Bloomsbury Publishing is on track to see this year’s financial results exceed market expectations on the back of rising demand for fantasy fiction.
The London-listed publisher credited novels from Sarah J. Maas and J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series for helping it deliver the highest first-half revenue and profit in its history.
Bloomsbury reported Thursday that its sales had jumped 32% in the first half to £179.8 million ($166 million), while its pre-tax profits rose 50% to £22.1 million.
The publisher’s strong results combined with “good trading in September and October” has allowed its leadership to predict that its full-year revenue will surpass £319.3 million and pre-tax profits will exceed £37.5 million for the same period.
Bloomsbury said it had benefitted from the launch of another new book from Maas entitled: Crescent City: House of Flame and Shadow, which became a global number one bestseller on publication on January 30. The new release was also credited with boosting the sales of her 15 other titles.
Maas is a “publishing phenomenon,” whose books have attracted a huge audience through word-of-mouth recommendations on TikTok and Instagram. Bloomsbury has sold more than 55 million copies of her books worldwide.
The American author was signed by Bloomsbury 13 years ago to write her first novel in a literary genre known as romantasy—a mix of fantasy and romance. The publisher has a deal for six more titles from Maas.
Bloomsbury enjoyed similar partnership after its discovery and backing of Rowling, and the publisher says the Harry Potter series continues to be a bestseller 27 years later. The publishing house predicts that the new Harry Potter TV series will introduce the books to new readers.
Bloomsbury’s CEO Nigel Newton had previously warned of the threat of artificial intelligence to the publishing industry, pointing out that tech firms were using copyrighted content to train generative AI models, but the executive indicated that progress was also being made on that front.
“We are exploring the opportunity to monetize content through AI deals in a responsible and ethical manner,” Newton said in Thursday’s filing.
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