Insurance for publishers
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Rated 4.7/5
Based on 39,717 reviews
Claims paid in 24 hours
For 80% of settled claims
Why is publishers insurance important?
Whether it’s meeting an author or just day-to-day company life, publishing does carry significant business risks, which can easily escalate. Publishers’ insurance often includes liability cover, for you and your employees, as well as professional indemnity insurance. These covers focus on accidents and injuries, and mistakes which end up costing someone else money.
- publisher liability insurance, including public, product and employee risks
- rated 4.7/5 based on 39K+ public liability customer reviews
- professional indemnity insurance, up to £2 million
What does publisher insurance cover?
Public liability cover is the starting point for most insurers, as it provides protection against expensive claims for injuries and damage to a third party or their property, whether or not you’re at fault. From there, publishers often add in professional indemnity cover for mistakes which could cause someone a financial loss, along with business and office equipment, stock, buildings, and personal accident protection.
Public liability insurance for publishers liability insurance (public and product)
In case your business causes an injury or property damage.
Employers’ liability insurance
In case anyone gets ill or injured while working for you.
Professional indemnity insurance for publishers insurance
In case there’s a claim for loss-causing errors or issues with your work.
Business and office equipment insurance
In case something happens to the equipment you rely on
Stock insurance
In case the products and materials you rely on are lost, stolen, or damaged.
Building insurance
In case something happens to your publishing business premises.
Legal expenses insurance
In case you’re faced with legal costs while running your publishing business.
Personal accident insurance
In case you or anyone you’ve covered has an accident, at work or elsewhere.
Public liability insurance for publishers liability insurance (public and product)
In case your business causes an injury or property damage.
What’s typically covered by public liability insurance?
Claims against your business for:
- damage to someone’s property, caused by your publishing business
- an injury or illness caused by your business activities and products
- accidental damage or injuries caused by your employees
For example:
- while hosting a meeting, you leave a cable running across the open office floor and your client trips, spraining their ankle
- you accidentally spill hot coffee over a client, causing a burn
Read more about public liability insurance
Employers’ liability insurance
In case anyone gets ill or injured while working for you.
What’s typically covered by employers’ liability insurance?
Claims against your business for:
- an injury or illness that happens as a result of working for you (including temps and casual workers)
**Employers’ liability insurance is required by law if you have people working for you. Without it, you could be fined up to £2,500 a day for each employee.**
For example:
- your office junior slips on some stairs in your premises after they’ve been cleaned, twisting their ankle
- your secretary is lifting some paper from a shelf and dislodges an old printer, which falls and causes her a head injury
Professional indemnity insurance for publishers insurance
In case there’s a claim for loss-causing errors or issues with your work.
What’s typically covered by professional indemnity insurance?
Claims against your business for professional negligence or a loss-causing breach of contract. This can include:
- advice which turns out to be incorrect
- mistakes in your work that cost others money to fix
For example:
- your client suffers a financial loss after your publish their article with errors included
- you advise a client on the best way to format their new book – sales are lower than expected and your client claims against you
Read more about professional indemnity insurance
Business and office equipment insurance
In case something happens to the equipment you rely on
What’s typically covered by business and office equipment insurance?
- accidental damage to the equipment you use to run your publishing business
- theft, flood, and fire damage
For example:
- someone breaks into your office and steals three company laptops
- your office printer, photocopier, and a new phone are damaged beyond repair during a flood
Read more about business and office equipment insurance
Stock insurance
In case the products and materials you rely on are lost, stolen, or damaged.
What’s typically covered by stock insurance?
- loss, damage, or theft of the essentials you keep in stock, like book copies and promotional materials
For example:
- your entire stock of promotional materials for an author’s book launch are destroyed in a flood in your office
- valuable first edition stock is stolen from your office
Read more about stock insurance
Building insurance
In case something happens to your publishing business premises.
What’s typically covered by building insurance?
- the cost of repairing damage to the structure of your building (or rebuilding it from scratch)
- damage to fixtures and fittings
- damage to underground pipes and cables you’re responsible for
For example:
- you need to rebuild your premises from scratch, after extensive damage caused by a fire
- your fixed lighting and meeting room fittings are damaged in a flood
What you’ll need additional cover for
- tenants’ improvements – changes to the property’s structure which you’ve organised and paid for yourself, like partition walls or wooden flooring
Read more about buildings insurance
Legal expenses insurance
In case you’re faced with legal costs while running your publishing business.
What’s typically covered by legal expenses insurance?
- legal costs that you’re responsible for, within your publishing business
- property damage, nuisance, or trespass – specifically, the associated legal claims and compensation payouts
- tax and compliance disputes and investigations you need help with
- access to expert advice – including a tax advice phone line, confidential 24/7 legal phone line, and crisis PR support to help you protect your reputation as a respected publisher
For example:
- you need to cover legal costs when HMRC begin an ongoing investigation into your tax affairs
- an employee brings a discrimination claim against you while they’re on maternity leave, and you need to hire legal representation
Read more about legal expenses insurance
Personal accident insurance
In case you or anyone you’ve covered has an accident, at work or elsewhere.
What’s typically covered by personal accident insurance?
- accidental injury or death of anyone you’ve chosen to cover in your policy – whether this happens at work or elsewhere
- lost income, hospital bills, or other medical costs associated with the accident
For example:
- you cut your hand badly on a broken drawer in your office, and need an operation
- your employee (who you’ve covered on the policy) fractures her foot at a weekend birthday party
Read more about personal accident insurance
This content has been created for general information purposes. Make sure you have the right level of business insurance by checking your policy documentation for details. Read our full Terms and Conditions
Insurance for publishers – how much does it cost?
Find out how much you’ll pay by comparing prices from a range of trusted insurers. You choose what goes into your policy, so you only pay for what you need.
Prices start from £3.19 per month
Get your quotes in 7 minutes – prices are guaranteed for 30 days.
Get your tailored quotes in 7 minutes
10% of our customers paid up to £38.32 a year for a public liability insurance policy between 1st April 2023 - 30th June 2023. Equivalent to £3.19 per month based on a monthly cost when paying for the policy in one annual payment. Paying monthly is usually more expensive as you'll pay interest. Most customers pay more than this but some pay less.
Example publishers insurance quotes, real prices
£26.53 /month
£235.83 /month
A self-employed publisher working with local newspapers and magazines
- 1-2 years' experience
- Sole trader
- No employees
- Based in Leicester
Public liability
£1000000
Employers’ liability
£N/A
Professional indemnity
£50000
£94.09 /month
£836.32 /month
A small publishing company that helps publish cookbooks, novels and childrens books nationwide
- 5+ years' experience
- Limited company
- 2 employees
- Based in Peterborough
Public liability
£2000000
Employers’ liability
£10000000
Professional indemnity
£500000
How we work out example quotes These examples are real quotes from our online system (created 14/09/2021). They’re based on a range of factors, like employees and location. Your own quote will be based on what you tell us about your business. Prices may go up or down from day to day, so the prices you’re quoted may differ to the ones you see here.
What kind of excess should I expect?
An excess is an amount you pay towards any claim you make on your insurance. For example, if your excess is £250 and you make a claim worth £1000, your payout will be a maximum of £750.
Insurance cover | Lowest excess | Highest excess |
|---|---|---|
Professional indemnity | No excess | £2500 |
Public liability | £200 | £750 |
Contents | £100 | £750 |
Portable equipment | £100 | £500 |
Employers liability | No excess | No excess |
The figures above are for guidance only and any excess applying to your quote may differ. You’ll get a breakdown of the excesses for each quote when you compare with us.
How it works
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How do I choose insurance?
Making sure you have the right type and level of business insurance can be the difference between getting a claim paid and having to cover the cost of an expensive accident yourself. Read our tips for guidance on what to consider when buying a policy.
Which type of workers do I need insurance for?
Does publishers insurance cover my work correctly?
Do I need cover for other types of work?
Which public liability cover limit should I choose?
Which type of workers do I need insurance for?
Employers’ liability insurance is a legal requirement if you employ people.
If you have people working for you, including bona fide subcontractors (BFSC), labour-only subcontractors (LOSC), part-timers, or full-time staff, employers’ liability insurance is required by law.
Read on for our simplified guide to the difference between labour-only subcontractors and bona fide subcontractors.
Does publishers insurance cover my work correctly?
Make sure you're picking the right cover to protect you properly. It's important to know that if you have another trade or job, you'll need additional cover. For example, do you need to consider copywriter insurance or journalist insurance?
Do I need cover for other types of work?
If you provide other services, make sure you’re covered:
Other types of insurance
Which public liability cover limit should I choose?
Think about the maximum possible loss your business could face in the event of a claim, and make sure you take legal fees and damages into consideration. You can choose from three levels of coverage – £1 million, £2 million, or up to £5 million.
Talk to an expert
Our team of UK-based insurance experts are here to help, Mon 09.00am - 05.30pm, Tues 09.00am - 05.30pm, Weds 09.00am - 05.30pm, Thurs 09.30am - 05.30pm, Fri 09.00am - 05.30pm, Sat 09.00am - 02.00pm
Call our team
How do claims work?
Unlike price comparison websites, we take the hassle out of claims for you. We know how important it is to get your business back on track quickly – and with a minimum of fuss. That’s why you get access to your dedicated claims any time, day or night. Call them on 0333 207 0560 or claim online. They’ll do their best to be fair and supportive. The figure below is rounded across our range of products. Our claims process may vary for different products and operates on a ‘claim by claim’ basis.
£39 million in claims paid out in 2022
Paying 80% of settled claims within 24 hours in 2022
Example claim
Having publishing insurance through Simply Business has saved UK professionals thousands of pounds when the unexpected happened.
Izette saved more than £13,400
While on holiday, Izette (not her real name) had a call from her office manager, alerting her to a leak from the flat above her premises. The escaped water had damaged a printing machine and other essential equipment, but the optional business and office equipment cover in Izette’s publisher insurance policy covered the repair and replacement costs.
Insurance payout
£13,481.25
Covering the cost of escape of water
Izette’s costs
£100
The excess amount stated in Izette’s policy terms
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Publishing insuranc FAQs
Whether you’re new to buying business insurance or you’ve been trading for a while, here are the answers to some commonly asked questions about publishers’ liability insurance and other popular covers. You can also check out our business insurance FAQs.
Public liability insurance is often an important cover for businesses, as it can protect you if someone is injured or their property is damaged because of your business. Simply Business offers between £1 million and £5 million in cover, to protect you against this cost.
Professional indemnity insurance is a vital consideration for all businesses that give advice or offer professional services to other businesses. It covers you in the event that you give faulty advice that causes financial loss to a client. You can buy professional indemnity insurance as a stand-alone cover or as part of a combined policy with other covers. At Simply Business we offer between £50,000 and £5 million in professional indemnity cover.
If you have employees, contractors, casual workers, or temporary staff, you’re required by law to take out employers’ liability insurance. It’ll cover claims from employees who’ve been injured or become seriously ill as a result of working for you.
Yes. You may start offering additional services that require you to use different skills or carry out different tasks. If you find yourself in this situation, it’s important to give us a call on 0333 043 8527 to update your policy before you take on this new work. If you don’t have the correct type of cover in place for the work you do, you may be unable to claim on your policy if something goes wrong.
Each insurer looks at CCJs and IVAs differently – some apply stricter rules than others, but having a CCJ or IVA doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t be able to buy insurance.
This will depend on whether you have employers’ liability insurance in place. Public liability insurance is designed to protect your business against the consequences of legal action brought by members of the public for injuries or damage to their belongings. But when it comes to your employees causing injury or damage, this protection only activates if you also have employers’ liability insurance.
If you employ people, you’re required by law to have employers’ liability insurance.
There’s one exception here. Family businesses that aren’t incorporated as a limited company are not legally required to have employers’ liability insurance. The government defines a “family business” as one where all your employees are closely related to you (as a spouse, civil partner, sibling, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, step-parent, stepchild or half-sibling). So if you run an unincorporated family business and you choose not to get employers’ liability insurance, it’s important to know that your public liability insurance wouldn’t cover you against damage or injury caused by your team.
We create this content for general information purposes and it should not be taken as advice. Always check policy documentation for details and seek professional advice. Read our full Terms and Conditions
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