"I'm proud of how we managed those books." "We did a good job of supplying the market," he says. There were some bumps in delivery in the fall but they managed to keep the shelves well stocked in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Raincoast kept the presses running at five of them. Printers did not have enough paper to turn out the books fast enough. Raincoast arranged for printers and then the demand just took off. Prisoner of Azkaban was shipped in July, he was dreaming dangerously, preparing to move maybe 150,000 MacDougall first picked up some noise at a booksellers convention in Toronto in June. It wasn't until a few months later that the The Chamber of Secrets came out last April, sales were strong but not huge. MacDougall set his sights on moving 15,000 each of the next two books. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone sold 12,000 copies last winter.
MacDougall acknowledges that the incredible popularity of the British adventure series caught Raincoast Books by surprise. The book, which has not even been printed, has dominated the "hot books" list of Internet bookseller for the past four weeks. One week after opening their order book, Raincoast staff received 17,000 orders. Harry Potter and Doomspell Tournament, is causing a stir, even though it is not available until July. A children's book is usually considered a best seller in Canada if 5,000 copies are sold and many children's books sell only 500 copies. Harry Potter books are in print in Canada and one million have been sold. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - were the hottest selling books in Canada last year. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, The Harry Potter phenomenon - which has reached into almost a million homes in Canada - has turned Raincoast into a company to watch in the country's $2-billion book industry. Raincoast Books is a privately held book distributor and publisher located minutes away from the farthest western reaches of Canada and 5,000 kilometres away from the centre of Canada's book market. "You have to control the urge to say how brilliant you are in these situations," he said with a grin during in an interview at his office, which sits adjacent to the company warehouse in an industrial area of Vancouver. This set was featured in Real Simple's " 32 Affordable Book-Themed Gifts for Bibliophiles.Allan MacDougall does not want to sound pompous, like he's bragging or something.īut no matter how he says it, the president of Raincoast Books ends up trumpeting how well his company has managed the wildly popular Harry Potter series. The publisher's collectible traveling trunk, made from durable cardboard, comes with a set of themed stickers.Īlready own the books? Check out our Jackets Only Option! This book set is perfect for longtime fans of the series, “Potterheads,” or young readers just starting to read about Harry’s epic journey.Īll books are brand new from the publisher, Scholastic, with jackets designed and printed by Juniper Books. Our Harry Potter House Sets take inspiration from each of the four Hogwarts Houses: Gryffindor’s lion is set against a bright scarlet and gold combination, the eagle of Ravenclaw house accompanied by blue and bronze tones, Hufflepuff’s yellow and black adorned with a badger, and Slytherin’s iconic green and silver combination is marked with a snake - so that readers can display their house pride on their shelves. This famed children’s series has inspired generations of young readers since the first book was published in 1997 as well as the runaway successful film adaptations.
Rowling’s record-breaking Harry Potter series has sold over 500 million copies worldwide and has been translated into 80 languages.