Final Harry Potter Installment Means Business

Media Release 29 May 2007

Final Harry Potter Installment Means Business for Kiwi Bookseller

Two months ahead of its worldwide release and already it has topped the bestseller list and New Zealand’s largest stationery and bookseller Paper Plus, is set to take its share of the record-breaking sales of the seventh and final novel in J K Rowling’s boy-wizard series.

Paper Plus has launched www.thedeathlyhallows.co.nz to offer pre-orders to eager Kiwi fans, and will regularly update the site with the latest Potter news as the 21 July launch draws closer. Potter devotees can log on themselves to place the order, or visit their local Paper Plus store to have staff make a pre-order on their behalf.

“This is the first time we’ve offered pre-orders of a Harry Potter book online, and the response has been tremendous,” said Lyle Hastings, Marketing Manager for the Paper Plus Group. “We’ve always taken pre-orders in stores, but the internet is a much more convenient shopping venue for many people, and the online order figures are reflecting that.

“People have become a lot more sophisticated in their buying habits, and we’ve had to evolve our business to offer that higher level of service and choice,” Mr Hastings said. “In a way, an event like the final Harry Potter book is quite unique. We’re using the latest technology to sell to our customers, but the buzz around it harks back to an earlier time, when books were the major form of entertainment for kids and new releases were highly anticipated. It’s really exciting for those of us in the business of books.”

Even before pre-orders began, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows chalked up a remarkable publishing first when its publisher Scholastic announced that a record-breaking 12 million copies would be printed in its first run. The print run tops the most recent book in the series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which had a printing of 10.8 million books, and sold 6.9 million copies in the first 24 hours to become the fastest-selling book in history on its June 2005 publication.

International research has found that the Harry Potter series has measurably boosted children’s reading ability and their interest in books. A major British survey reported that 84% of teachers believed that Harry Potter had helped improve child literacy, with nearly half of students saying that Rowling’s creation was the reason they read more.

Mr Hastings said there was anecdotal evidence that the series had a similar effect on New Zealanders. “We know from talking to customers that part of the reason for Harry Potter’s massive success is that it doesn’t just appeal to kids – adults love the books too, and they often read them together. It’s exciting for us to support that, and to be part of something that isn’t just a book launch, but an international event.”

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will remain under embargo until one minute past midnight in Britain on Saturday 21 July (11:01am in New Zealand), when it will go on sale around the world.

Anticipation surrounding the new novel is being stoked by a carefully managed trickle of information from Rowling and the series’ British home, Bloomsbury Publishing. Rowling – who in a decade has morphed from struggling single mother into Scotland’s richest woman – famously wrote the last chapter of the final book when she first invented Harry, and has kept it under lock and key in a secret location ever since.

Rowling has alluded to the possibility of Harry dying in the final book. Since the announcement of the title, Potter-devoted websites have been eagerly parsing the meaning of the phrase ‘deathly hallows’.

Since the first book in the series was published 10 years ago, 325 million copies have been sold worldwide, with translations in 64 languages, including Gujarati, Latin and Macedonian. In New Zealand the books have routinely topped bestseller lists, with sales to date of more than 1.3 million.

ENDS

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