J.K. Rowling announces a new book for adults

Since her first book from the Harry Potter series was published in 1997 J.K. Rowling’s characters and loyal fan based have grown up.  Many who were children when the series first started to be printed are now in their college years or older and claim that Rowling helped to add magic and a love of reading to their childhood.  The series that defined a generation is comprised of seven books that span 4,195 pages.  The magic in these novels have been translated into seventy-four languages, turned into eight feature films, and inspired a theme park.  Coupled with the vast popularity of the book among readers, J.K. Rowling’s novels have won numerous awards and broken records as the world’s fastest selling books.  Harry Potter is now a globally recognized brand that is worth an estimated 15 billion dollars and Forbes named Rowling the first person to become a U.S. dollar billionaire by writing books.

Her success as an author of children’s books has put J.K. Rowling in the spotlight, which is why some critics were surprised when she announced that this next book would be an adult novel entirely separate from the world-renowned series.  However, fans have shown excitement in the new book feeling that the same mind that captivated them in youth has grown with them and will entertain them as adults.  Rowling released a statement saying:

 “Although I’ve enjoyed writing it every bit as much, my next book will be very different to the Harry Potter series…The freedom to explore new territory is a gift that Harry’s success has brought me, and with that new territory it seemed a logical progression to have a new publisher.”

Instead of using Bloomsbury and Scholastic, the companies that published her series in the U.K. and the United States, Rowling will be using Little, Brown and Company to publish the new book.  Despite this Bloomsbury has announced that the relationship it has with Rowling is “stronger than ever” and both parties remain strongly connected.  The publishing counterpart for the U.S. is also still on good terms with the author stating,“We are pleased to announce that as part of our long term strategy for Harry Potter we intend to publish illustrated editions of all seven Harry Potter books in a rolling program from 2013 onwards in addition to our partnership on e-books with the Pottermore website.” It has also been noted that Scholastic does not publish adult books.

Perhaps some of this positivity comes from a hope that an eighth installment of the series will one day be developed.  Rowling has previously said, “I can’t say that I’ll never write another book about that world just because I think, what do I know, in ten years’ time I might want to return to it.”  It looks like there is a chance for a spin-off series in the future.  As for other literature in the works, J.K. Rowling is supposedly taking on the task of creating an encyclopedia of the wizarding world of Harry Potter which will include notes and unpublished material.  When questioned about this the author calmly reported that a work of that magnitude could take ten years to be done correctly.

As for now, the author seems to be focusing on this highly talked about book.  Little is known about the specifics regarding this much anticipated adult novel, but later this year Rowling has promised to announce the title and publication date.  Loyal followers are sure to be eagerly awaiting the news to help fill the void left by Harry.  As one fan tweeted, “Much like Voldermort, JK Rowling will return after years.  Greater & more powerful than ever before.”