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Simon & Schuster has revealed a 14% increase in like-for-like book sales in the UK, including digital, in the first quarter to 31st March.
S&S m.d. Ian Chapman told The Bookseller that sales of adult physical books increased by 22% year on year in the three months since Christmas, while e-book sales shot up 250%, with digital accounting for 10%-12% of total business. Children's sales remained flat.
Chapman said the publisher was "more than holding our own in terms of market share", following "a fantastic first quarter".
Highlights included Philippa Gregory's The Lady of the Rivers, which went to number one in paperback; the "internationally, sensationally successful" The Magic by Rhonda Byrne; Lisa Faulkner's Recipes from My Mother for My Daughter; and children's books in the Mike the Knight and Octonauts series.
In the US, S&S digital revenues for Simon & Schuster climbed 64% in the first quarter of the year, which accounted for 26% of the business. S&S' parent company CBS Corporation said publishing revenues increased 14% to $176m, up from $155m for the same period last year.