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Graeme Neill

Graeme Neill is retail reporter of The Bookseller.

Where's Harry?

04.07.08

Did you know the fastest selling book since records began is being released in paperback next week? I didn't. A chat in our office led a colleague to check when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was going to be released in paperback. It's next Thursday (10th).

Next Thursday? Really? Several of us at The Bookseller were surprised. There has been virtually no publicity - I haven't seen stores getting excited with new Harry themed point of sale. There has been no pictures of a speccy sorcerer peering at me while I have waited for the tube.

So why the silence? The hardback sales were clearly stellar with an estimated quarter of a million people queuing outside Waterstone's for its midnight release. And with Asda selling it for a fiver at one point, there are probably few people left in the country without a copy.

To be fair, there has always been a drop off in sales between the hardback and paperback releases. While Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince sold some 3.6m copies in hardback, it sold just over 428,000 in paperback. Yet that is still a hefty amount by the standards of most other books, and it did reach number one in its first full week on sale.

This is (probably) the last time the industry will have an opportunity to go wild about Harry. And with book sales waning after a strong start to 2008, should retailers, as well as Bloomsbury, be making more of a fuss?

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Comments on this article

By anotherEmma

Interesting that without the retailers doing the publicity work for Harry, as they did with the hardback, the Bloomsbury marketing campaign is revealed in all its (lack of) glory.

04 Jul 08 17:21

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By Anon

V good point. I remember when HP6 came out in PB all you saw on the side of London buses were ads for the new Harry Potter. I ain't seen one this year. What's going on? Have Bloomsbury forgotten about Harry already?! There's a couple more films to come yet!

04 Jul 08 21:30

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By In mourning for Harry

It seems sad that, after all the expectation of the final book and the genius of the architecture of Rowling's stories, Harry's popularity seems quickly to be waning. I'd seen the paperback was due out, but had also thought it odd that (unless they read The Bookseller) few people would have realized. There are actually three films left with the final one being split into two, so there should be huge mileage left for book sales. Maybe it's just time for new heroes? Harry withstood changes in fashion for an unprecedented timespan. Perhaps now's the time for Artemis Fowl, Alex Rider, Johnny Mackintosh and young Bond?

08 Jul 08 16:18

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