A paperback version of Kate McCann's book, Madeleine, has been released – a year after the hardback copy topped the charts. 

Her book about her daughter's disappearance in Portugal has sold more than 280,000 copies since it was released in May last year

The paperback version hit the shelves yesterday and within hours it had climbed to 63rd place in the Amazon best-selling biographies list.

About 73,000 copies of the hardback were sold in the week of its release last year, making it one of the fastest-selling non-fiction books of recent years.

Only five other non fiction books have registered stronger sales in their first week – two cookery books by Delia Smith, the autobiographies of David Beckham and Tony Blair and a book by Princess Diana's former butler, Paul Burrell.

Philip Stone, charts editor at The Bookseller magazine, said: "It was quite remarkable how well the book did when it was released first time round in hardback.

"I would not imagine that we would see those kinds of figures again. For one thing, few books sell that many copies, full stop.

"Also, I think the type of people who wanted to buy the book wanted to read it immediately and would not have waited until it came out in paperback to buy it.

"The serialisation of the book in a newspaper (The Sun) also helped a lot with sales a year ago.

"That is not to say that it will not be a best-seller again – it could well be – I just can't see it being number one again."

The 496-page paperback book has been published by Corgi, and is on sale for £7.99.

Meanwhile, a website which came under fire for featuring a picture of Madeleine alongside a discount holiday advert appears to have been taken down.

The VoucherDigg page, which appeared online on Monday, advertised offers from internet travel agency Low Cost Holidays.

Yesterday, the VoucherDigg homepage featured an apology to the McCanns and said the site had closed.

The statement said: "We are sorry for the serious wrongdoing that occurred. We unreservedly apologise for the hurt suffered by Mr and Mrs McCann."

Low Cost Holidays condemned the use of the picture and said they had no contract with VoucherDigg allowing them to advertise their holidays.

Yesterday, Low Cost Holidays chief operating officer Lawrence Hunt said: "Voucherdigg has confirmed its website has been closed down.

They will be issuing a letter of apology for this appalling error.

"Lowcostholidays.com would like to reiterate that they had no contract or working relationship with Voucherdigg to advertise or sell their holidays and are disgusted by the use of this image."