an e-book as part of a publishing contract in accordance with Section 1 of the Publishing Act the Knaur eRiginals is published.

In 2011 the Imprint Droemer Paperback was founded.

Programmatic development

At the beginning of the long history of publishing, Theodor Knaur published literary classics, among other things. In 1927/28 the series Romane der Welt appeared with Thomas Mann and Hermann Georg Scheffauer as editors. Thanks to technical innovations under Adalbert Droemer, books could be produced cheaply and made accessible to broad sections of the population. This included Knaur's Konversationslexikon with 5 million copies sold, Knaur's World Atlas and other inexpensive non-fiction books. Knaur also became known to children through fairy tale books by Grimm, Bechstein and 1001 Nights .

With Johannes Mario Simmels Willy Droemer got into the novel business to the bitter end and followed up with other bestsellers of modern world literature. With Peter Bamm's Worlds of Faith , the first paperback was published in 1963. The paperback program reflects the diversity of Droemer Knaur hardcover books with various series, such as Knaur Ratgeber, Fantasy, Crime, Politics & Contemporary History or MensSana (for spiritual and esoteric topics). From 1971 the German version of the Times Atlas of the World appeared as Knaur's large world atlas . This continued the earlier successes from the beginning of the publishing history.

Droemer Knaur claims to be the market leader for memoirs and historical novels in German-speaking countries. One of the most famous books here is the trilogy about The Wandering Whore . Other focal points are detective novels and thrillers by German and international authors, women's entertainment, political non-fiction books and biographies, as well as a wide range of advice programs.

In Pattloch publishing fiction books published by renowned scientists and journalists on social issues. A tradition of psychotherapeutic bestsellers began with the authors Manfred Lütz and Raphael M. Bonelli .

The OW Barth Verlag describes itself as a publisher for spiritual literature with a focus on Eastern wisdom, holistic healing systems and non-fiction books, at the intersection between science and spirituality.

The most famous fiction authors of the publishing group include: B. Iny Lorentz , Sebastian Fitzek , Anne Hertz , Sabine Ebert and Andreas Franz . Well-known international writers such as Karen Rose , Val McDermid , John Katzenbach and Michael Connelly are also part of the program.