CANONGATE Books, the Edinburgh-based publishing house, has returned to profit in its latest financial year.
Accounts newly filed at Companies House show that the publisher, led by Jamie Byng, made a pre-tax profit of £119,470 in the year ended December 1.
It comes a year after Canongate posted a £1.26 million loss following what Mr Byng had called a “difficult and dispiriting year”.
Canongate’s “stand out” title during the year was Matt Haig’s Reasons to Stay Alive, a memoir about the author’s struggle with depression. The book, which spent 13 weeks on the bestseller lists, helped turnover at Canongate grow by 6.7 per cent to £8.5 million.
And it is continuing to sell well in the first half of Canongate’s current year, with the paperback now being sold in 25 languages. Flagging the paperback launch of Haig’s “highly acclaimed” children’s novel, A Boy Called Christmas, and the publication of his novel, The Girl Who Saved Christmas, this autumn, Mr Byng writes in the accounts that the author’s “star continues to rise”.
“But thankfully many other books, both on the frontlist and backlist, have performed strongly in the first six months of 2016 and we have a strong summer and autumn ahead with all our key titles well set up for publication,” Mr Byng added.
The company, chaired by Sir Christopher Bland, noted in the accounts for 2015 that backlist, digital and rights made “substantial contributions” during the year. Jenny Fry joined as director of communications and Neal Price as sales director.
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