I'll have to check on that, but one of the key things is that Harry Potter is huge in the States, whereas dad has taken a while to really get going there and it's only in the last couple of years with books like Maurice and Wee Free Men that things have started to pick up.
Against that though, he has a significant time advantage in the rest of the world. where he has been racking up best sellers for a long time before Potter appeared on the scene. In all that time, I don't ever remember seeing a bookshop that didn't stock his books in huge numbers <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
As an aside, I ended up having to pick up an award on behalf of my dad last night for ‘Best Author’ at the SFX (UK SF/Fantasy magazine) awards. The event was so badly organised they had 1) Not invited my dad 2) Not told him he’d won 3) Not told ‘me’ he’d won and therefore that I’d have to go up. I just happened to be there because I do a bit of work for the mag. Madness.
Oh my word! A well deserved win, for sure, but somewhat tainted by the clear ineptitude of the source!
A lot of elbow-wiping amongst the organisers there, I think <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" /> Or maybe they got carried away and tried to send an invite to Ankh Morpork? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />
