Book Biz Closes Out an Unexpected 2020 (publishersweekly.com)

Last week Penguin Random House reported that it had a 23.3% increase in profits in 2020 over 2019 on a 4.6% gain in revenue, capping a remarkable year for America’s five biggest trade publishers that report financial results. Despite the disruptions caused by the pandemic, all five had annual increases in both earnings and sales. Higher sales of e-books and digital audiobooks and solid gains of backlist titles helped drive the revenue and profit gains. Online sales also rose in the year, offsetting soft sales through bookstores due to pandemic-induced lockdowns.

According to PRH parent company Bertelsmann, PRH US had a particularly good year and drove the overall gains for the publisher. PRH US accounted for just over 58% of PRH’s total revenue, or roughly $2.59 billion. In 2019, the U.S. represented 56% of PRH revenue (about $2.2 billion).
more at source: https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/financial-reporting/article/85989-book-biz-closes-out-an-unexpected-2020.html

Related Posts

Average Time to Deliver Across Postal Network Steady at 2.4 Days

FY23 third quarter service performance scores covering April 1 through May 26, included: *First-Class Mail: 92.1% of First-Class Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, an increase of 1.2 percentage points from the fiscal second quarter. *Marketing Mail: 96.0% of Marketing Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, an increase of 1.4 percentage points from the fiscal second quarter. *Periodicals: 88.9% of Periodicals delivered on time against the USPS service standard, an increase of 2.4 percentage points from the fiscal second quarter.

PRC Issues Order Approving Rate Increases for Market Dominant Products

Today the Postal Regulatory Commission approved the Postal Service’s planned price adjustments for First-Class Mail, USPS Marketing Mail, Periodicals, Package Services, and Special Services products. The Commission determined that the rates and related mail classification changes proposed by the Postal Service are consistent with 39 U.S.C. §§ 3622(d) and 3622(e), and may take effect as planned. The new prices, scheduled to take effect January 21, 2018, include a one-cent price increase for the Forever stamp from 49 cents to 50 cents. Postcards and metered letters will also increase by one cent from 34 cents to 35 cents and from 46 cents to 47 cents respectively. A complete listing of approved pricing and classification changes may be found on the Commission’s website, www.prc.gov in Docket No. R2018-1, Order No. 4215

Unit Sales Fell 5.6% Last Week (publishersweekly.com)

Everything is relative. Unit sales of print books fell 5.6% last week compared to the week ended August 8, 2020, when sales rose 10.2% over the prior week driven by several new blockbuster titles. Compared to August 17, 2019, however, sales were up 14.3% at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. The biggest factor in last week’s sales decline was the trailing off of sales of Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer, which sold more than 524,000 print copies following its release on August 4. Last week it sold a very respectable 139,000 copies, making it once again the top-selling title for the week, but the sales drop from its debut led to a 38% sales decline in the young adult segment in the week.
Back To Top
×Close search
Search