Hachette has released its 3rd quarter sales figures today and digital revenue is on the rise. The company has seen an increase of over 20%, mainly stemming from ebooks.
Hachette Livre delivered net sales of €626M, up 4.2% from 2011. A ton of success was found in the General Literature department, which rose sharply in France (+12.4%), the UK (+17%), and the US (+7.3%), thanks to the release of JK Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy on September 27. This solid performance by General Literature helped offset the slowdown in the company’s education business in France, Spain, and the UK. Digital continues to grow within the publishing division, accounting for 20% of total third-quarter Adult trade book sales in the US and 20% in the UK, representing 6.4% of total net sales for Hachette Livre.
At Hachette Book Group, net revenues were up 6% in the third quarter, but on a year-to-date basis, HBG’s sales are still below the prior year. Digital sales at HBG increased 3% compared with the third quarter of 2011. Digital represents 20% of HBG’s net sales, consistent with last year. In 2011, ebooks represented 21% of HBG’s net sales, which is up from 9% of net sales for Q3 2010. Overall in 2011, the company experienced 134% growth over total ebook sales in 2010.
The increase in digital sales for Hachette mirrors the highest earnings report by Simon and Shuster. They have also seen a 20% increase in ebook sales for the 3rd quarter.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
