Finance

Sales in fiscal 2022 at Bloomsbury Publishing were up 24% over fiscal 2021, rising to $277 million, and profits increased 40%, to $32.2 million. The U.S. now accounts for about 30% of the publisher's sales.

A recent report from NPD BookScan found that U.S. print book sales of LGBTQ fiction reached nearly 5 million units in 2021, doubling 2020 sales.

Sales of adult trade books fell slightly in the first quarter of 2022 from the comparable period in 2021, but children's sales increased 10.2% at publishers that report to AAP's StatShot program.

The spring sales trend of weekly declines of about 6% continued last week, with unit sales of print books dropping 6.4% compared to the week ended May 22, 2021, at outlets that report to BookScan.

After hitting a record high of $204.6 million in the fiscal year ended February 28, 2021, revenue at Educational Development Corp. fell 30.3% in fiscal 2022, dropping to $142.2 million. Net earnings declined 34.1%, to $8.3 million.

March bookstore sales increased 12.5% over a year ago, contributing to a 16% gain in the first quarter of 2022 over the comparable period in 2021. The $1.99 billion in 2022 first quarter sales, however, was 2.5% below the first period of 2019.

Sales of children’s/YA books rose 24.2% in February over a year ago, while adult trade book sales increased 7%, according AAP’s StatShot program.

Higher manufacturing and freight costs, and ongoing supply chain and inflationary pressures, resulted in a 16% drop in earnings at HarperCollins for the quarter ended March 31, 2022. Sales rose 5%.

A tough year for the stock market got worse in April, leading the Publishers Weekly Stock Index, now down to only six companies, to drop 8.8%.

With earnings jumping 85% in the first quarter, Simon & Schuster CEO Jonathan Karp said he is pleased the publisher is "defying gravity" at the moment.