| Potter's Wizard Sales
Mon Jun 23, 7:40 PM ET
By Bridget Byrne
They literally disappeared like magic.
Faster than a golden snitch, a record 5 million copies of Harry Potter (news - web sites) and the Order of the Phoenix flew out of the nation's bookstores the first day of publication.
Potter's U.S. publisher, Scholastic, says that fans' eagerness to get their hands on--and noses into--the fifth tale in J.K. Rowling's saga about the British boy wizard set records. In 24 hours on sale Saturday, the long-awaited 870-page volume sold almost double the number of copies racked up in 12 months by last year's top-selling book, The Summons by thriller author John Grisham.
Fans shelled out enough galleons, knuts and sickles (or between $17 and the list price of $29.95, depending on the store) to get up to date with the teenage Harry's adventures at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry--and make Rowling even richer. Already estimated to have more money than the Queen of England, the author made about $22.5 million in royalties in the U.S alone on publication day, according to an estimate in the New York Times. Her four previous Potter novels, published in more than 55 languages, are estimated to have sold nearly 200 million copies in more than 200 countries.
Booksellers, registering sales beyond their wildest expectations, are licking their lips as though they just tasted the most palatable of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.
Stephen Riggio, chief executive of the country's largest chain, Barnes & Noble, noted to the New York Times that this weekend a book upstaged a movie. Based on a conservative figure of $20 per book, Order of the Phoenix made more money ($100 million) on Saturday than the nation's top-grossing movie, The Hulk, made during the three-day weekend ($62 million).
In the first witching hour after midnight Friday, Riggio's 630 Barnes & Noble and 245 B. Dalton stores sold 286,000 copies--80 books a second. By the end of Saturday, the stores and bn.com Website had sold 890,000, streaking towards 1 million, as fans and critics declared the magical tale, in which Harry struggles with teen angst as well as the villainous Voldemort, the best so far in the series.
Borders Group, the second largest U.S. chain, estimated its sales via 1,200 Borders and Waldenbooks stores (including 34 stores outside the U.S.) as 750,000 on Saturday. By Saturday, Amazon.com had recorded more than 1.3 million advance orders worldwide. With the book weighing it at 2.8 pounds, Amazon has already shipped more than 1,100 tons to customers.
Across the Pond, supermarket chain Tesco said it sold 317,400 copies of the book in the first 24 hours, seven times the number during the first seven days sales of the fourth book Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire published three years ago. The major English chain W.H. Smith reported the new book as the fastest-selling in its history. All told, Potter's British publisher, Bloomsbury, says the book sold a record 1.8 million copies in the U.K. on day one.
Aware that the long wait would have spellbound Muggles lining up to lug home the heavy tome, its publishers had issued a record 8.5 million first printing, more than twice as large as the previous record first edition of the fourth book. As the official deadline approached foiled attempts and brief successes at illicitly breaking the barrier, had only added to the air of expectancy.
Rowling has two more books to write in the series. Meantime, the third film, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azhaban, is scheduled to be in theaters next year. | |
