Bluemoose Books reported a five-figure profit for the year as international rights sales exceeded €100,000 (£85,158) for the first time and sales of its translated books in Europe exceeded €1.8 million (£1.5 million).
The West Yorkshire indie label’s backlist accounts for more than 80% of its sales, including titles such as Rónán Hession’s Leonard and the hungry Paulwhich has sold 300,000 copies worldwide in all formats. Bluemoose Books also sold Hession’s third novel, Ghost Mountainand his title 2021 Panenka to Blessing, an imprint of Penguin Random House (PRH) in Germany, where Leonard and the hungry Paul is published by DuMont Buchverlag. Published in May Ghost Mountain has already been published in its second edition and the hardcover edition has sold over 5,000 copies.
“We have been publishing for almost 20 years and every year it seems to get more difficult to get books into bookstores,” said publisher Kevin Duffy The bookseller“It’s wonderful to see the company making a five-figure profit, which we will reinvest to find even more great new authors and stories that will enable us to continue publishing for the next 20 years.”
The most successful indie titles of this year include Chopin in Kentucky by Elizabeth Heichelbech, Christ on the bicycle by Orla Owens and Sports and social affairs by Kevin Boniface. The publisher also said that the recent unrest across the country has sparked renewed interest in Ghost signs by Stu Hennigan, which was shortlisted for Parliamentary Book of the Year 2023.
A licensing agreement between Bluemoose Books and Bloomsbury is also in preparation. The BBC 2 series of Benjamin Myers’ The gallows post create a stir and increase sales of the book and other titles by the author –Pig iron And Beasts—to help the indie developer increase their revenue streams.
In the digital and audio market, Bluemoose Books works with Faber & Faber for online sales and has also started producing audio books with Canopy Audiobooks. Ghost Mountain expected to be available in October.
“I’m so pleased that all of our efforts to publish great new authors and stories are finding their way to readers, and I want to thank all the booksellers out there for selling our titles in person,” said Hetha Duffy, the publisher’s managing director. “Without them, it would be a real struggle.”
