Sagging Harlequin Book Sales

I hate to end the week on a down note – especially after the wonderful interview yesterday with author Lynda Sappington. (You still have time to throw your name in the hat for one of two copies of her book.) But … you might want to read “Harlequin Sales Decline in 4th Quarter, Profits Also Sag” in Authorlink News.

Here are just a few quotes from the article:

The book publishing unit of Torstar Corporation, which includes Harlequin Enterprises, reported this week that book publishing revenues were down $3.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2007, excluding the impact of foreign exchange.

Book Publishing revenues for the year ending December 31, 2007 were down $1.0 million excluding the impact of foreign exchange.

Harlequin reported a total of 130 million books sold in 2007, down slightly from 131 million in 2006.

There was however some good news:

Book Publishing reported operating profit was $60.6 million in 2007, up $4.3 million or 7.6% from $56.3 million in 2006.

Book Publishing operating profits were up $6.3 million in 2007 excluding the impact of foreign exchange. North America Retail was up $5.8 million, North America Direct-To-Consumer was up $2.2 million and Overseas was down $1.7 million.

Overall, the 2008 Outlook is:

While the book publishing industry has traditionally not been as cyclical, the current economic uncertainty in the US could have a negative impact on Harlequin’s US sales if discretionary consumer spending falls.

NOTE FROM HELEN: There's still time to sign up for Lynda Sappington's drawing for two copies of her book, "Star Sons: Dawn of the Two." Don't miss out on that! Next month, our Featured Author will be Susan Wittig Albert who's stopping by on her blog book tour for the newest in her China Bayles mystery series, Nightshade.