Sales in Salem Media Group’s publishing division, which is comprised primarily of Regnery Publishing and the self-publishing units Xulon Press and Mill City Press, fell 11%, to $6.0 million, in the second quarter ended June 30, 2017, compared to the same period in 2016. The publishing division, however, reported net income of $300,000 compared to a loss of $200,000 in the 2016 quarter.
Sales of print books fell $2.4 million at Regnery, which the company attributed to the publisher’s release schedule. In last year’s second quarter, Regnery released Hillary’s America by Dinesh S’Souza, which became a big bestseller. D’Souza’s big book this year, The Big Lie, was released July 31, after the start of the third quarter. Salem also reported that Regnery’s e-book sales decreased by about $100,000 in the quarter due to a 12.2% decrease in the average sales price per unit, offset by a 14.6% increase in the number of books sold.
In its self-publishing companies, sales of print books rose $500,000 over last year’s quarter. Self-publishing fees decreased overall by $300,000, due to a decline of $500,000 from a lower sales volume for Xulon Press that was offset by a $200,000 increase in volume from the acquisition of Mill City Press, Salem said. There were no changes in customer fees compared to the same period of the prior year.
Despite the sales decline in the second quarter, for the first six months of 2017 publishing division revenues were up 8% and the unit reported net income of $500,000, compared to a loss of $400,000 in the first six months of 2016.
