According to a website called China View, Malaysian readers are scooping up pirated editions of the final Harry Potter installment in droves.
Cashing in on the popularity of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, pirates have mass-produced paperback editions which are retailed at 48 ringgit (14 U.S. dollars) each, the New Straits Times reported.
They are available at selected news vendors and bookstores, some of whom are selling the books at 60 ringgit (18 U.S. dollars) but with a 20 percent discount.
Checks at several news vendors and bookstores showed that the pirated book copied the original version wholesale, from its front and back covers and publisher’s logo to even the barcode.
Apparently, the pirated editions are selling like hotcakes, especially among the country’s student population. No word yet if the book’s Malaysian publisher will be cracking down on this, but we’re sure that Bloomsbury and Rowling herself are feeling very disappointed with the Malays right about now.
I hope that was a typo…
be·siege (b-sj)
tr.v. be·sieged, be·sieg·ing, be·sieg·es
1. To surround with hostile forces.
2. To crowd around; hem in.
3. To harass or importune, as with requests: Reporters besieged the winner for interviews.
4. To cause to feel distressed or worried: She was besieged by problems.
[Middle English besegen, probably alteration of assegen, from Old French assegier, from Vulgar Latin *assedicre : Latin ad-, ad- + Vulgar Latin *sedicre, to sit; see siege.]
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has the potential to be one of the 10 biggest selling books of all time, which would need a 90 million copy sell. I am just a mere 14 year old boy and have been lucky enough to grow up with Harry Potter as he matures and the books get more exiting and adventurous, but I am disgusted at the pirates who sell these books for self-benefit when their profits could go to JKR herself who could put it to better use (charities), and it also puts at risk this book at coming into the top 10 selling books of all time.
My son is a huge Potter fan and he is the one that got me interested in the Rowling books.
I was especially impressed with the rags to riches story of ms. Rowling. I think it is
outrageous for ANYONE to pirate her books that she labored so hard to write.