The realm of the make-believe Hogwarts School and Harry Potter has excited not only children but also publishers, who have realized the true power of children’s literature. Just as JK Rowling is about to widen the repertoire of the phenomenally popular boy wizard with the release of her sixth book, leading booksellers in UK believe that Harry Potter has impacted publishing, tourism and business in a way that no other children’s book has done in recent times.

UK’s lead retailer of books, Waterstone believes that Harry Potter has contributed to a tenfold increase in the number of children’s releases every month since 2000, contributing to a 2% increase in sales in the same category, which prior to 1997 showed a decline. JK Rowling has become a superstar of sorts, helping fellow authors by raising the category of children’s books to be important enough for publisher’s to take notice. Waterstone’s believe that consequently new writers are being taken more seriously and given due recognition, with publishers willing to invest in bigger advances. They also believe that retail spaces are changing with more window room and displays devoted to children’s books, owing to increased marketing and promotion.

Besides Rowling, the authors who have benefited from the Harry Potter phenomenon include Philip Pullman and Mark Haddon, who are considered to be UK’s top-selling fiction authors, ahead of John Grisham, Dan Brown and Danielle Steel. A new category of books has arisen fuelled by Harry Potter’s popularity among adults as well as children, the crossover genre read by both. Even as “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince�? gets released worldwide at one minute past midnight on July 16th, it is expected to smash publishing records. Against the norm of 2 million copies sale for a popular book in its lifetime, US publisher Scholastic announced a print run of 10.8 million copies. UK publisher Bloomsbury, who is known best for Harry Potter books, has refused to divulge the size of its print run for the book.

Harry Potter has also helped the UK tourism industry like did Lord of the Rings for New Zealand with VisitBritain quoting its Harry Potter campaign as one of its most successful ever. Forbes magazine puts the worth of the Harry Potter brand at $1bn, three times over brand Beckham, which is notched at $375m.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, is the story of Harry Potter’s sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where the battle of good and evil goes to a new high. Rowling, who first conceived Harry while riding a train in 1990 said, “Harry just strolled into my head fully formed”. Working for several years in the quiet moments while her daughter slept, JK Rowling had to brave poor interest from publishers before her manuscript attracted any interest. After the release of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in 1998, the second and third books were released in quick succession in the spring and fall of 1999. The fourth book Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, released in July 2000 became a major sensation, selling an unprecedented three million copies in the first 48 hours of release. With quarter million books sold across 200 countries and translations in 61 languages, Harry Potter might even reverse the dwindling reading habit of children and adults alike.