Harry Potter and the Never-Ending Torrent of Publicity

From the Guardian:

It's not even out for another five months, but Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final book in the series, is already at the top of Amazon bestseller list, from pre-orders alone. At number two is the adult edition (come July 21, when the book is published, every grown-up caught reading it deserves to be hit over the head with their own copy - and the book is predicted to be hefty).
The start of the trail of Potter-mania crumbs was laid out last year. In June, in a rare TV interview, JK Rowling said two characters would die in the final book (please, please, please let it be the wizard boy). In August, Rowling hinted that Ron and Hermione will end up together. Three months later, Rowling revealed the astonishing news that she had three titles for the book (rumoured to have included Harry Potter and the Polonium 210 trail and Harry Potter and the Racist Housemates). A month later, just when you thought the world would implode with collective excitement, the real title was revealed. Then Rowling revealed that she had had a dream featuring some of the waiters from the cafe in which she wrote large bits of book seven. Incredible!

Read the rest of the article here.