Monday, July 23, 2007

Potter Book and Audio Set Sales Records

Sales of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows set records on both sides of the Atlantic this past weekend. According to Publishers Weekly, publisher Scholastic sold 8.3 million copies in the first 24 hours in the U.S., while Bloomsbury sold 2.65 million copies in the U.K. in the first 24 hours. The audio version also set a record in the U.S. selling an estimated 225,000 copies, a 40% increase over Half-Blood Prince.

Independent booksellers in the U.S. reported brisk sales, with scattered reports of sell-outs! Apparently Scholastic limited the number of books that independents could order based on past Potter sales. The independent I frequent had a smallish display left for sale Saturday morning after a busy event Friday night, although tickets are sold for the Friday night event, from which book distribution are dependent, are sold well in advance. This independent actually is one of four stores, and I don't know how many copies the other three stores have on-hand.

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