The Guardian

The magic of Harry Potter has enchanted not just children but also publishers, who have rediscovered the value of children’s books.

Ahead of the release of the sixth instalment in JK Rowling’s phenomenally successful series about the boy wizard, bookseller Waterstone’s has analysed the impact

Harry Potter has had on the publishing industry, UK tourism and business. The superstar of children’s fiction, JK Rowling has helped her fellow authors by raising the profile of the genre.

Waterstone’s said there has been a tenfold increase in the number of new children’s books released every month since 2000. In a state of decline before the appearance of Harry Potter in 1997, sales of children’s books excluding the young wizard have since been growing at a rate of 2 per cent a year.

“Demand for other children’s authors, stimulated by interest in Harry Potter, has helped the publishing industry as a whole,” Waterstone’s said.

“New writers are now taken more seriously, recognised more quickly, and invested in more heavily.”

The popularity of Harry Potter has boosted sales of other children’s authors such as Philip Pullman and Mark Haddon. The top three best-selling fiction authors in the UK are now children’s writers, ahead of John Grisham, Dan Brown and Danielle Steel.

Harry Potter has also fuelled the popularity of the crossover genre, or books that are read by adults and children.

Adult editions of the fifth book in the series, ‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,’ accounted for 10 per cent of total sales.

‘Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince’ is expected to smash all publishing records when it is simultaneously released around the world at one minute past midnight next Saturday, July 16.

“Normally a popular or much anticipated book would be lucky to sell 2 million copies in its lifetime, let alone its first 24 hours,” said Waterstone’s children’s manager, George Grey. British publisher Bloomsbury remains tight-lipped about print runs for the book, but US publisher Scholastic has announced a first run of 10.8 million copies. This is a 27 per cent increase on its run for book five.

The ripple effect of Harry Potter’s success has also helped the UK tourism industry. Just as ‘Lord of the Rings’ drew visitors to New Zealand, Harry Potter fans have been inspired to travel to Britain. VisitBritain’s Harry Potter campaign was one of its most successful ever.

Forbes magazine estimates the Harry Potter brand is worth $1bn (£575m), almost three times more than brand Beckham (estimated to be worth $375m).

It says at least a dozen US companies cited Harry Potter as a factor affecting their sales in 2004.

Millions of children, meanwhile, will be wide awake and counting down the minutes until they can read the latest chapter in the life of Harry and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.

In the new book, Harry will be 16 and in his sixth year at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

As Harry has gotten older, the books have gradually taken up teen themes, including romance.

Since Harry has broken up with his first girlfriend, Cho Chang, many readers are interested to see if he gets a new love interest.

There’s also interest in seeing if Ron and Hermione act on what seems to be their mutual attraction.

It’s likely that Book Six also will include a major battle of good vs evil; the last chapter in Book Five was titled “The Second War Begins,” and Harry and other main characters were readying themselves for a fight with the forces of the “Dark Lord.” Rowling has given a few hints about what else readers may expect to happen.

One character will be killed, and although Rowling refuses to say who it is, she has reassured fans on her Website that Harry definitely will survive to the seventh and final book.

But she added: “I am not going to say whether he grows any older than that because I have never said that.”

Asked at last year’s Edinburgh Book Festival which character she’d like to be for a day, Rowling replied: “Definitely not Harry, because I would not want to go through it all. I know what is coming for him, so there is no way that I would want to be him.”