Book breaks sales records

It is the richest going-away party in history. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final volume of J K Rowling8217;s all-conquering fantasy series, sold a mountainous 8.3 million copies in its first 24 hours on sale in the United States, according to Scholastic Inc. No other book, not even any of the six previous Potters, has been so desired, so quickly. 8220;Deathly Hallows8221; averaged more than 300,000 copies in sales per hour 8212; more than 5,000 a minute. The 34.99 book, even allowing for discounts, generated far more revenue than the opening weekend of the latest Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which came out July 10.

8220;The excitement, anticipation, and just plain hysteria that came over the entire country this weekend was a bit like the Beatles8217; first visit to the US,8221; Scholastic president Lisa Holton said in a statement on Sunday. 8220;Our distribution strategy was clearly right on target in order to sell 8.3 million copies in 24 hours,8221; she said. 8220;We are working with retailers to move additional copies to the places they are needed most in the coming days and weeks.8221;