Marshall Cavendish

What Marshall Cavendish does

Marshall Cavendish International is a Singapore-based book publishing company operating as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Times Publishing Group, a major regional publishing conglomerate. Founded in 1970 with over five decades of publishing experience, the company publishes books in both print and electronic formats across more than 18 categories including Biography, Business and Self-Help, Children, Cuisine, Culture and Heritage, Fiction, Health and Wellness, History, Language, Natural History, Parenting, Politics, Social Issues, Travel, and True Crime. The catalog is substantial — for example, the Cuisine category alone contains 112 titles and Biography contains 67 titles — with active title launches continuing through 2023 and 2024.

The company generates revenue through three primary streams: book sales (one-time unit sales priced between $14 and $65 depending on format and content), custom publishing services for corporate and institutional clients seeking branded books, and rights and licensing income from international content sub-licensing. Distribution is handled through major bookstore chains in Singapore, Amazon Singapore, Amazon International, Wordery, and all major e-book retailers globally. The go-to-market is sales-led, leveraging traditional retail and digital marketplace relationships rather than direct-to-consumer e-commerce.

Marshall Cavendish serves two distinct customer segments: general consumers (primary) across all age groups and interests, and corporate/institutional clients seeking custom publishing services. The technology stack is a standard publishing technology platform for print and digital book production and distribution with no disclosed AI, ML, API, or proprietary software components. The company maintains a small headcount of 11-50 employees and operates as a mature, stable subsidiary within a larger conglomerate structure rather than a venture-backed growth entity.

Name

Marshall Cavendish

Legal name

Marshall Cavendish International

Website

https://marshallcavendish.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1970

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Marshall Cavendish International is a Singapore-based book publisher and subsidiary of Times Publishing Group, publishing fiction, non-fiction, cuisine, children's, and travel books across 18+ categories in print and digital formats for global consumers and corporate clients.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Book Publishing

NAICS

Book Publishers (51313)

SIC

Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731)

akta.pro primary industry

General Trade Publishing (Adult Fiction & Nonfiction) (MPAJAAAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Mass Market & Paperback Publishing (MPAJAAAD), Business, Personal Finance & Careers Trade Publishing (MPAJAAAK)

Keywords

• Book publishing
• Custom publishing
• Rights licensing
• Digital publishing
• Children's books

Headquarters

HQ city

Singapore

HQ country

Singapore

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Book Sales: Revenue from selling published books in both print and electronic formats through bookstore chains and e-book retailers. Individual book purchases at various price points ranging from $14.00 to $65.00 depending on format and content.
2. Custom Publishing Services: Custom publishing services for companies and organizations wanting to publish books about their company or organisation.
3. Rights and Licensing: Revenue from licensing rights for their published content to other publishers or media companies.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Marshall Cavendish is a Singapore-based book publisher that produces and distributes books across 18+ categories in both print and electronic formats through major bookstore chains and global e-book retailers. In addition to its core consumer publishing business, the company offers custom publishing services for companies and organizations and rights/licensing services for international content distribution.

Product overview

Marshall Cavendish International is a leading book publisher in Asia with over five decades of experience, publishing books in both print and electronic formats. The company offers a diverse range of content across over 15 categories including Biography, Business and Self-Help, Children, Cuisine, Culture and Heritage, Fiction, Graphic Novel, Health and Wellness, History, Language, Natural History, Natural Science, Parenting, Politics, Social Issues, Travel, and True Crime. The core publishing business is supported by Custom Publishing services for corporate clients and Rights and Licensing for international distribution.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Marshall Cavendish Book Publishing

Named customers2 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• HarperCollins: Global trade publisher across the same general fiction, non-fiction, biography, and children's categories Marshall Cavendish serves. Comparable business model and global retail/e-book distribution, with substantially deeper pockets for author advances and marketing.
• John Wiley & Sons (Wiley): Established publisher across trade, professional, and reference books with global distribution. Comparable to Marshall Cavendish's Business, History, and reference-adjacent categories.
• Penguin Random House: World's largest trade book publisher spanning fiction, non-fiction, biography, cuisine, children's, and travel — directly comparable to Marshall Cavendish's broad category catalog but at vastly larger scale. Operates globally with all the same distribution channels Marshall Cavendish uses.
• Hachette Book Group: Major global trade publisher with overlapping categories including biography, business, history, and travel. Same distribution mix of bookstore chains, Amazon, and e-book retailers as Marshall Cavendish.
• Simon & Schuster: Established US/global trade publisher with comparable genre mix (fiction, non-fiction, biography, business). Same retail and digital distribution model Marshall Cavendish relies on.
• Oxford University Press: Major global publisher with significant trade and reference catalog including history, language, and culture titles that overlap Marshall Cavendish's categories. Comparable distribution and corporate-publisher operating model.

Direct peers

• Tuttle Publishing: Asia-focused English-language publisher specializing in Asian cuisine, culture, language, martial arts, and children's titles. Most directly comparable regional peer to Marshall Cavendish given overlapping Asian content themes and international distribution.
• Lonely Planet: Specialist travel publisher with global retail and e-book distribution; directly comparable to Marshall Cavendish's Travel category. Both rely on the same bookstore and Amazon/Wordery channels.
• Periplus Editions: Asia-focused publisher with strong cuisine, travel, and culture titles. Direct competitive overlap with Marshall Cavendish's Cuisine (112 titles) and Travel categories, distributed through the same global retail channels.
• Scholastic: Global children's book publisher with strong trade catalog and education channel distribution. Comparable to Marshall Cavendish's Children's category and overall trade publishing model.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/marshallcasia
• Facebookfacebook.com/MCgenref
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/marshall-cavendish

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Marshall Cavendish