Here’s how last year fell out financially for the biggest US trade publishers. While each company calls its profits something a little different, each figure is more or less what the company earned after costs and expenses.
- Penguin Random House operating EBITDA: +9.2%
- HarperCollins EBITDA: +15.5%
- Simon & Schuster operating income: +51.1%
- Lagardère (parent company of Hachette): recurring EBIT: +42.7%
Penguin Random House attributed its good results to successful new titles, robust backlist sales, and demand for digital audiobooks. Amanda Gorman’s three poetry collections sold more than 1 million copies combined, and James Clear’s 2018 Atomic Habits sold more than 3.5 million copies across all formats in English and German. Ebook sales, meanwhile, were down.
Hachette’s growth was driven by sales and sell-through at physical stores, an increase in adult hardcover sales, and profits from its distribution of other publishers. Standout authors include TikTok sensations Colleen Hoover and Taylor Jenkins Reid. Simon & Schuster also saw impressive gains related to the company’s distribution of other publishers, which includes conservative houses such as Post Hill Press and Regnery, as well as Viz Media (a manga and graphic novel publisher).
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
