Publisher’s growth due in part to several fiction authors hitting the ‘New York Times’ best-seller list

Zondervan posted “strong growth” in the financial year ended June 30, company officials have announced.

Citing “success on a variety of fronts,” the news followed parent company HarperCollins’ announcement of an increase in profits of $77 million in the previous 12 months.

Zondervan spokesperson Tara Powers said that the company’s improvements were in part due to several fiction authors hitting the New York Times best-seller list, including Karen Kingsbury, Terry Blackstock and Tim LaHaye.

Nonfiction trade was fueled by “strong sales” of John Ortberg’s The Me I Want to Be and Craig Groeschel’s The Christian Atheist. “Zonderkidz saw significant growth and had numerous titles that dominated the industry best-seller lists throughout the year, Powers added.

“Our curriculum category grew by bringing on new authors such as Tim Keller, John and Stasi Eldredge, Gabe Lyons and Dallas Willard,” she said. “Finally, our Bibles division saw year-over-year growth as well, due to the success of Lee Strobel’s The Case for Christ Study Bible, among others.

“We are optimistic about the year ahead and look forward to introducing a number of new products and titles that we’re excited about, and we think consumers will be, too.”

HarperCollins credited its overall growth in large part to increased general and children’s book sales, notably Going Rogue by Sarah Palin and Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak.

After enduring a tough financial year in 2009 when the company underwent a significant restructuring and saw sales and profit fall, HarperCollins reported that total revenue for the financial year ended June 30 rose 11.1% to $1.27 billion―with profits rising to $88 million from $17 million in the 2009 financial year.

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