wissenmedia international

wissenmedia international is the international rights department of wissenmedia GmbH, the reference division within the Bertelsmann arvato AG. The wissenmedia GmbH has been developing and publishing premium-quality knowledge content since 1952.

The company publishes this content in universal encyclopaedias, encyclopaedic
books and dictionaries. Covering areas of knowledge such as geography, language, history, current events, culture, lifestyle and art, these products appear in print and on all multimedia platforms.

The wissenmedia GmbH markets products in Germany and beyond, with books and electronic media sold in more than 30 countries.  Publishing partners worldwide sell our products via various sales channels, including the book retail trade, book clubs, mail order, door-to-door and newspaper sales. This makes wissenmedia GmbH one of Europe’s leading knowledge publishing houses.
 
In Germany, wissenmedia’s  products are destined for the German retail book trade under the brand names Bertelsmann Atlantica, Bertelsmann Chronik, Bertelsmann Kalender, Bertelsmann Lexikon, Bertelsmann Wörterbuch, Bertelsmann Prisma, Bertelsmann Edition and Bertelsmann Junior. Bertelsmann Atlantica publishes high-quality reference works and atlases, Bertelsmann Lexikon is known for classic encyclopaedias for all age groups. Bertelsmann Wörterbuch publishes WAHRIG, a noted brand for German language dictionaries. Bertelsmann Chronik has since the early ‘80s held a singular position in the German book retail industry with its illustrated books on historical topics, yearly retrospectives and a unique library of chronicles.

The digital world maps of wissenmedia MapWorks are another mainstay of the publishing house’s business. This division creates exclusive proprietary atlases, as well as books for renowned partners such as Reader’s Digest, ADAC, National Geographic, FIFA and countless enterprises in the automotive, logistics, and other industries.   

 
Alongside producing and publishing works for in-house brands, the wissenmedia GmbH serves countless companies and institutions as a partner and media service provider.  

At home in Germany, wissenmedia’s sales channels for books and electronic products comprise the book retail trade, book clubs, Bertelsmann Lexikothek door-to-door marketing, and licences. Customers include Der Club Bertelsmann and Reader's Digest as well as other partners with shopping and mail order offerings. wissenmedia GmbH markets its digital products jointly with USM in the retail trade as well as in download portals such as pdassi.de, pocketland.de, mobile2day.de, palmandmore.de and loadware.net.

German and European firms seeking knowledge contents and tailored media solutions turn to wissenmedia GmbH. Catering for our corporate customers, we provide extensive services ranging from consultancy, conceptualisation, media production, and product marketing. We also broker cross-industry partnerships to join forces and help media publications achieve utmost success. Our product spectrum encompasses everything from folders and product marketing concepts to personalised premium products and exclusive company gifts.

wissenmedia has more than 50 years experience designing and producing reference works. In recent years, the publishing house applied its content handling skills to develop very advanced publishing systems. These systems enable wissenmedia to keep resources up to date, present content in every media format, and create high-quality encyclopaedias and references tailored to current consumer demands. This is how we leverage high-tech to benefit our customers and consumers.

A sophisticated content management system is the powerful tool used to create encyclopaedias. Developed in-house by NIONEX GmbH, also a Bertelsmann AG company, this content management system allows editors to prepare, format, and produce contents tailored to suit the given target group, ensuring it gets the reference work it needs. Dictionary editors have a fully digital body of text archived in a database to draw on. Called WAHRIG Textkorpusdigital and based on a representative cross-section of print media in the Germanophone regions, das WAHRIG Textkorpusdigital  encompasses some 500 million frequently used words and reflects the language’s common usage in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Dictionaries derived from this body of text feature an up-to-date selection of commonly used terms extensive enough to satisfy day-to-day, real-world demands.

wissenmedia GmbH deals with knowledge in all its facets and for the most diverse target groups. More than merely a publishing house, wissenmedia is a leading European content and media company serving people’s reference and knowledge needs.