Special Features
What makes Harry Potter So Special?
Imagine this! Dubai Air Cargo Terminal witnesses – workmen unloading heavy boxes from a plane and some tight security doing its rounds. No one was allowed to be in the unloading area without a pass and the precious cargo made its way discreetly into a truck, headed for a warehouse where it will remain locked, never to be unpacked until July 15.
The truth - the boxes contain over 10,000 copies of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the sixth episode in the seven-book series by J. K. Rowling.
The scheduled launch date is July 16, and Pottermania is catching up around the world, with launch parties planned in many countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, South Africa and Australia. The UAE is no exception. Many children and adult fans are expected to stay up late to attend the sixth Harry Potter book launch party at the Magrudy’s bookstore at Deira City Centre on July 16. Magrudy’s took dhs50 deposits from customers looking to reserve a copy for July 16. At least 500 books are available for the first day in its three branches and as of going to press yesterday, 90 tickets had reportedly been sold in Jumeirah already.
And the Bur Juman store has reportedly sold all of its first day allocation. Consider that in the UAE market, if a book sells around 1,000 copies in a year, it is considered a success. The series has also enchanted sales at online retailers such as Amazon, which guarantees all pre-ordered copies will be delivered on July 16.
Amazon.com says it has bypassed the half-million mark.
Colin Royston Jobe, a general manager at a car rental company and a potteraddict, is starry-eyed as he waits for the bookstore to open in the wee hours of Saturday morning. “I’m a 50-odd-year old child,” said Colin. Another Potter fan in the UAE, Joan Allison, is unable to make it to the launch. On a lighter note she added that she couldn’t convince her husband to drive to the shopping mall at 2am.
The appeal of Harry Potter stretches far and wide, with sales for the latest Harry Potter book expected to break all publishing records. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is likely to break the first-day sales record of five million for the last book, which was released in 2003. Banking on the success of the series, US publisher Scholastic announced a record-setting first-run total of 10.8 million books.
The universal appeal of Harry Potter draws in comments as this - “The books are very well-written. And Rowling is very good at keeping people in suspense. People buy the books to find out what happens next,”. "It is just going to be fantastic," said Lucy Holden, head of children’s publicity at British firm Bloomsbury, the original publisher of the collection, noting that at least 1,000 book stores in Britain alone were expected to open their doors at midnight to sell the first copies to fans.
Website: http://www.jkrowling.com/
