Harry Potter And The Triumph Of Scholastic

When Arthur Levine Arthur Levine read the galleys of a novel about a boy wizard, he knew he had something special. The Scholastic editor read the galleys on a plane back from the Bologna Children's Book Fair in Italy, where international publishing rights are bought and sold.

Nine publishers had rejected the book, written by an unknown first-time author named J.K. Rowling J.K. Rowling . But it was picked up by U.K.-based Bloomsbury , which gave the manuscript to Levine, who loved it so much that he paid about ten times more than the average going rate when the American publishing rights went to auction, or around $105,000.

Scholastic President Barbara Marcus Barbara Marcus "kept saying 'do you love it?' and Arthur said yes, so we went for it," says spokesperson Judy Corman.

The book, of course, was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and it was a monster hit that changed everything about children's book publishing. It debuted in 1997 and sold 23 million copies.

Scholastic won't talk specifics, but says it paid a lot more for the rights to publish Rowling's next two Harry books: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. At one time, the three books occupied the top three spots on the New York Times Bestseller List, prompting the newspaper to take the extraordinary step of creating a separate bestseller list for children's books.

The latest novel, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, debuted in 2000 and had the biggest first printing of any book ever, at 5 million copies. The Potter series has sold a collective 116 million copies worldwide and has been translated into 47 languages.

Scholastic has rights only to the book but there's little doubt that the first Potter movie, which had a $93 million opening weekend, helped propel book sales. Similarly, the DVD of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is due on May 28, which is sure to give sales of the books another boost. A paperback edition of Goblet of Fire is also due out this summer.

All this, of course, has been a boon for Scholastic, an 80-year-old company that publishes children's magazines and books, sponsors book fairs and book clubs, and creates television programming and videos. Last year, Harry Potter books made up 10% of its $2 billion in sales. That figure dropped to 4% this year as saturation took hold. But nearly two years after its release, Harry Potter and companion books added $17 million to Scholastic's top line.

The interesting phenomenon about the series is its crossover appeal to adults. Parents were compelled to read the books because their children were so immersed in them. Parents told their single friends about them, and before long it wasn't uncommon to see commuters reading the series on the train to work.

For Scholastic, it represented a good way to merchandise other books not only in the Potter franchise--pop-up books, books about the movie and Rowling, and activity books--but also other Scholastic titles such as Captain Underpants, one of its bestsellers.

Corman points out that Scholastic is a company dedicated to a mission of getting children to read and develop a lifetime love of books. Harry Potter has not only transformed Scholastic but has potentially instilled an invaluable habit in the minds and hearts of youngsters everywhere. What's more important than that?

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