Hachette has just released financials for the first six months of 2017 and they have proclaimed that e-books accounted for 8% of global revenue. The United States continues to be the biggest market for the publisher, digital generated 21% of the publishers revenue stream.
In the first six months of 2017 Hachette said that the e-book market is plateauing. The United States saw an increase of 1%. Meanwhile the UK, Australia and New Zealand e-book sales increased by 5% and garnered a measly £27.2 million. Hachette said in an investors presentation that they are bullish about France and Spain as being key markets for e-books.
Overall revenue for Hachette rose 5.4% in the first half and the publisher made over €1 billion. In France, where the market was affected by the electoral climate, business retreated 3.1%. The rise in returns was only partially offset by a resilient performance from General Literature which enjoyed success, for example with Virginie Despentes’ Vernon Subutex 3 and Laetitia Colombani’s La Tresse.
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.