The sixth Harry Potter book, 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince', written by children's author J. K. Rowling (pictured) will be published on July 16. (photo: Yahoo)

Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter , in a scene from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. (File photo: Yahoo)

    BEIJING, Dec. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- The sixth Harry Potter book -- "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," will hit the shops on July 16 next year!     

    The book, set to be published on July 16, 2005 in Britain, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, picks up the story of Harry Potter's sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as his evil foe Lord Voldemort's "power and followers are increasing day by day," Rowling's publishers Bloomsbury and Scholastic said.

    "I know you all expected this to happen on Christmas Day, but I was sure that those of you who celebrate Christmas have better things to do on the day itself than fight your way into my study, whereas those of you who don't celebrate Christmas would definitely prefer not to wait until the 25th," Rowling said in a message on her Web site (http://www.jkrowling.com/), accessible only after fans solve several riddles.

    The book, which has been delivered to the publishers, opens with a chapter that "has been brewing in J.K. Rowling's mind for 13 years," the publishers said. The billionaire author has said the "half-blood prince" of the title is neither Harry nor Voldemort.

    "I am so excited!!! We've all waited so long!!!! Thank you JK!!!!!!!!!!" one fan gushed on a Harry Potter Web site.

    Scholastic, which holds the U.S. publishing rights, said the book will retail for $29.99. The UK edition will have a recommended price of 16.99 pounds ($33.10).

    Borders and Barnes & Noble both said they would sell the book at a discount of 40 percent off the recommended cover price if readers reserve a copy before July 16. Barnes & Noble said it had already had 500,000 emails from people who wanted to know when the book was coming out.

    Shares of UK publisher Bloomsbury surged on the news, up over 8 percent to hit a new high of 296 pence. Scholastic stock rose $1.26, or 3.5 percent, to $37.19 in morning trade on the Nasdaq after touching $37.55, its highest since early 2003.

    Robert Skloff, an analyst at Sidoti & Co. in New York, said he expects the new Harry Potter instalment to add about $195 million to $200 million in additional revenue for Scholastic in its fiscal 2006 year, which begins in June. That compares with about $180 million in Harry Potter sales in fiscal 2004, when the last book was released.

    The fifth book in the series, published after a three-year gap in 2003, made publishing history by selling 5 million copies within 24 hours. More than a quarter of a billion Harry Potter books have been sold worldwide in 60 languages ranging from Gujarati to Ancient Greek.

    The Harry Potter series has brought in billions from book sales, movie tickets and merchandise, and created a booming crossover market for adult-friendly children's books and movie adaptations.

    The film of Lemony Snickett's "A Series of Unfortunate Events," which knocked Harry Potter off the New York Times book bestseller list, was the top-selling movie in North America and Britain over the weekend.

(China Daily/Agencies)