New Harry Potter book shatters sales records
In the United States, the new Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince sold 6.9 million copies in the first 24 hours after its release:
It's refreshing to see this sort of hysteria and hype around something as simple as a book:
Indeed. (Maybe that's the reason Orac has noticed so many visits coming from searches about Harry Potter this weekend, which boosted my hit count way above what it normally is on a weekend.)
Orac got his copy over the weekend, but, unfortunately, has not yet had a chance to start reading it. He fears that his secretary, a bona fide Harry Potter fanatic, will have finished the entire book over the weekend and today will not be able to resist telling him things that happened that he would rather find out himself by reading the book.
Sales for the sixth installment of J.K. Rowling's fantasy series easily outpaced those for Potter V, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," which came out in 2003 and sold 5 million copies in the first 24 hours. Acknowledging that some stores quickly ran out of books two years ago, Scholastic has already increased the print run for "Half-Blood Prince" from 10.8 million copies to 13.5 million.
It's refreshing to see this sort of hysteria and hype around something as simple as a book:
Even allowing for deep discounts on the $29.99 release, "Half-Blood Prince" still easily generated more than $100 million in revenue. It's not only the richest opening in publishing history, but tops the combined estimated take for the weekend's top two movies, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Wedding Crashers.
"When a book beats out movies, we're in great shape," Holton said.
Orac got his copy over the weekend, but, unfortunately, has not yet had a chance to start reading it. He fears that his secretary, a bona fide Harry Potter fanatic, will have finished the entire book over the weekend and today will not be able to resist telling him things that happened that he would rather find out himself by reading the book.
Well, I didn't wait by the bookshop for the midnight sales, but I got it at 8.30 on Saturday morning...
ReplyDeleteI'm now reading it for the second time. I must admit to being somewhat disappointed with it overall - though the twist at the end is pretty cool. Unfortunately, cliff-hanger endings are a bummer when it's a two-year wait for the next one...