The boss of Bloomsbury Publishing hailed author Sarah J. Maas as a “publishing phenomenon” as it revealed its revenue and profits are set to be “significantly ahead” of expectations.
Fantasy writer Maas’s popularity on Tik Tok is set to push Bloomsbury’s profits beyond £40 million, and has helped send shares in the Harry Potter publisher to an all-time high. More than half a million videos featuring the hashtag #SarahJMaas have been posted on Tik Tok, attracting a combined 3.3 billion views.
Bloomsbury said it would invest more in fantasy following the success of her books, with the most recent release - House of Flame and Shadow in January - being an especially big hit.
Boss Nigel Newton, said: "I am overjoyed to report an exceptionally strong period of trading, principally driven by the increasing demand for fantasy fiction.
“Sarah J. Maas is a publishing phenomenon and we are very fortunate to have signed her up with her first book 13 years ago. Her books have a huge audience which continues to grow backed by major Bloomsbury promotional campaigns, driving strong word of mouth recommendation, particularly through TikTok and Instagram channels.”
Bloomsbury said other fantasy and sci-fi works, such as those by authors Samantha Shannon and Susanna Clark, also performed well.
The shares rose by 7.5% to 528.3p. They’re up by more than 35% over the last four months.
Investec analyst Alastair Reid said: “The unparalleled success of Bloomsbury’s portfolio continues.
“The cash generation of previous periods has underpinned ongoing investment to support content that should deliver further profitable growth in the years to come – sustaining the virtuous flywheel at the heart of the business. Today’s trading update gives the latest demonstration of this, in this case focused on their expanding presence in the fantasy genre.”
