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Casual Vacancy 'fastest-selling book' in UK in three years

28.09.12 | Charlotte Williams and Lisa Campbell

J K Rowling's The Casual Vacancy has become "the fastest-selling book in the UK in three years", according to its publisher, Little, Brown, with Waterstones reporting it had been the biggest selling title for the chain yesterday (27th September).

Little, Brown declined to reveal first-day sales figures, but said it had shipped more than one million copies of the print edition to bookshops in the UK and to export territories, including Australia, New Zealand, India and South Africa. The publisher said this figure includes pre-order fulfillment. This is shy of the unconfirmed 2.5m million pre-order figure reported on Sky News and in the Daily Mirror on the day of publication, although the Little, Brown number does not contain e-book sales.

A statement from the publisher said: "We are delighted by the first day sales of The Casual Vacancy, which make it the fastest-selling book in the UK in three years . . . We will have official weekly sales figures from BookScan next Tuesday."

The record for first-week sales for an adult hardback fiction title is currently held by Dan Brown for The Lost Symbol (Transworld), which sold 550,000 copies in its first week on sale in 2009.

Meanwhile, Waterstones spokesperson Fiona Allen said: "[The Casual Vacancy] definitely was the biggest seller of the day and it was a very good day for us. In fact, I think sales might actually have been bigger than Dan Brown’s Lost Symbol, certainly at 2.30pm it looked like it was heading for it and may well have taken over by the end of the day. We had a constant stream of people coming in to pick it up."

Foyles also sold around 600 copies of The Casual Vacancy yesterday across its five London bookshops and Bristol branch, according to the retailer.

• Charlotte Williams
• charlotte williams and lisa campbell
• J K Rowling
• The Casual Vacancy