J. K. Rowling is a British author of novels for young people who caused an overnight sensation with her first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which sold out of its first edition quickly and has been reprinted many times. Even before its U.S. publication, American publishers were vying for rights to the book, with top bidding going to Scholastic, which paid $100,000, the most ever for a first novel by a children's book author. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone rose to the top of the children's best-seller lists in 1998 and was optioned by Warner Brothers for a movie. Its sequel, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, went to the top of the adult best-seller lists in England shortly after its 1998 release, and consumer demand in the United States for the book brokered a new era in Internet sales of books internationally, fueling concern over publishing rights.
