HarperCollins announced that eBooks now account for 11% of its USA based sales and 19% of its worldwide sales. Harper said in a brief statement that it “ended the year with a profitable quarter and exceeded its plan for the year.” They say the children division enjoyed “its second best ever” year.
The sales figures were released yesterday afternoon and are indicative of the global success of ebooks. Traditionally, the company gives a fair bit of information on where it is getting its sales and money from, but this year the officials did not break it down. There was no public information on exact publisher sales figures, which has industry heads turning. Instead they decided to just release sales information from the entire business. This publishing division had a full year segment operating income of $864 million, a huge growth compared to the $467 million reported a year ago.
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.