Harry Potter Book Sales Pass 400 Million Mark

Posted on June 18, 2008

The Harry Potter books have broken the 400 million sales mark.

According to Rowling's agent, Christopher Little, the seven Harry Potter books have so far been translated into 67 languages, amassing the 400m figure since the publication of the first book in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, in 1997.

Despite the furious pace of sales, Harry Potter will still have his work cut out to catch the Bible, which, according to the Guinness Book of Records, has sold 2.5bn copies since 1815, and has been translated into 2,233 languages or dialects. Rowling would be more likely to catch Mao Zedong's Little Red Book, which has reportedly sold 900m copies, but its sales are slowing down.

It's hard to imagine another book exploding on the marketplace like Harry Potter did. But that's not stopping publishers from looking for the "next Harry Potter." We hear that all the time from publicists, but so far -- alas -- nothing has lived up to the Harry Potter series. But that won't stop us reading lots of new authors, of course. Surely the next J.K. Rowling is out there somewhere, slaving away over a hot computer.

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