'Beedle' preparations; 8 million copies to be released worldwide
December 4th 2008 04:12
"We expect it will crash straight in at No. 1 in our book charts," Jon Howells, of Britain's Waterstone's book store chain, said Wednesday. "It would take a battle of magical proportions to dislodge it before Christmas."
The book's print run sounds enormous until you compare it with the Potter books. The final volume, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" sold 8 million copies in its first 24 hours and had a print run of 12 million in the U.S. alone.
Retailers are not expecting the new book to generate the frenzy that accompanied publication of "Deathly Hallows" in July 2007, when fans dressed as witches and warlocks formed festive crowds outside book stores around the world.
Rowling has described "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" as a distillation of the themes found in the Harry Potter books, calling it her goodbye to a world she lived in for 17 years.
The book was initially produced last year in an edition of seven handwritten copies. Six were given away by Rowling as gifts, and one was bought by Amazon at an auction for almost 2 million pounds ($3 million).
The book's print run sounds enormous until you compare it with the Potter books. The final volume, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" sold 8 million copies in its first 24 hours and had a print run of 12 million in the U.S. alone.
Retailers are not expecting the new book to generate the frenzy that accompanied publication of "Deathly Hallows" in July 2007, when fans dressed as witches and warlocks formed festive crowds outside book stores around the world.
Rowling has described "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" as a distillation of the themes found in the Harry Potter books, calling it her goodbye to a world she lived in for 17 years.
The book was initially produced last year in an edition of seven handwritten copies. Six were given away by Rowling as gifts, and one was bought by Amazon at an auction for almost 2 million pounds ($3 million).
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