CEO Brian Murray admits to an over-reliance on non-fiction (by which he means celebrity and politician books). Brian, you seriously have only just come to that conclusion?

HarperCollins has rebounded with a 6% increase in sales and a 61% rise in EBITDA for fiscal 2024. This follows a challenging fiscal year in 2023, where the publisher experienced a 10% drop in sales and a 45% decline in profits.

So not quite the big deal the “rebound” suggests. Memo to Brian Murray: Must try harder.

Key Highlights

Sales Growth: HarperCollins’ sales increased to $2.09 billion.

EBITDA Increase: EBITDA soared to $269 million.

Digital Sales: Digital formats, particularly audiobooks, drove growth, with digital sales accounting for 23% of consumer revenues.

Audiobook Performance: Audiobook sales rose by 18% over the year and 28% in the final quarter, boosted by partnerships with Spotify and Audible.

Print Sales: Despite a decrease in print book sales, HarperCollins viewed this as a natural adjustment to a more efficient supply chain.

Organisational Changes

HarperCollins underwent significant restructuring in fiscal 2024, including:

Consolidation of the Children’s Book Group under Morrow Group head Liate Stehlik.

Closure of the Inkyard Press imprint.

Promotion of Rich Thomas to senior vice-president and executive director of publishing at HarperCollins Children’s Books.

Revamping of the sales operation under president of sales Ed Spade.

Future Outlook: Don’t Laugh But…

HarperCollins CEO Brian Murray expressed optimism about the future growth potential in the audio space and the positive impact of the restructuring on the company’s financial results. The company is now, don’t laugh, focused on exploring new ways to publish and market books.

The clear implication being that until now HarperCollins never gave a thought to innovation and adapting to new market conditions.

Geographical Performance

U.S. Contribution: The U.S. contributed to about two-thirds of HarperCollins’s sales growth.

U.K. Performance: The U.K. also showed solid performance.

Foreign Language Publishing: The company’s foreign language publishing program added $100 million in revenue since its inception.

The View From the Beach

The numbers seem okay, although the cavalier attitude towards falling print sales should have us all worried.

CEO Brian Murray admits to an over-reliance on non-fiction (by which he means celebrity and politician books). Brian, you seriously have only just come to that conclusion?

Parent company News Corp described HarperCollins as a core asset.

That’s great, but News Corp is serious about AI. HarperCollins needs to get off the fence and start embracing AI too.

Murray tried to palm off falling children’s book sales as being due to US book bans.

Yeah, right. How about trying publishing what children want to actually read, instead of ghostwritten dross pumped out under celebrity pen-names?