E-book sales at Hachette UK now 5% and catching US

03.05.11
E-book sales at Hachette UK quadrupled in the first quarter of 2011 and are more than 5% of HUK’s trade sales, the company revealed today (3rd May), adding that it was beginning to catch up with the US, where e-books now account for 22% of sales. It projected that e-books could account for up to 10% of revenues in the UK in 2011.
The numbers were revealed as parent company Lagardere released its first quarter results, which showed publishing sales down close to 10% as the company continued to suffer from comparisons with robust sales of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series a year earlier.
In the three months to end March 2011 revenues amounted to €390m (£349.5m) down 9.8% as reported and down 10.4% like-for-like. However, e-book sales momentum “was considerable”, up 88% compared to quarter one 2010, and now accounting for 22% of revenue in the US and 5% in the UK. “This development is the result of very brisk sales of e-book readers at the end of the year,” the company noted.