'Twilight' Continues to Drive Profits for Hachette, Lagardere

This week, Lagardere SCA, which owns Hachette Book Group, announced its first-half results for this year. While net sales for the entire company were down 2.2 percent, it noted "very strong growth"—more than 11 percent—in its publishing unit. According to a press release issued by Lagardere, this strong growth was "driven by a surge in net sales in the United States on the back of the Stephenie Meyer phenomenon," referring to the author's best-selling "Twilight" series.