Hachette posts 2009 growth, though US suffers Meyer slowdown
www.thebookseller.com: Hachette’s book business grew 5.3% in 2009, despite a “sharp slowdown” in the US in the fourth quarter thanks to a decline in sales of Stephenie Meyer’s books.
Full-year revenues for 2009 at the publishing business were €2.3bn, up 5.3% on a reported basis or 6.5% on a like-for-like basis, with the growth largely attributed to the ongoing success of Meyer’s Twilight saga. Hachette UK had a record year “reporting very strong sales for 2009”, a separate statement issued by the UK office added, though it did not break out its sales numbers.
The Hachette Book Group’s fourth-quarter growth was less impressive, up just 0.2% on a like-for-like measure. The result was blamed on a “particularly dynamic” fourth quarter of 2008 when Meyer was riding hight, and in December alone Hachette sold 8m copies of her books.
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Essential Sci-Fi Novels
blog.adaptiveblue.com: Our list is filled with literary classics, popular essentials, and the newer books that are currently capturing your imagination. Our list now includes contemporary favorites such as the gasp-inducingly good Hunger Games, Boing Boing blogger Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother, and Twilight author Stephenie Meyer’s sci-fi foray The Host.
Adding award winners is also a big priority when improving our lists. The Hugo and Nebula ceremonies are like the Oscars of science-fiction and fantasy writing, except with less Harry Winston jewelry present. Title holders such as Dan Simmons’s Hyperion, Vernor Vinge’s A Fire Upon the Deep, and Greg Bear’s Darwin’s Radio are now in their rightful place at GetGlue as part of the list.
We also recognize that our original list could be more diverse. Samuel R. Delaney has been a force in literary science fiction for decades, and his Dhalgren now sits on our list with works from other genre giants such as Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke.
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Well I’m not that surprised that twilight books are getting low numbers and selling less. I spent half of December on book stores and saw how people would by other books that weren’t based on twilight; it is not that fans are tired of it, it is just that twilight has opened a new door to all these great books. Stephenie Meyer herself has recommended House of Night and the Mortal Instruments series among others. It’s like any other book, fans will keep coming and new ones will discover it soon and everything will start again.
What do you think?
