The world's biggest book sale, redux. Make that 2.5 million

Thanks to the miracles of time zones I’m able to report today, part way through Monday 09 October, that the world’s biggest book sale finished at midnight on Monday 09 October,

A few days ago we reported on the world’s biggest book sale, the Big Bad Wolf sale in Colombo, Sri Lanka, with 1.5 million books.

But it transpires the just finished Big Bad Wolf book sale in Surabaya, Indonesia, was a fraction bigger. Well, okay, a lot bigger, with 2.5 million books.
Global Indonesian Voices explained the enduring popularity of the Big Bad Wolf fairs across SE Asia.

Imported books are usually considered to have better quality compared to local books. Book fairs such as the Big Bad Wolf sells books that are published overseas. The book fair offers a wide selection of publishers, including those from the United States, United Kingdom and other western countries.
People can generally find imported books in bookstores across the country. But the usual problem is price. Most imported books are not associated with cheap prices. Hence, they are not affordable to all consumers from different socio-economic backgrounds.
But, book fair such as the Big Bad Wolf Book Sale offers something different. The imported books are highly discounted, making them available for anyone who is interested in buying those books. This year, the fair offered a variety of discounts, ranging from 60% to 80% off the normal price. And what made it more attractive was that the discount was applied to new books, not second-hand books.

For those who missed the previous post, the Big Bad Wolf book fairs run across four countries in SE Asia at different times of the year – Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. The Indonesian and Sri Lankan Big Bad Wolf fairs just happened to overlap.