Reuters reports that the 10.8million first print run for
Scholastic, has all been printed. It has also been revealed that someone does in fact die in the sixth novel.
Barbara Marcus, president of
Children's Book Publishing at Scholastic said security was tight but Scholastic was relying on booksellers to make sure there are no leaks or early sales.
Quote:
"They really know what their responsibility is. The only thing we hold over people's heads is that we say we can't ship any more books," she said, noting that the threat of being cut off from future supplies was keeping booksellers from breaking the rules.
"Everybody wants to be able to put this book in the hands of the children," she said.
Quote:
Marcus said she was one of just a handful of people who had read the book, including the editors responsible for Americanizing the text.
"I would say definitely fewer than 10 people have read it," said Marcus, who bought the American rights to the series for $105,000 back in 1997. She said it seemed like a lot of money at the time "for an unpublished first book by an unknown British writer."
Quote:
"There's a new minister of magic, someone dies but it's not Harry or Voldemort, and the half blood prince is not Harry or Voldemort," she said.
Source:
The Leaky Cauldron