Bloomsbury Publishing, the home of Harry Potter, has revealed a rise in annual sales as it said people were turning to books as a cheap form of entertainment as finances were squeezed.
Sales of children’s books rose 17%, led by a 51% jump in sales of the hit author Sarah J Maas’s titles whose latest work, Crescent City: House of Sky and Breath, was released in February last year. The child wizard also continues to be popular, with Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, originally published in 1997, the third bestselling children’s book of the year, according to the Nielsen Bookscan charts.
Adult book sales also rose, up 5%, with bestsellers including A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon, Stolen Focus by Johann Hari and Bake by The Great British Bake Off presenter Paul Hollywood.
The group reported a 15% total rise in sales to £264.1m, including 9% before acquisitions of new businesses, and a 14% rise in pre-tax profit to £25.4m during the year to 28 February.
Bloomsbury’s figures are in contrast to the fortunes of streaming services, which have suffered as Britons have culled their subscriptions during the cost of living crisis.
Nigel Newton, the chief executive of Bloomsbury, said: “In challenging economic times, readers are turning to books as affordable as they cut back on more expensive forms of diversion.”
The company attributed the uplift to its strategy of publishing titles for both the consumer and academic markets and to grow through digital as well as physical markets.
Revenues from academic and professional books jumped 28% to £76m, driven by a growing number of digital readers.
Newton said: “Our long-term strategy to invest in digital content, which has delivered strong growth and cash, enables future strategic investment in both our academic and consumer markets and potential acquisitions – the flywheel of Bloomsbury.”
The increase in sales at Bloomsbury is the latest evidence of a revival in physical book sales since the pandemic when more time spent at home developed a new generation of bookworms.
The change in culture led to independent bookshops in the UK and Ireland climbing to a 10-year high of 1,072 in 2022 after six consecutive years of growth, according to the Booksellers Association. The resurgence followed a 20-year losing streak in which bookshop numbers fell to a nadir of 867 in 2016.
TikTok users are also thought to be driving sales by exciting interest among young people who share tips and reviews on titles through the social media platform.
Publishers warned last year that the price of books was likely to rise because of increases in the cost of paper and energy, and the effects of Brexit.
