Net sales from digital products (ebooks and audio books) in the US climbed 130% last year at Hachette Book Group (HBG). Lagardère SCA, the parent of HBG, released financial results today that provided some highlights of the book publisher’s performance.
HBG’s overall sales in the US were up 12.8% in the fourth quarter of 2011. This is impressive given that Borders closed and that ebooks generate less revenue than print books. HBG’s ebooks now account for 20% of all adult trade sales in the US.
So, it looks like overall revenues from book publishing are still going up while ebook sales are skyrocketing. This is pretty amazing given that ebooks cost less than print books.