A strong second half of the year increased sales by nearly 3% at Simon & Schuster in 2003, company CEO Jack Romanos said, pushing sales to an estimated $685 million. Romanos said he was "pleased with earnings... they were ahead of where we expected them to be." During the year, S&S absorbed the bankruptcy of Sher Distributing as well as charges taken in association with closing down its interactive division.
Romanos told PW, "The second half of the year was as good as the first half was bad." Results in S&S's adult division began to improve with the release of Hillary Clinton's Living History in June, and the improvement has carried over into the first five weeks of 2004, Romanos said. Benjamin Franklin and The Ultimate Weight Solution were two other titles that did well for the adult group.
The children's division had a solid year due to a combination of strong licensed properties and individual titles.
The second half of 2003 also benefited from the success of two early Dan Brown titles. Angels and Demons has almost three million copies (hardcover and paperback) in print, and Deception Point has nearly two million copies in print, including almost 100,000 hardcover copies. Simon & Schuster is shipping 150,000 copies of the two books each week.
Romanos was noncommittal about prospects for 2004. He said the company has a strong list this year but will need "lots of little successes" to match the huge sales of Living History last summer. Sales could benefit from the retail marketplace, which is in better condition than a year ago, when war, a recession and SARS combined to pummel sales in February, March and April. "The dynamics that plagued the market in the first half of the year won't rise this year," Romanos said.
