Rowling 'dreading' end of Potter as sales are tallied up

LONDON - Bookstores around the world tallied sales of the sixth Harry Potter installment on Sunday, but after the eagerly awaited global launch over the weekend, the magic was wearing off for some.

"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" is expected to be the fastest-selling book in history, with British retailer Waterstone's forecasting that 10 million copies would have been snapped up worldwide during the first 24 hours of trade.

The early feedback was bullish. British book chain WH Smith reported first-hour sales of 13 books per second across the 391 shops it opened in the early hours of Saturday, compared with eight per second for the fifth Harry Potter adventure.

In the United States, the largest bookseller, Barnes & Noble Inc., said it sold 1.3 million copies in the first 48 hours. In the first hour, the bookstore chain said it sold 379,000 copies or 105 copies per second.

Borders Group, headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, said it sold more than 850,000 copies in the first 24 hours. Meanwhile, online bookseller Amazon.com reported that customers had ordered more than 1.5 million copies.

The launch, at one minute past midnight British time on Saturday, ended months of hype and elaborate steps to protect the contents of the penultimate chapter in the seven-story saga.

Children poured into book shops across the globe, dressed as witches, wizards and other favorite Harry Potter characters.

Underlining the anticipation surrounding the book, instant reviews appeared on the internet within hours of the release, most of them favorable.

Young readers picked up on the darkness of the plot.

"With its dramatic, violent conclusion, this book is by far the darkest and unsettling HP yet," wrote 12-year-old Indigo Ellis in the Sunday Telegraph. "Maybe it will leave a few more seven-year-olds in tears. But it also makes it the best so far."

A sizeable minority of older readers, however, was less than impressed by the 607-page work.

"It's wordy, flabby and not very well edited -- perhaps a bit less inventive than previous ones," wrote Suzi Feay, literary editor of Britain's The Independent on Sunday. "We could have done with some better gags."

Author "dreading" day it's over

Author J.K. Rowling, 39, said she had already finished the final chapter of the last book in the series.

Fourteen-year-old Owen Jones, who won a competition to hold a rare interview with the writer, asked Rowling if she was looking forward to completing the Harry Potter series.

"I'm dreading it in some ways, because I do love writing the books and it's going to be a profound shock to me, even though I've known it's coming for the past 15 years," she said in a televised interview.

Eyeing the huge marketing opportunity, publishers issued two hardback versions of the book on Saturday, one for adults and another for children.

Supermarkets, internet stores and book shops engaged in a fierce round of discounting, with one British outlet offering the book to young buyers for 4.99 pounds ($8.80), less than one third of the recommended retail price.

Rowling has been credited with winning over a new generation of young readers. British newspapers predict that her fortune, already estimated at $1 billion, was set to grow by 20 to 25 million pounds as a result of the first-day sales alone.

The plot of the latest episode was shrouded in secrecy. When a handful of copies were sold before the deadline in Canada, purchasers were ordered not to disclose its contents, and, according to media reports, even to read it.

Rowling defended the security surrounding the launch.

"I find it upsetting and disquieting that some elements are so keen on spoilers because it seems such a mean-spirited thing to do," she said. "This isn't about money or anything other than the pleasure of reading."

Some sought to put the Harry Potter phenomenon into perspective.

"Oh for a timely spell of reality," Roland White wrote in the Sunday Times.

"Let's keep things in perspective. Until Friday, the Harry Potter series had sold about 270 million copies worldwide. Which is considerably less than the one billion shifted by the late, rather unfashionable, Barbara Cartland."

- REUTERS