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 LONDON (AP) - As fans desperate to read the latest adventures of schoolboy wizard Harry Potter place orders for the new book due out Saturday, bookshops and other sellers are practicing some dark arts to ensure a share of the profits.
The impending release of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," J.K. Rowling's penultimate installment in the Potter chronicles, has sparked a massive price war as retailers across the United Kingdom — and to a lesser extent in the U.S. and elsewhere — try to gain crucial early market share.
While bookstores are largely relying on huge late-night launch parties — complete with sorting hat competitions offering iPods and signed books as prizes — ahead of the midnight release, supermarkets and online retailers are trying to cast their own spell.
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