Two of the nation’s three largest bookselling chains reported quarterly earnings yesterday after the close of the market, and top chain Barnes & Noble will report later in the week.

All three are struggling with the challenge of trying to exceed last year’s record-setting summer release of “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” but yesterday’s results indicate healthy book sales.

Borders Group called its sales of $847.1 million, up 2.4% over a year ago, “stronger than expected,” even though comparable store sales declined 0.8%.

At its superstores, book sales were even with a year ago, while strong DVD sales overcame weak music sales in lifting the multimedia segment. Sales at the company’s fast-growing international division rose 18.3% to $104.3 million, helped considerably by the weak dollar. Earnings for the quarter were strong at $8.5 million, exceeding both analysts’ and the company’s expectations.

For the next quarter, Borders predicts comparable superstore sales will be flat or up slightly, and flat to down slightly at its declining mall-based stores. Borders lifted its projection for full-year sales to $1.72 to $1.77 a share, up from $1.70 to $1.75 a share.

The no. 3 player Books-A-Million reported a sales increase of just 0.9%, for a total of $114.1 million for the quarter, while net income fell slightly to $1 million. The company’s chief executive, Sandra B. Cochran, said in a statement, “Our sales were better than expected despite the difficult comparison to last year due to the success of ‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.’ We were able to exceed our internal projections and achieve flat comparable store sales. Strong sales of Bill Clinton’s memoir, ‘My Life,’ an aggressive promotional plan, and continued strong trends in our cafe business contributed to the good results.”

The company is feeling confident enough that it increased its guidance for fiscal year 2005 by 5 cents a share, up to 57 cents to 59 cents a share. It also announced a one-time dividend of 12 cents a share and the initiation of a quarterly dividend of 3 cents a share.

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In the continuing saga of disgraced author Norma Khouri, she finally admitted to an Australian television interviewer that her actual life story is different than the one she portrayed in her book.

“I apologize to the readers for not revealing to them my time in the US,” she said, while still maintaining that, “It is true that I had a friend in Jordan and she was killed… That book (“Forbidden Love/Honor Lost”) is her story. That is the truth.”

Ms. Khouri maintains that she “did change a lot of details to protect people involved,” though that doesn’t explain why she had to change the story of her own life.