Eight million copies of Rowling book in stores - astonishing first print run.

Associated Press.

Edinburgh — The latest magical tome by J.K. Rowling has started to fly off bookstore shelves.
Rowling launched The Tales of Beedle the Bard last week with a tea party for 200 schoolchildren at the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh, where she lives.
She is donating royalties from the book to charity.

Recession-hit booksellers hope the book - a collection of five fables mentioned in Rowling's saga about boy wizard Harry Potter - will give them a festive boost.

"We expect it to come straight in at No. 1 and is very likely to be our No. 1 book this Christmas," said Jon Howells of Britain's Waterstone's bookstore chain. "It's in with a fighting chance of being the best-selling book of the year, even though there are only a few weeks to go. This is J.K. Rowling. None of the usual rules apply."
Beedle the Bard was published yesterday in more than 20 countries, with a global print run of almost eight million.

Meantime it is reported that W.H.Smith were selling Beedle the Bard for 99p over the weekend if you spent 15 pounds instore.