Archives for July 2005

Harry Buyers Bought Widely Perhaps the best Harry Potter news for publishers other than Scholastic comes from this AP report, in which Barnes & Noble CEO Steve Riggion says that 40 percent of customers buying HALF-BLOOD PRINCE bought other things, too. Borders says that over half of their Harry customers bought something else at the same time. “Most of the additional items were non-bestsellers aimed at adults,” according to a spokesperson. But Wall Street analysts like Danielle Fox at Merrill Lynch — with proven expertise in tracking stock movements and the finer points of bookselling — tell the AP that […]

Harry By the Numbers In case you haven’t already seen the collected numbers: Scholastic reported selling 6.9 million copies of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in the first 24 hours on sale in the US, and noted they had already ordered (and started delivering) a reprint of 2.7 million copies. Amazon’s US pre-orders were over 919,000 copies. Barnes & Noble sold 1.3 million copies in the first 48 hours, including pre-orders and online sales. Borders sold 850,000 copies in the first 24 hours, and over a million copies in the first 48 hours on sale. Separately, Listening Library reported […]

The Latest Leak As we surmised recently, the best way to get your name in the papers this week is to say that you bought a copy of Harry Potter on sale prematurely. This time its two men in Indianapolis who found their copy on Monday in what “they described as similar to an airport gift shop” downtown. Up to Chapter 18, one of the men says: “A lot of what I’m reading, I’m not sure what I’m supposed to believe. What J.K. Rowling is telling you is pretty shocking considering the last five books.” In other Potter-related angles, the […]

Osnos to Step Aside; New Head for DK PublicAffairs founder Peter Osnos announced this morning that a new publisher will be hired for the imprint and he will become editor-at-large once the new executive comes on board. Osnos says in a letter that he will also take “time for some other projects. I expect to work on a new initiative looking for ways to make books like ours more available in a changing world. And I will pursue my interests in the fields of journalism and human rights.” In his statement, Osnos notes: “As we begin our ninth year, this […]

Canadian Court Gags Early Potter Buyers British Columbia’s Supreme Court issued an injunction barring the disclosure of any details from HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE in advance of the official release date after 14 copies were sold in a Vancouver grocery store by accident last week. CTV But Soon they Can Sell them to Alibris Alibris has already issued a release offering to buy “gently used” copies of the new HARRY POTTER for five dollars, plus a label for free shipping. New Head for S&S Canada Simon & Schuster Canada has named Kevin Hanson as the unit’s new president, […]

Publisher Preiss Dies In Auto Accident Publisher, packager, digital publishing pioneer and longtime force in the rise of graphic novels Byron Preiss died tragically in an auto accident in East Hampton on Saturday. Just 52, making his weekly trip to Shabbat services, Preiss’s car was hit by a bus. The funeral service will be held tomorrow morning. In a posted notice, the family requests that any donations be made to the UJA of New York, where Preiss was co-chair of the Publishing Committee. Separately, comics veteran Jim Steranko writes movingly about his 35-year friendship and collaboration with Preiss: “Popular culture […]