Including all divisions—not just those in the US—Penguin Random House reported a sales decline of 1.4 percent for the first half the year compared to 2019, with profits down nearly 8 percent. This was in spite of a 15 percent increase in digital sales. However, strong results in the US division, where sales increased by 5.2 percent, bolstered overall performance. The bestselling fiction title for PRH continues to be Where the Crawdads Sing, released in 2018.
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.
