London, Dec 10: JK Rowling''s latest offering `The Tales of Beedle the Bard' has broken all records to become the fastest selling book of 2008.

The 109-page collection of short stories, sold almost five times as many copies in its first few days after publication as its nearest rival, Guinness World Records
2008.

The latest book in wizard boy series sold 367,625 copies in the first three days after publication on December 4.

Guinness World Records 2008 sold 73,000 over the same time period, according to market analysts Nielsen BookScan.

The extraordinary accomplishment of the latest Harry Potter spin-off has indicated that author J. K. Rowling still enjoys a powerful hold over the readers, according to Nielsen BookScan.

"None of the other big releases managed to get near the sales figure for Beedle the Bard. I would be very surprised if it is not Christmas number one, but it''s not a dead cert," The Telegraph quoted Philip Stone, charts editor at The Bookseller magazine, as saying.

"I think that this time next year retailers and publishers will be wanting Rowling to have picked up her pen again," he added. (ANI)