08/27/2009 05:41 PM
Dubai: Fans of American author Dan Brown in Dubai have already started pre-ordering his much anticipated next book The Lost Symbol, expected to be released on September 15.
Local bookstores Magrudy's and Jashanmal Bookstores started accepting pre-orders for the book in May and June respectively, and have registered approximately 300 orders already. Six years after the Dan Brown blockbuster The Da Vinci Code, his next thriller fiction is expected to be a best-seller on the day of its launch, as it is already the number one book on Amazon and other booksellers.
"We have 200 pre-orders for our Dubai store already and are expecting more closer to the launch date," said Narain Jashanmal, General Manager of Jashanmal books in Dubai.
The store is expecting to order a total of 10,000 copies of the book for its stores in Dubai and Bahrain.
Mia Santiago, marketing manager at Magrudy's, said the store has registered 100 pre-orders but said the store is also expecting "many more" enquiries before the launch date.
Neither of the stores has started to actively promote the book yet. Both Jashanmal and Santiago said that summer months tend to be slower for book sales, but are optimistic about sales for The Lost Symbol. Brown's books deal mainly with religiously-linked conspiracies. It had caused a controversy among many Christians, including in Lebanon, where the Da Vinci Code was banned in 2004.
Publishers of The Lost Symbol have been tightlipped about the contents of the novel except that the secret society that will be the focus of the book is the Freemasons. This will be Brown's third book to feature Robert Langdon, a professor of religious symbology at Harvard University.
According to US media reports, the publishers will print 5 million copies initially, which is larger than any print run since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in 2007, which printed 12 million copies.
Jashanmal said that the publishers had embargoed the book, deciding not to provide advance copies.
He added the Da Vinci books continued to sell at his store, thanks to the release of movie adaptations of Brown's last two books.
Two other Dubai bookstores, Virgin Megastore and Kinokuniya, will also be selling the book but they are not accepting pre-orders.
