Pre-ordered Potter sales hit a million

The latest Harry Potter book cover.

11 April 2012

The sixth Harry Potter book looks set to break all sales records as pre-orders top a million - and stores are embroiled in a price-cutting war to see who can sell it the cheapest.

Online booksellers Amazon.co.uk have already taken 350,000 orders with some of the best deals being offered on the internet.

In 2003, the last novel, Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix, sold five million copies worldwide in 24 hours. Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince is set to better this total when it is released at midnight on Friday.

A spokeswoman for Amazon said: "There has been a constant stream of orders since its release date was announced." Managing director Robin Terrell added: "Our customers are clearly incredibly excited."

An Evening Standard survey reveals the best deals are being offered by online retailer Planetwow, which is charging £9.85, and Amazon at £11.74 including delivery.

On the high street, HMV will charge £11.99 and Blackwell's £12.99.

Tesco, WH Smith, Asda and Waterstones are yet to confirm their prices but are likely to try to undercut the rest of the high street, while charging similar prices separated by only a few pence.

All are reporting keen interest in the book - Tesco said it was taking 1,500 pre-publication orders a day with a quarter of all buyers reserving more than one copy.

Tesco book buyer Caroline Ridding said: "The sixth Harry Potter has become the most eagerly anticipated book in literary history and has already broken our pre-release sales.

"We are expecting it to continue to smash all sales records as it becomes the biggest and fastest-selling book we have ever stocked."

WH Smith agreed the Half-Blood Prince was already setting records as its fastest-selling pre-order book. A spokeswoman said: "We are receiving thousands of orders every day from our stores. We anticipate it will be bigger
than the last Harry Potter book."

The Royal Mail, meanwhile, expects to deliver more than 500,000 copies on the day - and has up to 150 lorries ready. A spokesman said: "We are working very closely with the retailers so that we get copies of the book to the hundreds of thousands of people who will be waiting for us to deliver."

The Half-Blood Prince charts Harry's sixth year at Hogwarts as the evil Lord Voldemort grows stronger. Author JK Rowling, who gave birth to her third child in January, has only revealed that the Half-Blood Prince is neither Harry nor Voldemort.

But fears the plot could be leaked have risen after a store in Canada briefly put the put the book on sale last week. Raincoast Books, near Vancouver, said a "small number" were sold but it has won a court injunction barring the buyers disclosing the plot.

The court also ordered all the copies be returned to Raincoast, which has promised the early purchasers book plates autographed by Rowling once the embargo is lifted.