Charlie Hebdo: fifteen-fold increase in number of UK copies
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Version 0 of 1. As many as 15,000 copies of Charlie Hebdo are to go on sale in the UK over the coming days – a fifteen-fold increase over last week – as newsagents and bookshops continue to struggle to meet demand for the French satirical magazine. Queues formed through the night when last week’s edition went on sale in the UK early on Friday, the first since the terrorist attack on the magazine’s offices in Paris, with most customers missing out as only about 1,000 copies were available. However, this week more than 3,500 copies of Charlie Hebdo’s second issue since the attack will be available in newsagents specialising in foreign language publications and independent bookshops across the south-east of England from Friday morning. Potentially as many as 12,000 further copies will be made available across the country in the next few days. It is understood that demand is still outstripping the number of copies supplied to the UK, with most of the 15,000 run going on sale over the coming days earmarked for customers who had ordered or reserved a copy last week. It is thought that Charlie Hebdo is still only available in independent book stores and specialist newsagents. Major retailers such as WH Smith, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons have said they do not intend to start stocking the title despite the upsurge in popularity. It had been indicated to wholesalers that an English language version of this week’s edition of Charlie Hebdo might be made available, however it is understood that that only the French language version has been supplied so far. Comag, a joint venture distribution business jointly owned by magazine publishers Hearst and Condé Nast, normally distributes a few dozen copies of Charlie Hebdo in the UK each week. However, given the upsurge in demand Comag is working with wholesalers Smith News and Menzies Distribution to get more copies into shops. Smiths News is in line for a total of 7,500 copies this week, and expects to start distributing them from Saturday, compared to just 100 last week. Menzies Distribution, the other major UK wholesaler, said that it had received 3,550 copies which it distributed on Friday morning. The company said that it expects to receive additional supplies to put out in the next few days. While Menzies did not give an estimate of how many additional copies it expected to receive, the company is of a similar size to Smiths so it would not be unreasonable to assume a similiar that it could end out distributing a total of almost 7,500 as well. Like Smiths, Menzies only received 100 copies last week. In the US, 20,000 copies of this week’s issue are being distributed in cities including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago from Friday, according to Time magazine. Just 300 copies are reported to have reached the US last week. |