Hachette has reported during their first quarter financial results that e-books accounted for 10.0% of their revenue, which is a slight decrease from 10.4% for the first three months of 2016. Digital generated €82 million. Total revenue for the entire publishing division was €440 million, up 6.1% from 2016.
The United States turned in a good performance, with 4.1% revenue growth driven by the Nashville unit and the success of titles such as William P. Young’s The Shack and Trump’s War by Michael Savage.
Business surged 8.1% in the United Kingdom, led by both significant restocking of J.K. Rowling titles and by the success of Bruno Vincent’s Famous Five series. Business also benefited from a positive calendar effect over the period.
In France, business remained stable (down 0.5%) at the beginning of the year in a sharply downbeat market and against the backdrop of the French presidential election. The success of new Livre de Poche paperback releases partly offset the decline in Illustrated Books.
The Spain/Latin America region declined as expected (down 13.9%), due mainly to the fall in Education and to a one-off export transaction in 2016 in Latin America that did not recur in the first quarter of 2017.
Partworks climbed 6.1%, lifted by the success of new collections launched in Spain and continued good momentum in Japan, particularly with the success of Disney Tsum Tsum titles.
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.