The Day After

Reading about all the media coverage of the HBP release. Initial reports say that 6.9 million books were sold during first 24 hours of release in US and 2 million in UK. Assuming an average price of about 18 USD per book, this amounts to more than 150 million dollars in a single day in just these two markets!!! Hollywood can't even dream of matching this anytime in foreseeable future!! :)

The only interview that JKR gave to any adult journalist regarding this book release was shown on NBC this saturday. How's this for rags-to-riches story?

"But Rowling hasn’t forgotten what is was like before she became synonymous with fame and fortune— less than a decade ago, when the only checks coming in to her house were welfare checks.

Rowling: Last year, when I was pregnant with Mackenzie, Neil and I were on the other side of Edinburgh. And we were very near the flat in which I finished writing "Philosopher’s Stone." I hadn’t been back there since I had left it and moved to a new house. And I said to Neil, “Let’s go around the corner, this is where I used to live.”

And when I clapped eyes on the place, I burst into tears. I couldn’t stop crying. For a moment, I was back where I had been all those years ago. It brought back this tidal wave of emotion. And I think it hit me so hard how life had changed. And in all respects, how wonderful it was.

And I’m standing there and I’m looking at this place and I’m thinking, it was almost like, I would see the ghost of myself standing in the window and I would be able to communicate to that person, “It’s all going to be okay. You know, you’re working so hard, and it will be okay. And it will be more than okay, it will be fabulous.” I will never forget how it felt to go back there."

Read the full transcript of the interview here.