Pre-release export orders for the final Harry Potter novel are 17 per cent higher than those received for the previous book in the series, publisher Bloomsbury has revealed.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh book in JK Rowling's popular witchcraft and wizardry series, is due for release on July 21st.
London-based Bloomsbury has already benefited from total Harry Potter sales which already number more than 300 million across the world.
In a statement ahead of its annual general meeting the company announced its intention to launch boxed set editions of the complete series on October 1st, while a paperback edition of the final Harry Potter book will be issued in 2008.
Looking beyond the success of the Potter novels, Bloomsbury said that it had made "substantial progress" in realising the benefits of a strategy plan announced in April, including leveraging its international business, expanding US operations and publishing further bestsellers.
Titles currently proving successful in the UK include A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner, and David Kynaston's historical book Austerity Britain.
Bloomsbury is also seeking to boost sales with more TV and movie tie-ins, which will include the release of the film version of The Kite Runner next January. David Dimbleby's book How We Built Britain is also currently the subject of a BBC programme.
"We are confident that the building blocks for Bloomsbury's future are in place – a future where our core expertise will continue to play a fundamental role, namely publishing, in whatever form, books of the highest possible quality, with content which excites and pleases readers," said Bloomsbury chairman Nigel Newton.
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