Children's/YA Sales Rose 13% in 2012

Total sales in the children's/young adult segment rose 13.0% in 2012, to $3.70 billion, according to figures released by BookStats.

Trade Sales Rose 6.9% in 2012

Trade book sales rose 6.9%, to $15.05 billion, in 2012, according to figures released by BookStats, the Association of American Publishers/Book Industry Study Group statistics program.

HBG Sales Up 14.9% in First Quarter

Revenue at Lagardère Publishing rose 6.6% in the first quarter ended March 31 compared to the first period of 2012, with sales up to 419 million euros.

HMH Cuts Loss, Trade Sales Up

Total sales inched up at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in the first quarter ended March 31, 2013, rising 0.8%, to $166.6 million, and its net loss was cut to $137.4 million from $225.3 million in the comparable period in 2012.

Berean Chain Pleased with Sales

Berean Christian Stores likes its comp sales figures as it completes a systems overhaul.

Harlequin First Quarter Revenues Drop

Blaming the “unfavourable effect” of a transition to higher digital royalty rates for authors as well as the tough overall global economy, Harlequin reported revenues of $102.5 million for the first quarter of 2013, down $4.1 million from the same period in 2012.

Industry Stocks: April Performers

Sales Down, Profits Up at Simon & Schuster

Profits at Simon & Schuster rose 20% in the first quarter ended March 31 compared to a year ago, despite a 3% decline in sales.

Penguin Has 'Good Start,' Quarto Sales Dip

In “trading updates” issued last Friday in the U.K., Pearson reported that Penguin had a “good start” to the year, while Quarto Group reported that first quarter sales fell 6%, to $32 million and operating profit fell to $544,000 from $666,000.

North America Media Sales Rose 14% at Amazon

Amazon’s sales rose 22% in the first quarter, to $16.07 billion, but net income fell 37%, to $87 million. As Amazon expands, books and even Kindles are becoming a smaller part of its overall business.