Hachette Book Group has publicized its Q1 financial results and digital is on the rise within the company. eBook sales from Hachette now account for over 34% of the company’s entire revenue stream, and tangible books increased by over 14.9%. These increases were partly attributed to a number of their titles hitting the bestseller list, including James Patterson, David Baldacci, and Brad Meltzer.
Not only is Hachette making strong gains in the digital sector in the US, but its international efforts are also paying dividends. In the United Kingdom, ebook sales now account for over 12.4% of sales, up from 9.5% a year ago.
In France, net sales were up significantly (General Literature up 40%) mainly due to the release of the last two installments of EL James’ Fifty Shades trilogy. In the UK and Commonwealth, sales were down slightly (-0.2%), with strong literature sales in the UK offsetting a challenging bookseller retail environment in Australia and New Zealand.
Hachette is seeing strong growth due to the number of bestselling titles in their portfolio. The company actually leads all major USA publishers in having over 80 titles on various bestseller lists for the year so far. Obviously the company has a sound digital strategy, but one of their architects Maja Thomas, senior vice president of Hachette Digital, announced she was leaving the company.
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.
