Her narrative in some ways mirrors her own life, according to the Scholastic Books Web site. Back when she started writing the books, Rowling was a divorced mother going through a difficult period. She wrote the first book in a coffee shop where she could bring her young daughter.

This book--titled Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in Britain--was funded in part with a grant from the Scottish Arts Council. Rowling has since won the British Book Awards Children's Book of the Year and the Smarties Prize.

The Harry Potter books have now been published everywhere from Portugal to Japan, and the fourth book will be released in summer 2000.

There will be seven books total, one for each grade Harry goes through at Hogwarts.

According to Ringen, the Harry Potter fever has been instructive for publishers about trends in the modern marketplace.

Rowling's third book was released in Britain last July. The U.S. version did not reach stores until September.

Between the two release dates, American readers hungry to find out what was happening at Hogwarts ordered the British version over the Internet, from amazon.co.uk.

"A lot of people were going to the Internet.It shows us how people get things," says Ringen, who adds that Scholastic has coordinated future Harry Potter release dates with British publisher Bloomsbury.