Canongate in e-drive as book sales suffer dip

CANONGATE, the Edinburgh-based publisher that lists Alasdair Gray, Yann Martel and Muriel Spark among its authors, is pushing further into electronic books to counter a fall in profits.

Accounts filed at Companies House show pre-tax profits fell to £1.1 million in 2010 from £1.9m in 2009, with sales dropping to £13.4m from £13.9m. Canongate said it made “significant profits in difficult trading conditions”.

The firm revealed BBC2’s dramatisation of The Crimson Petal and the White has boosted sales of the novel by Michael Faber this year, with e-book sales expected to make a “sizeable contribution” to its 2011 results.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange last month accused Canongate of publishing a draft of his autobiography without approval.