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CNN Live At Daybreak
Wild About Harry
Aired June 20, 2003 - 06:50 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The hottest day of summer so far was drawn to a close, so begins the hottest book of this summer, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix." I know your kids are forcing you to go to the bookstore at midnight tonight, and that is when the book goes on sale.
Joining us live now, Kristie Salerno Kent from Borders Books.
Boy, are you going to be busy tonight.
KRISTIE SALERNO KENT, BORDERS BOOKS: Very busy, but we're very excited. We've been preparing for this since February.
COSTELLO: You're kidding!
SALERNO: No. That's when they announced that the book was going to be available on June 21, and so we've been preparing and we're ready to go.
COSTELLO: OK, so when the big boxes of books came into your store, were they put under guard?
SALERNO: No guards, but there were, you know, very explicit instructions for all staff that the boxes were not to be opened. They were kept in a secure location. And there are even, I think, confidentiality release forms that had to be signed by staff members as well to make sure that nobody, you know, broke that breach.
COSTELLO: And nobody did, as far as you know.
SALERNO: No, nobody did.
COSTELLO: You have very honest employees...
SALERNO: We do.
COSTELLO: ... because I guess that guy in Britain, a forklift driver, got ahold of one of the books and tried to sell it to a newspaper over in Great Britain for $41,000.
SALERNO: Wow! Yes, I think I heard about that.
COSTELLO: He's in jail, though. So, it's a good thing he's...
SALERNO: So, he's not going to be joining our midnight release parties tonight then, I guess?
COSTELLO: No, not at all. How fierce is the competition between book stores to get the most kids in?
SALERNO: I think it's pretty fierce, but I think where Borders has the edge is we've been preparing, like I said, and the stores look fabulous. Right now as we speak they are preparing for these midnight release parties, where the actual store is becoming, you know, a wizard wonderland, and they're just -- they're decorating. The staff is so excited.
And, like I said, because we've been preparing, we're expecting a lot of people, you know...
COSTELLO: Like, how many?
SALERNO: Well, for book four, we had over 300,000 people attending our midnight release parties nationwide.
COSTELLO: And that's nationwide.
SALERNO: Correct. And so, I think that what we expect this time is more than that. We have over 750,000 reserves already of people waiting for this book.
COSTELLO: You're kidding?
SALERNO: No.
COSTELLO: So, when people come in, if they don't have a book reserved, will they still be able to buy one?
SALERNO: Yes. What's nice about the midnight release parties is we have a ticket system. So, when you enter the store, you receive a ticket. The ticket has a number, and then you're able to -- the numbers will be called chronologically so you don't have to stand in line and wait. You can enjoy all of the activities, and then just hear your number being called overhead and then you can get your book and go home and sleep.
COSTELLO: Just unbelievable. Has there any -- has there been any other book like this?
SALERNO: I don't think so. I think for Borders this is actually a record for us. I think we ordered the most amount of books, one title, than we've ever ordered. So, this is a record breaker for us.
COSTELLO: And first print, they've ordered, what, 8.7 million books? So, it's safe to say that they're going to sell all of those and theyll want another -- they'll want a second print of them.
SALERNO: I think so. I think that's safe to say, so far. It's crazy!
COSTELLO: It is. It's just absolutely loonytoon (ph). OK, so we know the kids enjoy the Harry Potter books, but adults do, too. What percentage is it, you know, that adults read the book as opposed to children? SALERNO: You know, I don't know. I don't know what the percentage would be. I'd say it could be close to half, and I think some of the overall themes in the Harry Potter books just -- they have a common theme of the fact that it's the underdog kind of thing.
Let's face it, whether youre a kid or you're and adult, we all feel like the underdog at some point. And just the good versus evil I think is the overall appealing theme. And then, you know, J.K. Rowlings just puts so much description in the books that she creates these words where you can picture the exact image of, you know, what she's trying to explain. And it's almost like I think the books read like a movie, and I think that's exciting for kids, because they can get -- use their imagination and get the vivid images.
COSTELLO: But this book is 896 pages long.
SALERNO: And, you know, it's funny, I was in the store a couple of days ago, and a little boy was asking me questions about the book. And I said, I haven't seen it, I can't really tell you much, I do know it's almost 900 pages. And he said, "Oh, then I'm going to finish that in two weeks, so I'd better get something else for the rest of the summer." And he ran back in the kid's section. And I thought, wow, that's pretty impressive, you know. He was probably about 10 years old.
COSTELLO: Yes. Well, anytime you can get kids to read that's a good thing.
SALERNO: Absolutely.
COSTELLO: But good for you. And good for you; good for him. And, of course, you're going to be busy tonight, so we'll let you go.
SALERNO: Thank you so much.
COSTELLO: And thanks for waking up early with DAYBREAK. We sure appreciate it.
SALERNO: No problem.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired June 20, 2003 - 06:50 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The hottest day of summer so far was drawn to a close, so begins the hottest book of this summer, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix." I know your kids are forcing you to go to the bookstore at midnight tonight, and that is when the book goes on sale.
Joining us live now, Kristie Salerno Kent from Borders Books.
Boy, are you going to be busy tonight.
KRISTIE SALERNO KENT, BORDERS BOOKS: Very busy, but we're very excited. We've been preparing for this since February.
COSTELLO: You're kidding!
SALERNO: No. That's when they announced that the book was going to be available on June 21, and so we've been preparing and we're ready to go.
COSTELLO: OK, so when the big boxes of books came into your store, were they put under guard?
SALERNO: No guards, but there were, you know, very explicit instructions for all staff that the boxes were not to be opened. They were kept in a secure location. And there are even, I think, confidentiality release forms that had to be signed by staff members as well to make sure that nobody, you know, broke that breach.
COSTELLO: And nobody did, as far as you know.
SALERNO: No, nobody did.
COSTELLO: You have very honest employees...
SALERNO: We do.
COSTELLO: ... because I guess that guy in Britain, a forklift driver, got ahold of one of the books and tried to sell it to a newspaper over in Great Britain for $41,000.
SALERNO: Wow! Yes, I think I heard about that.
COSTELLO: He's in jail, though. So, it's a good thing he's...
SALERNO: So, he's not going to be joining our midnight release parties tonight then, I guess?
COSTELLO: No, not at all. How fierce is the competition between book stores to get the most kids in?
SALERNO: I think it's pretty fierce, but I think where Borders has the edge is we've been preparing, like I said, and the stores look fabulous. Right now as we speak they are preparing for these midnight release parties, where the actual store is becoming, you know, a wizard wonderland, and they're just -- they're decorating. The staff is so excited.
And, like I said, because we've been preparing, we're expecting a lot of people, you know...
COSTELLO: Like, how many?
SALERNO: Well, for book four, we had over 300,000 people attending our midnight release parties nationwide.
COSTELLO: And that's nationwide.
SALERNO: Correct. And so, I think that what we expect this time is more than that. We have over 750,000 reserves already of people waiting for this book.
COSTELLO: You're kidding?
SALERNO: No.
COSTELLO: So, when people come in, if they don't have a book reserved, will they still be able to buy one?
SALERNO: Yes. What's nice about the midnight release parties is we have a ticket system. So, when you enter the store, you receive a ticket. The ticket has a number, and then you're able to -- the numbers will be called chronologically so you don't have to stand in line and wait. You can enjoy all of the activities, and then just hear your number being called overhead and then you can get your book and go home and sleep.
COSTELLO: Just unbelievable. Has there any -- has there been any other book like this?
SALERNO: I don't think so. I think for Borders this is actually a record for us. I think we ordered the most amount of books, one title, than we've ever ordered. So, this is a record breaker for us.
COSTELLO: And first print, they've ordered, what, 8.7 million books? So, it's safe to say that they're going to sell all of those and theyll want another -- they'll want a second print of them.
SALERNO: I think so. I think that's safe to say, so far. It's crazy!
COSTELLO: It is. It's just absolutely loonytoon (ph). OK, so we know the kids enjoy the Harry Potter books, but adults do, too. What percentage is it, you know, that adults read the book as opposed to children? SALERNO: You know, I don't know. I don't know what the percentage would be. I'd say it could be close to half, and I think some of the overall themes in the Harry Potter books just -- they have a common theme of the fact that it's the underdog kind of thing.
Let's face it, whether youre a kid or you're and adult, we all feel like the underdog at some point. And just the good versus evil I think is the overall appealing theme. And then, you know, J.K. Rowlings just puts so much description in the books that she creates these words where you can picture the exact image of, you know, what she's trying to explain. And it's almost like I think the books read like a movie, and I think that's exciting for kids, because they can get -- use their imagination and get the vivid images.
COSTELLO: But this book is 896 pages long.
SALERNO: And, you know, it's funny, I was in the store a couple of days ago, and a little boy was asking me questions about the book. And I said, I haven't seen it, I can't really tell you much, I do know it's almost 900 pages. And he said, "Oh, then I'm going to finish that in two weeks, so I'd better get something else for the rest of the summer." And he ran back in the kid's section. And I thought, wow, that's pretty impressive, you know. He was probably about 10 years old.
COSTELLO: Yes. Well, anytime you can get kids to read that's a good thing.
SALERNO: Absolutely.
COSTELLO: But good for you. And good for you; good for him. And, of course, you're going to be busy tonight, so we'll let you go.
SALERNO: Thank you so much.
COSTELLO: And thanks for waking up early with DAYBREAK. We sure appreciate it.
SALERNO: No problem.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
