Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Released in Paperback

The release of a best seller into paperback usually isn't headline-worthy — unless it's Harry Potter. Two million paperbacks of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince the sixth in J.K. Rowling's series — go on sale Tuesday. There are 13.5 million Half-Blood hardcovers in print. If past is prologue, the new $9.99 book is certain to be a No. 1 best seller.

The USA TODAY Best-Selling Books list, which has tracked sales of all six installments, shows that each of the past five paperbacks reached No. 1. As the first three in the British series were introduced to an American audience, they spent more time at No. 1 in paperback than the hardcover. That pattern shifted when hardcovers were launched with gigantic initial print runs, starting with the fourth in the series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, when 3.8 million hardcovers went on sale July 8, 2000.

Stores are ready for the Half-Blood Prince avalanche. At Barnes & Noble and Borders, the paperbacks will get prominent display at the front of stores and in the children's sections. At The Tattered Cover Bookstore in Denver, "we expect excitement; we expect big sales" just because it's Harry Potter, says Beth Wood, children's promotion coordinator. But the biggest anticipation is building for the seventh and final book in the series. "It is going to be crazy," she says. "I don't know if I can think of a better word than that."