Hachette has reported strong figures on both sides of the Atlantic for the first half of 2024, with sales up 8.4% in the UK and 7.7% in the US.
David Shelley, chief executive of Hachette UK and Hachette Book Group in the US, noted its more than 300 Sunday Times bestsellers, which contributed to “fantastic growth” for the UK business.
In the US, business grew by a “sharp 7.7%”, driven notably by the publishing schedule at Little, Brown, including James Patterson’s Eruption, the author’s completion of an unfinished Michael Crichton novel. Hachette parent company Lagardère added: “The segment was also lifted by growth at the Hachette Audio unit, on the back of a strong performance in digital format, as well as by good backlist sales at Orbit and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.”
Commenting further on the UK, Shelley said: “Our UK market share grew from 13.4% in 2023 to 14% year to date—our highest for over a decade, and since the Stephenie Meyer years. We also announced our partnership with Bloomsbury to provide distribution services from 2025 onwards—a significant and exciting moment for us, underpinning our commitment to providing the best service in the book distribution business.”
