HarperCollins has just released their financial results and the publisher has reported that e-books represented 20% of their revenue, which amounted to $82 million. Last year, in the exact same quarter e-books accounted for 22% of their revenue and generated $89 million.
Profits are actually up 1% at HarperCollins, despite e-book sales falling a few percentage points. This means what they lost selling overpriced digital content they made up for selling hardcovers and paperbacks. They specifically mention Go Set a Watchman as being the biggest success they had during the reporting period.
HarperCollins is not the only publisher to report sagging e-book revenues. Simon & Schuster also reported that e-books only accounted 20.4% of their total revenue down from 25.1% in the same quarter last year.
Michael Kozlowski is the Editor in Chief of Good e-Reader. He has been writing about electronic readers and technology for the last four years. His articles have been picked up by major and local news sources and websites such as the Huffington Post, CNET and more. Michael frequently travels to international events such as IFA, Computex, CES, Book Expo and a myriad of others. If you have any questions about any of his articles, please send Michael Kozlowski an email to [email protected]