Potter a bestseller in SA
2005-07-20 10:51
Johannesburg - The new Harry Potter book broke all known and independently validated South African book sales records on the first day it went on sale in the country, a book sales tracker company said on Wednesday.
Nielsen BookScan said 40 039 copies of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince were sold on July 16 through bookshops, supermarkets, internet sites and newspapers.
"To top the UK book charts 50 000 copies need to be bought in an average week," it said in a statement.
"In South Africa the equivalent number is 1 000 copies. In both countries Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has sold 40 times the weekly average in one day."
Sales of all Harry Potter titles monitored by Nielsen BookScan in the UK since 1997 now total over 19 million copies and worldwide in excess of 52 million.
Since JK Rowling - then a struggling single mother and aspiring writer - introduced Harry and his fellow students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to the world in 1997, the books have become a global phenomenon, selling 270 million copies in 62 languages and spawning a series of Hollywood films.
Rowling is now the richest woman in Britain, with a fortune estimated by Forbes magazine at R7bn.
- SAPA