NP Harry Potter sales

[Doug Millison]

from
PW Daily for Booksellers from Publishers Weekly
July 10, 2000

Harry Potter and the Weekend of Fiery Sales

The magic happened--and in many cases was even grander than expected.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire sold out at many stores (particularly
when reserved copies are included), according to booksellers around
country. Retailers that were open at midnight Friday night were mobbed, and
the book--and the many creative parties--received the kind of print and
broadcast attention usually reserved for blockbuster movies, superstars'
music tours or Jeff Bezos's latest press conference.

The book continues to sell, although at a less frenzied pace. (Scholastic
is going back to press for another 2 million copies, on top of the 3.8
million-copy first printing.)

The first three Potter titles are moving magically as well, as evidenced by
their No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 rankings on Amazon's lists. In other good news
for booksellers: overall book sales were up, too, many reported.

And don't forget the audiobook. Listening Library shipped 180,000 copies of
the simultaneously published audio version of Harry Potter and the Goblet
of Fire, read by Jim Dale, the largest laydown ever for a children's audio
title. (Altogether the three Harry Potter audios have more than 500,000
copies in print, and Listening Library says it's on track to sell a million
of all four combined by the end of the year.)

---

The numbers are astounding. Barnes & Noble said it sold 502,000 copies of
the book on Saturday and Sunday, both in B&N stores and online at B&N.com.
Fully 114,000 copies were sold in the first hour the book was officially on
sale. In some B&N stores, lines started forming at three in the afternoon
on Friday. At the B&N in the Mall of America, Bloomington, Minn., 1,500
people attended the party. In Peoria, Ill., 1,200 stood on line.

---

Amazon.com has sold nearly 400,000 copies, it reported. The much-disputed
deal with FedEx, through which the first 250,000 copies ordered could be
upgraded free to overnight delivery, apparently came off as
planned--reportedly 95% of all deliveries were made by 4 p.m., Saturday.

The company spared no statistic in boasting about its Potter sales. To
date, Amazon.com has shipped, it said, about 675,000 pounds of Potter IV.
The Saturday deliveries represented 188 million pages. If lined end to end,
the books shipped would stretch 36 miles.
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