Find Printing and Publishing expertise in South Africa

The publishing industry in South Africa is large with numerous independent and international publishing houses placed here. Penguin Books, Pearson, Cambridge University Press and Random House are all major players in the country. The latter merged with Struik Publishers in 2008 to create Random House Struik Ltd. and has become one of the country’s most prominent publishers. The company publishes titles in English and Afrikaans and works with international and local authors. Small publishing house include Kwela Books, Zebra Publishing and Jonathan Ball Publishers. Juta is the largest local publisher of student textbooks and New Voices Publishing are a company which provides a personal service to writers who wants to publish a book and offers a Print on Demand service. Booksite Afrika is the country’s largest book warehousing and distribution facility with a market share of 45-50%.

The Publishers Association of South Africa is the trade body for the sector. The Self-Publishers Association of South Africa works to promote high standards in book content and links with professional organisations in the country. There is also a South African Writers’ Network where authors and writers can be a part of the publishing network.

According to the Global Competitiveness Report 2012–13, South Africa is placed 20 out of 144 countries with a score of 5.3 out of 7.0 for intellectual property protection.

The Cape Town Book Fair is an annual event and is a partnership between the Publishers Association of South Africa and the Frankfurter Buchmesse. The main purpose of the fair is to allow all sectors of the book industry, both local and international, to showcase their work and establish relationships amongst the African publishing community.

There are several high profile universities in South Africa; Wits University in Johannesburg is ranked in the top 1% in the word in seven defined fields of research, according to the 2007 ISI international rankings.

Printing technology meets international standards, and printers vary from basic one-colour machines to eight-colour presses that utilise the advances in digital technology. The main companies are Paarl Web (Media 24), CTP (Caxton) and Naspers. Associated magazines are the largest independent magazine publisher. The small to medium print sector that specialise in smaller print runs include Ultra Litho Ince, Printability, Paarl Post and BM, the latter two associated to Caxton and Media 24 respectively.