BTW News Briefs

New Harry Potter Title Revealed

On June 29, the title of the sixth book in the bestselling Harry Potter series was unveiled by J.K. Rowling on her official Web site, www.jkrowling.com. Under the "News" section of the site, Rowling wrote that the new title, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, is one she has been using in her head for "ages and ages." Unfortunately, she continued, the name of the book was revealed on the same day as a strike by a hoaxer, who tried to fool Potter fans by claiming the new book title was the Pillar of Storge.

Rowling also gave her fans a little teaser about the upcoming tome: "The Half Blood Prince is neither Harry nor Voldemort. And that's all I'm saying on that subject until the book's published."

BEA Raises $50K for Book Industry Foundation

George Carlin

BookExpo America (BEA) officials have announced that the total amount raised for the Book Industry Foundation (BIF) through various fundraising efforts at the annual convention was $50,100, the largest single contribution for any BIF event held at BEA over the course of the past several years. This year's benefit performance, starring George Carlin, raised over $40,000. BIF is comprised of the American Booksellers Foundation For Free Expression (ABFFE) and the Association of American Publishers Get Caught Reading campaign.

Other fundraising sources included $4,000 for the personally autographed poster of former President Clinton's book jacket with proceeds going directly to the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, as well as individual Gold Pass contributions allowing booksellers the opportunity to receive a one-time pass to go straight to the front of any BEA autographing line to meet their favorite author, among other amenities.

New York Times to Serialize Four Books

The New York Times has announced plans to serialize four well-known literary works in a new book promotion, "The Great Summer Read: The New York Times Free Book Series," which begins July 12. According to a Times press release, each book will be published in its entirety in seven daily installments that will start on Monday and culminate on Sunday. Chapters of the books will be inserted into copies of The Times and distributed in the New York metropolitan region.

The four books chosen for the series are The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, beginning July 12; Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel, beginning July 26; Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote, beginning August 9; and The Color of Water by James McBride, beginning August 23. In addition, www.NYTimes.com will post the first chapter of each book online and will host online discussion groups for readers to share their thoughts on the books with other Times readers (www.nytimes.com/summerread). Each forum will go live the day the first excerpt is published in the newspaper.