Harry Potter and the Weekend of Fiery Sales
John Mutter and Jim Milliot -- 7/17/00
With industry veterans calling the rate of sale of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire the fastest in recent memory, Scholastic has gone back to press for an additional three million copies. Aware that some stores ran out of stock by the middle of last week, Scholastic™s Michael Jacobs said the publisher is resupplying accounts as soon as the books come off press. "We thought the first printing [3.8 million] would last longer than the weekend," Jacobs told PW.
Scholastic estimates that nearly three million copies of the book were sold over the weekend of July 8 and sales reports from the nation™s three major book outlets seem to support Scholastic™s position. Barnes & Noble, Borders Group and Amazon.com sold a total of 1.2 million Goblet books over the weekend.
B&N 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 sold more than 400,000 copies. The much-discussed 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. Amazon acknowledged that a small portion of eligible orders were not shipped via FedEx on the 8th, and in a July 11 e-mail the e-retailer said it would refund the cost of the book and shipping charges to eligible customers who did not receive the book on Saturday.
Borders reported that it sold more than 300,000 copies through its superstore and mall outlets.
Sales at independent booksellers were described by the American Booksellers Association™s Carl Lennertz as "incredible," although he couldn™t reveal sales reported by Book Sense members.
Indies Party Hearty
Many independent stores used the release of the title to throw elaborate parties. Staff and owners of the Blue Willow Bookshop, Houston, Tex., dressed up as Harry Potter characters, cleared the store of all non-Harry displays and hung large lightning bolts. They also emptied much of the parking lot, where they set up a Quidditch obstacle course and distributed books and dozens of door prizes. More than 300 customers, most in costume, came, and Blue Willow sold out of the book temporarily.
At the five Joseph-Beth and Davis-Kidd stores in Tennessee and Ohio, 4,000 people attended Midnight Magic parties and bought 2,000 copies of the book. Altogether, the stores sold more than 3,700 copies during the weekend. Each store party started at 11 p.m. and featured a costume contest, a trivia contest and magicians.
Bibelot, which has four stores in and around Baltimore, Md., sold nearly 1,400 copies of the book over the weekend. Bibelot™s Timonium store drew 500 people Friday night, and offered a variety of activities, including a scavenger hunt.
Merritt Bookstores, Millbrook, N.Y., opened its doors at midnight "to a long line of very eager customers," according to Molly Olson, director of customer service. The costumed staff had a "sorting hat" with the stickers provided by Scholastic and gave out puzzles and mazes with each book. Refreshments included chocolate frogs, licorice wands, rock cakes and Bertie Bott™s Every Flavor Beans.
"It was a wonderful community event, and in spite of the late and long hours, the staff enjoyed themselves, too," Olson said. Apparently indefatigable, she concluded, "I already have ideas on how we can make our Harry Potter V party even better!"
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 first three Harry Potter audios have more than 500,000 copies in print, and Listening Library says it™s on track to sell a combined million copies of all four by the end of the year.Many booksellers reported that Goblet is their fastest selling audiobook release ever--children™s or adult.
Scholastic also announced that the paperback edition of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets will have a first printing of 3.2 million when it is released August 15.
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