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Penguin Canada in 'record year'

03.01.08

The Penguin Group Canada posted revenues of more than CAN$100m for 2007, in what the company calls "a record year". Crediting "an exceptionally strong list" and "loyal Canadian customers", the group saw "its strongest year ever", despite pricing issues due to the volatility of the Canadian dollar dominating the country's book business.

The company also cited the success of titles such as A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards, and Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, which accounted for sales of approximately three quarters of a million copies in 2007, as well as the selection of Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth for the Oprah Book Club, which produced an advance order of 77,000 copies, and the company's largest ever foreign rights sale on the prequel to Anne of Green Gables, Before Green Gables by Budge Wilson, with rights sold in the US, the UK and Japan.

Penguin Canada's president and publisher, David Davidar, also mentioned the support from retail partners and Canadian book buyers, "who responded positively to all our efforts to get our book prices right".

Davidar said of the company's outlook for 2008: "We have entered an era of significantly lower prices, with new US hard-covers priced around $27, fully $10 less than they were two years ago. However, we'll hope to make up in volume what we have lost in terms of price. Importantly, we have a great list, both domestic and imported, for 2008 and the news for booksellers and the consumer is positive."

Penguin Group Canada

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