TimesOnLine

[Times photo:Lisa DeJong]

From London to Los Angeles, bookstores were open into the wee hours of this morning to welcome the arrival of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. It's the fourth installment in the series about the adventures of an orphaned wizard, Harry, at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Hours before Harry's new adventure burst upon a waiting world, it was hard to tell who was more excited -- the book industry or the throngs of youngsters whose genuine eagerness to read it created a marketer's dream.
Scholastic, the American publisher of the books by J.K. Rowling, conspired with Harry's British publisher, Bloomsbury, to cloak the fourth book in mystery, refusing to even release its title until someone let it slip two weeks ago. No advance copies were released to reviewers, and booksellers were required to sign legal affidavits prohibiting them from selling the books until 12:01 a.m. today. The plan must have worked. Consider:
Scholastic ordered a first run of 3.8-million U.S. copies. Experts say it's the biggest first run printing in the history of trade publishing.
Goblet of Fire has set records for Internet booksellers as well. Amazon.com received nearly 325,000 pre-orders, six times more than the previous pre-order best-seller, John Grisham's The Brethren. Officials of Barnes & Noble and Barnes & Noble.com say they had 230,000 pre-orders for the book.
Federal Express is mobilizing more than 9,000 delivery personnel and vehicles today across the United States for delivery of hundreds of thousands of copies ordered from Amazon.com by Potter fans.