Sales at Salem Media’s publishing division jumped 69% in the second quarter ended June 30, 2021, to $6.6 million, over the comparable period in 2020. The unit is comprised primarily of Regnery Publishing and the self-publishing business Salem Author Services.
According to Salem, book sales at Regnery increased by $2 million in the quarter, which it attributed in part to a 197% increase in volume, due primarily to the reopening of bookstores and other retail locations. Regnery publisher Tom Spence said that, in addition to improved retail sales, a string of frontlist bestsellers, as well as improved backlist sales, drove the sales gain.
The top seller was Fault Lines by Voddie Baucham, which Spence described as a surprise hit from its Christian imprint, Salem Books, which sold more than 90,000 hardcover copies. A second title from Salem, Christianity and Wokeness by Owen Strachan, had large pre-order numbers ahead of its August release that contributed to Regnery’s second quarter results, Spence said.
Three books that have drawn a fair share of controversy also sold well in the quarter, Spence said, pointing to Senator Josh Hawley's The Tyranny of Big Tech, the paperback edition of Irreversible Damage, and Speechless by Michael Knowles. Regnery’s efforts to improve its backlist performance bore fruit last quarter, Spence said, particularly in its history and political imprints.
In the self-publishing segment, Salem reported, subscription fees rose 23.3%, to $1.5 million, in the quarter. Book sales increased $200,000 due to an increase in the number of copies sold.
For the first half of 2021, total sales in the publishing unit jumped 55% over 2020, to $12.3 million. The division had operating income of $700,000, compared to a loss of $2.7 million in the first six months last year.
