Scholastic To Print 800,000 More Copies of Harry Potter
Press release from the issuing company
NEW YORK, June 24 -- Scholastic announced today that the Company is going back to press for a third printing of 800,000 copies of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix which will be shipped to retailers over the next month. J.K. Rowling's fifth Harry Potter book hit bookstores nationwide at midnight on June 21, 2003 and sold an unprecedented 5 million copies in the first 24 hours, breaking all publishing records. The 800,000 copies is in addition to Scholastic's record breaking first print-run of 6.8 million and a second printing of 1.7 million copies, bringing the total in print number to 9.3 million copies.
Already universally acclaimed, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix has been getting rave reviews. The New York Times said about Rowling "... the author's bravura storytelling skills and tirelessly inventive imagination soon take over, braiding together the mundane, the marvelous, the psychological and the allegorical with consummate authority and ease." According to Newsweek "She tells her story with her characteristic gift for pacing and surprise ... 'Phoenix' is one of the best books in the series."
"We are thrilled with the phenomenal sales of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and are shipping copies of the book to customers that need additional stock," commented Barbara Marcus, President, Scholastic Children's Books. "With this third printing, in addition to the existing 8.5 million copies, we are confident that our customers will have books in stock over the next few weeks, and that Harry Potter fans will be able to get their copy of J.K. Rowling's latest extraordinary novel."
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the follow-up book to J.K. Rowling's #1 best-sellers Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. On July 8, 2000 Scholastic published Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire which at the time, broke all publishing records with a first printing of 3.8 million. The book sold an unprecedented 3 million copies in its first weekend on sale sending Scholastic back to press for an additional 3 million copies. There are currently over 80 million copies of the first four Harry Potter books in print. Each of the books has been a #1 bestseller and continues to remain on bestseller lists.