Potter spin-off fails to cast a spell

MUMBAI: Strand Book Stall manager P M Shenvi was expecting the magic of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to reappear outside the bookstore on December 4. When Deathly Hallows was released in July 2007, there was a queue forming outside from 5am. This time, however, the first customer for The Tales of Beedle The Bard, J K Rowling's latest Potter spin-off, walked in close to 11am.
"We were expecting to sell 250 to 300 copies on the first day, but sold just 60,'' says Shenvi.
The 128-page spin-off comes at a high price: Rs 599. After original copies, illustrated by Rowling, sold for record prices on eBay, it has now made its way to the city. However, the poor sales of the book beggar the question, are Potter spin-offs not as popular as Potter himself? Earlier Potter spinoffs - Quidditch Through The Ages and Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them - also failed, indicating that readers don't take well to books without Potter and his friends.
Shenvi's nephew, who read the entire Potter series 10 times, pooh-poohed the book. "The book is ridicuoulsly priced and the content is not good enough,'' Shenvi says, listing the drawbacks of the book.
Lack of publicity for the current book may have counted against the book.
"It's been a bad year for Harry Potter,'' says Sandeep Salian, who bought the book last week. "First, the movie got delayed and now this terrible book.''
Kinjal Shah, books category manager, Crossword bookstores, says, "We had anticipated lower sales for this book. We bought only 3,000 copies for all our outlets and have sold around 1,800 copies. This book will not impact the sale of the Harry Potter series in any way.''
"I am sure in a few days pirated versions of the books will come up that will be priced at Rs 100 and sell like hot cakes,'' Shenvi predicts.