What a difference a hit book series can make, particularly when that series sells 20 million copies. Harper Collins got a massive fillip in its last financial year (just ended) from Veronica Roth’s blockbuster Divergent trilogy.
Harper revenue rose by just 6% to $1.4 billion for the year but profits shot up by 38% to $198 million, which brought a massive margin (for book publishing at least) of nearly 14%, compared with the previous year’s 10%.
Roth’s books hit the best-sellers’ list big-time last year, with a major boost coming as the first film of the trilogy was released.
Ebook business accounted for a good portion of the big rise in profits as Harper ebook revenue leapt by over a third to take a 22% share of Harper sales overall, up from 17% in the previous year.