Harry Potter's pre-sales through the roof
Counting down the hours to final release
No magic lessons or bewitching spells from Hogwarts professors are needed to enchant and persuade young readers when it comes to ensuring they receive their coveted copy of the final Harry Potter book.
Pre-orders for the final installment are racking up with a mere eight days to go to the book's release.
While national chains such as Barnes & Noble and Borders - both of which have stores in Naperville - are advertising pre-order end dates on their Web sites, Anderson's Bookshop says it'll take orders for "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" up to the magic witching hour of 12:01 a.m. July 21.
"We are selling as long as there are people there in line," said Candace Purdom, publicity and events coordinator for Anderson's. While the process of lining people up right before midnight might temporarily halt orders, Purdom said there are "a lot of skids of books coming." She said the store is working to meet the anticipated demand for all who attend the store's party, part of the downtown Potter bash known as "The Party That Shall Not Be Named."
"We've pre-sold about 2,000 books," Purdom said. In the week before the July 2005 release of the sixth book, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," Purdom said 2,036 books had been reserved. She said the totals as of now, with still a little more than a week to go, show they're on pace and slightly ahead of last time.
Ann Binkley, director of public relations for Borders, said the total number of pre-orders the company has received is proprietary information that could not be released, but she did reveal that "it has been the biggest reserve in company history, which is not surprising."
People who reserve their book online or in-store from Borders by today will be guaranteed the book July 21, according to Binkley.
On the Barnes & Noble Web site, the bookseller asks people to pre-order by 11:59 p.m. EST on July 16 for July 21 delivery. People can pre-order later in the week and receive the book July 21 if they choose an expedited air service for delivery, and pre-orders are being taken in-store until the book's release.
A press release by Barnes & Noble on Thursday said pre-orders total more than 1.2 million, also the largest number of pre-orders for a book in that company's history.
The Naperville Public Library has ordered 295 hardback copies of the books, with 591 holds on those, according to community relations director Susan Greenwood. The library also has ordered 15 copies of large print hardback books and 53 copies of the book on CD.
"Library users who will be able to pick up their titles at 12:01 a.m. on July 21 will be receiving letters sometime the end of this week or early next week," Greenwood said. "They can choose to either pick the materials up at Nichols Library that night or pick up the material at the building they selected the next morning."
Greenwood said she expects kids to read the books quickly, so those waiting for their copy shouldn't despair.
"You'll probably get your copy faster than you expect," she said.
Purdom said the anticipation for the final tome in the adventures of the boy wizard and his friends at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is even greater than previous waits.
"It's in anticipation of the final outcome and what happens to all these characters," Purdom said. "No one knows for sure and that just adds to the excitement."
Contact Kate Houlihan at khoulihan@scn1.com or 630-416-5224.