Atlantic’s revenue drops in 2016 due to ebook sales ‘squeeze’

UK publisher Atlantic’s revenue has dropped in 2016 with ebook sales down 20%, reports the Bookseller.

Atlantic’s revenue in 2016 was £5.5m (A$9.7m), down £0.5m (A$0.9m) on the previous year, with the publisher posting a loss of £600,000 (A$1.1m).

‘We are on the classic three-year turnaround,’ said Atlantic MD Will Atkinson. ‘In 2015 we did reasonably well, we had a big bestseller and our ebooks were selling strongly. In 2016 we were 8% down in turnover. Ebooks are a big part of what we do and they were down by 20%. But physical is so strong it is more than making up for it.’

Atkinson said the company was ‘being squeezed’ on ebooks by corporate publishers pricing lower and authors published by Amazon.

Atkinson said Atlantic is expected to make a profit in 2017 for the first time in eight years.

Allen & Unwin is a majority shareholder of Atlantic.

Category: International news