Hachette Book Group “delivered a sparkling performance,” in the third quarter of 2018 over the comparable period a year ago, parent company Lagadere reported.
Sales at HBG were up 5.1%, Lagadere said, “driven by the continued success of the Perseus backlist, especially Jen Sincero’s You are a Badass, and by a strong release schedule at Grand Central Publishing, including Sally Field’s In Pieces.” The release earlier this year of The President is Missing also added to the third quarter gain.
HBG CEO Michael Pietsch noted that third quarter results also benefited from continued strong sales of digital audiobooks. In addition, HBG completed the purchase of the Worthy Publishing Group in the period.
The U.S. was a bright spot for the Lagardere publishing group, geographically speaking, as sales in other regions were down. Worldwide sales at the company fell 6.1% in the quarter, to €607 million. Sales were down 14.7% in France, 6.7% in the U.K., and 8.2% in the Spain/Latin America region.
For the first nine months of 2018, total revenue in the publishing group fell 3.5%, to €1,607 million, compared to a year ago.
Back in the U.S., Pietsch said he is expecting “an outstanding finish to the year.” He pointed to forthcoming books by such authors as Nicholas Sparks, James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein, Pete Souza, Michael Connelly, N. K. Jemisin, and Elin Hilderbrand as the reason for his optimism.
