After the success of Sarah J Maas’s new book, Bloomsbury expects to “significantly exceed” market expectations in terms of profit and revenue.
Publisher of Harry Potter said that they now expect annual revenue to be £291.4 and profit before taxes of £37.2, as opposed to the £274.2 and £32.9 millions it predicted in December.
House of Flame and Shadow is the 16th fantasy novel by Maas. It was published on 30 January and has topped the bestsellers lists of The New York Times in the United States and Britain, as well as their equivalents in Australia and Australia.
Maas’s success reflects a wider increase in interest for the genre. Nielsen Bookscan reports that the sci-fi and fantasy genres have grown 54 percent in the last five years.
Bloomsbury has seized on the growing interest in fantasy and is planning to continue investing in this genre. In addition to JKRowling, and Maas, it also publishes other authors of fantasy such as Samantha Shannon, and Susanna Clare, the winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction.
Bloomsbury reported that even before Maas released her latest book they had seen a 79% increase in the sales of Shannon’s books.
Rowling’s Harry Potter Wizarding Almanac was also a bestseller at the publisher. Pub Kitchen, by Tom Kerridge the chef and Ghosts, a book that accompanied the BBC hit television series were also among the bestsellers.
Nigel Newton (68), founder and CEO of Bloomsbury noted that the interest in this area was driven not only by conventional promotional campaigns, but increasingly also through TikTok, Instagram and other social media platforms.
Newton said: “Sarah J Maas has been a publishing sensation for 13 years and we were very lucky to have signed up her with her first novel.
Sabrina McCarthy, the president of Ingram Publisher Services’ American division, will also be joining Bloomsbury as a new employee. Bloomsbury is expanding its market share and has already made 48 percent of their sales in North America compared to 27 percent in Britain.
Bloomsbury shares rose 26 1/2p or 5.4 percent to 518p.