‘Go Set A Watchman’ by Harper Lee sells over 1 million copies in six days

To the surprise of no one, Harper Lee’s second novel Go Set a Watchman has already sold over 1 million copies in just six days.

HaperCollins Publishers announced this morning that the book has sold 1.1 million copies in print, e-book and audio format since it was released on July 14. The audiobook is performed by actress Reese Witherspoon.

The publisher said that they have already printed more copies, so there will be 3.3 million copies in print. There are also 150,000 copies of the book printed in Spanish for sale in Latin America, the U.S. and Spain.

Brian Murray, President and CEO of HarperCollins Publishers, said that the sales still surprised the publisher. “Bringing this book to market has been an amazing effort by thousands of people – from our publishing teams to booksellers large and small. We are thrilled to see readers responding to this historic new work from an iconic author like Harper Lee,” Murray said.

Watchman is actually a rough draft of Lee’s iconic 1960 novel To Kill A Mockingbird. Many reviewers and readers were shocked to find out that the book, written in 1957, features a racist version of Atticus Finch.

The book also failed to become the fastest to reach 1 million copies sold in 2015. As the Los Angeles Times notes, it took just four days for E.L. James’ erotic novel Grey to sell 1.1 million copies. That book was merely a retelling of the events in Fifty Shades of Grey, but from a different perspective.

cover from HarperCollins