Barnes & Noble announced that all previous records for pre-ordered books have been broken with J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” with less than 100 days to go before the July 21 publication date. Barnes & Noble has taken more than 500,000 pre-orders and expects this number to surpass one million. The book has also been ranked No. 1 on BN.com since it become available for pre-order on Feb. 1.
Barnes and Noble has launched a “Waiting for Harry” book club trying to capitalize on the hype.
Not to be outdone, Amazon.com announced it is looking for the “Harry-est Town” in American, the honor given to the town that has pre-ordered the most books from the Amazon Web site. The winning town will be announced on July 15, and Amazon.com will donate a $5,000 Amazon.com gift certificate to a local charitable organization of the town’s choice.
As it stands today, those in the running for “Harry-est Towns” in America are:
1) Falls Church, Va.
2) Fairfax, Va
3) Gig Harbor, Wash.
4) Vienna, Va.
5) Katy, Texas
6) Media, Pa.
7) Issaquah, Wash.
8) Doylestown, Pa.
9) Pembroke Pines, Fla.
10) Snohomish, Wash.