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Wednesday 26 April 2017

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JK Rowling's new book for grown-ups tops pre-order sales

Her previous books sparked Potter mania and made JK Rowling one of the world’s richest women. Now, days before its official release, the author’s first foray into grown-up literature has already become a publishing phenomenon.

JK Rowling's new book for grown-ups tops pre-order sales
JK Rowling's new book, The Casual Vacancy tops pre-order sales Photo: PAUL GROVER

Pre-orders of The Casual Vacancy are the highest for any book this year, while booksellers are hoping that a marketing blitz this week will send copies flying off the shelves when it is officially launched this week.

Publishers will doubtless be hoping that many of the millions who enjoyed the Harry Potter books snap up the new tome, which may also appeal to readers who saw the boy wizard series as too childish or fantasy-based.

Some in the industry are playing down expectations given that it is the first time Rowling has ventured into writing for adults.

But bookshops are expected to open early for the launch of the novel at 8am on Thursday and pre-orders at Waterstone’s are the highest of the year so far.

Philip Stone, of the Bookseller magazine, said it was likely to be “one of the biggest book releases of the 21st century”.

The last book in the Harry Potter series sold 2.5 million in its first 24 hours in the UK alone, although few are expecting the new book to emulate this figure.

Currently the record for most hardback sales in a first week for an adults’ novel stands at 550,000 for The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown’s eagerly-awaited 2009 follow-up to The Da Vinci Code.

It will be difficult for Rowling to match that and even harder to try to catch up with the latest publishing behemoth, EL James’s Fifty Shade of Grey, which has sold 5.3 million copies in print and ebooks.

A Waterstone’s spokesman said of the new Rowling book: “This is definitely the biggest launch of the year. Having said that, it is not in the league of Harry Potter, which is obviously a phenomenon that built up over a decade.”

Darren Hardy, books manager at online retailer Amazon, said: “JK Rowling is one of the most well-loved authors of all-time and there is a lot of anticipation ahead of the release of her new novel.

“We have seen a great deal of customer interest for ‘Casual Vacancy’ and, on the strength of pre-orders alone, it has featured in the Amazon.co.uk bestsellers list since it was announced. It’s likely to be one of our bestselling books this Christmas.”

A synopsis of The Casual Vacancy by publishers Little, Brown, says it is about an idyllic English town which turns out to be “not what it first seems”.

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