A Harry Potter Update

On January 13, Scholastic, Inc., the publisher of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, posted on its Web site for retailers and distributors www.scholastic.com/custsupport/booksellers/harrypotter.htm, the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Agreement, which all retailers must sign and return by April 1 to qualify for pre-publication delivery. Scholastic also announced that the order deadline for delivery of the title before the July 16 on-sale date is May 6.

In addition to returning a completed Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Agreement, before April 1, retailers must send Scholastic a completed 2005 On-Sale Date Policy Contract. The contract, which is also downloadable from the site, applies to all of the publisher's 2005 titles with restricted on-sale dates.

Scholastic began taking orders for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince from retailers and distributors on Tuesday, December 21, 2004.