Canongate Books, the Edinburgh publisher, has already relegated last year�s dramatic slide in pre-tax profits to the ancient history section, following the release of two books written by US President-elect Barack Obama.

Canongate Books, the Edinburgh publisher with global ambitions, has already relegated last year's dramatic slide in pre-tax profits - during which it noted none of its books "broke out in the market" - to the ancient history section, following the release of two books written by US President-elect Barack Obama.

For this independent publishing house, Obama's victory on Tuesday was the equivalent of striking a seam of gold in a coal mine.

Jamie Byng, managing director of Canongate, acquired the UK and Commonwealth rights to Obama's The Audacity of Hope and Dreams From My Father before the Democrat shot to fame at the end of 2006 - but after the election success, Byng now expects to sell at least 500,000 before the end of the year.

On the day of the Demo-crat's election victory, Canongate ordered an extra 140,000 copies to be printed and yesterday Byng ordered another 80,000 - with sales of the books doubling this week in a number of UK book chains.

"We are absolutely delighted that Barack won, but it doesn't really matter how well the books sell," Byng said.

"We acquired them because they are rich, funny, complex and wise. They are extra- ordinary books, both in terms of their content and their timing"

Nonetheless, Obama's two books are expected to dramatically alter the fortunes of Canongate, which according to accounts obtained by The Herald from Companies House made pre-tax profits of £270,794 during the 2007 calendar year, down from £683,773 the year before.

Turnover during 2007, during which two of its books, The Secret River by Kate Grenville and M J Hyland's Carry Me Down, were shortlisted for the Booker Prize, also slipped to £7.8m, compared with £8.1m the year before.

"I wouldn't say Obama's books will be transformational for the company, but I certainly expect the impact to be significant.

Byng said: "2007 was disappointing, because despite publishing some great books, none of them broke out in the market place and this resulted in what was generally a lacklustre year in terms of sales.

"However, 2007 was also a year in which we invested wisely in new staff and new titles, and some of the publishing success of 2007 - most notably Scarlett Thomas's The End of Mr Y and Miranda July's No One Belongs Here More Than You - have helped contribute to the successful year that we are coming to the end of 2008."

The publisher's biggest title to date is Yann Martel's Booker Prize winning novel, The Life of Pi, which has sold two million copies and transformed a company that has twice been in receivership into a rare success story in the publishing world.

But that was before the Obama effect.

Byng said: "We'll have to wait and see if either of Obama's books surpass The Life of Pi. But we're no longer a publisher that relies on the success of one book. We're building a rich portfolio.

Dreams From My Father was first published in the US in 1995, and was written when Obama was 33.

It is a young man's memoir, strong on introspection and self-absorption, and was written, apparently, before Obama had any hopes of a high-powered political career.

A decade later, Obama released The Audacity of Hope, which expands on his political vision set out in a keynote speech in 2004.

Canongate acquired the UK rights in early 2007.

Byng said The Audacity of Hope and Dreams From My Father were expected to be Canongate's two biggest selling titles in 2008.

"Little did we know when we first acquired these outstanding books what fate had in store for Barack Obama or quite what the impact of him becoming the next American president would be on the ongoing sales of these two books," he said.

In recent years, Canongate has also expanded overseas, taking a controlling stake in Text Publishing in Melbourne, Australia, and investing in a joint venture with Grove Atlantic in New York. The company also recently struck a deal with Penguin, to distribute Canongate's books in Canada.

Meanwhile, the accounts reveal that Canongate's highest paid director, assumed to be Byng, last year earned £86,862, including company pension contributions, compared with £83,436 last time.

The company's share-holders the second largest of whom is Byng - shared a dividend of £201,580. The largest shareholder is Byng's step-father, Sir Christopher Bland, the former chairman of the BBC and BT.