Finance

Second-quarter revenue increased by 27% at Amazon over last year's second period, as business began to return to more normal buying trends following months of pandemic-fueled shopping.

Revenue at Hachette Book Group increased 14.8% over the first half of 2020, while sales at parent Lagardère Publishing jumped 16.4%, and profits soared.

A plunge in book fair revenue led to a 12.5% decline in sales at Scholastic in the fiscal year ended May 31, 2021, but the publisher forecast "significant growth" in 2022 revenue and an improved bottom line.

In a presentation on July 21, NPD BookScan said that, based on current trends, unit sales of print books are likely to finish 2021 with a gain over 2020. How high that gain will be depends on several factors, including the future course of the pandemic.

Led by sales of K-12 materials, sales of all publishers that report to AAP rose 11.1% in May over last year. Sales of adult books increased 10% in the month, and children's/YA sales were up 7.3%.

Profits for the first quarter ended May 31, 2021, rose 79% at Educational Development Corp. Sales increased 6.5%, to $40.8 million.

The Publishers Weekly Stock Index saw a 37.1% jump in the first half of 2021.

Led by huge gains in the educational categories, sales of publishers reporting results to the AAP jumped 43.7% in April over April 2020. Last April was one of the sales low points during the pandemic.

Sales in IDW Media's publishing division, which includes the graphic novel imprints IDW and Top Shelf, rose to $6 million in the second quarter ended April 30, 2021 due primarily to the revival of the direct market, which was shut last spring because of the pandemic.

In a recent presentation, HarperCollins CEO Brian Murray said he sees no signs of consumer book spending slowing down in 2021—nor does he see the trend toward greater consolidation of the industry cooling.