Hachette Book Group and Hachette UK CEO David Shelley in conversation in the Publishing Perspectives Forum at Frankfurter Buchmesse 2024. Image: FBM, Marc Jacquemin
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
‘An Extremely Strong 2024’
As France’s Lagardère Group this evening in Paris (February 13) releases its full-year 2024 financial results, and David Shelley, the CEO of both Hachette Book Group in New York and Hachette UK in London, has issued a communiqué to his staff, provided to Publishing Perspectives to time with the release of the Lagardère announcement.
During its shareholders’ event, Lagardère is touting “strong growth” in 2024, with revenue of some €9 billion, “reflecting growth of 10.6 percent, driven by all activities.” In its report, the company says, “For the first time, the group’s two main divisions (Lagardère Publishing and Lagardère Travel Retail) contributed in almost equal measure” to its positive results.
Lagardère chair and CEO Arnaud Lagardère specifically mentions “remarkable momentum in the United States and the United Kingdom” as being the main drivers of “a high level of business in terms of both revenue and profitability.”
And Shelley writes to his USA team:
“Hachette Book Group had an extremely strong 2024, with growth of 7 percent year-on-year.
“Grand Central, Orbit and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers all delivered particularly exceptional results, and key titles included The Wild Robot by Peter Brown (LBYR); The Housemaid by Freida McFadden (GCP); Eruption by James Patterson and the late Michael Crichton (LB); Swan Song by Elin Hildebrand, (LB); Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez (GCP); The End of Everything by Victor Davis Hansen (Basic Books); Quicksilver by Callie Hart (GCP); Revenge of the Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell (LB); as well as ongoing success for Rachel Gillig (Orbit), Holly Black (LBYR) and Jennifer Lynn Barnes (LBYR).
Related article: Hachette’s David Shelley: ‘Raising Readers’ Internationally Image: Publishing Perspectives, Johannes Minkus
“Backlist sales were also notably resilient across the group, epitomized by What to Expect When You’re Expecting by Heidi Murkoff (Workman), celebrating its 40th anniversary and still selling extremely strongly.
“Audio sales continued to grow, and we saw more listeners than ever before for our authors’ titles. By investing in top-tier production and securing the best voice talent, audio is a core part of our publishing strategy. With the continued expansion of digital distribution and the rising popularity of audiobook subscriptions, we anticipate even greater opportunities ahead, reinforcing our mission to make discovering new worlds—of ideas, learning, entertainment, and opportunity—more accessible than ever.
“Strategic expansion and investment also played a key role in 2024. The acquisition of Union Square & Co. adds exciting new voices and categories to our portfolio, reinforcing our commitment to adjunct publishing spaces including stationery and gifts, as well as becoming the custodians of their exceptional children’s list with Mo Willems as its centerpiece, as well as a great cookery list, a beautiful classics list and a burgeoning adult list.
“In service to our Changing the Story pillar and our aim to publish for the broadest range of readers, among other activities in 2024, we were especially proud to sponsor the inaugural Latinx Kidlit Book Festival Storytellers Conference in New York City, which kicked off Hispanic Heritage and Latinx Heritage Month. The historic event was the largest, in-person, national gathering of Latinx writers, illustrators, editors, and literary agents to date. And in January 2025, we hired Sara Munjack as our director of diversity, equity, and inclusion—a new position, joining the team of Carrie Bloxson who has been promoted to chief human resources officer.
“Looking ahead, we have an extremely vibrant 2025 publication schedule and I’m excited about what the year has in store for Hachette Book Group. A major focus for us this year, alongside our publishing, will be our Raising Readers initiative to help build the readers of the future.”
As Publishing Perspectives readers will remember, Shelley announced the advent of his “Raising Readers” initiative in early December, referencing it as an international call to action based in what he cited at the time as disturbing data from the UK’s National Literacy Trust, indicating that reading for enjoyment may be decreasing by as much as 8.8 percent in a year.
More on his “Raising Readers” program and how it’s expected to work, is here.
More from Publishing Perspectives on reading and international programming around it is here, more on children’s and young people’s books and reading is here, and more on Hachette divisions and their work is here.
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