Publishing Revolution Reveals New Art, Appeals to New Audiences

As the publishing industry continues to evolve at a greater-than-ever pace, so do the reading experiences of devoted book fans. Today, Scholastic announced the release of the most recent installment the updated covers for the trade paperback editions of the beloved Harry Potter series, books that still have a vast and active fan base despite their age. Thanks to the ability to reach out to audiences, both old and new, the publisher has decided to contract new covers with art by award-winning author and artist Kazu Kibuishi.

“Devoted Harry Potter fans scour the web every day for any news about the series, and we were happy to have them discover and reveal the fifth new cover by the talented Kazu Kibuishi,” said Stacy Lellos, VP, Marketing, Scholastic Trade Publishing, in a statement issued today. “With the reveal for the first book on Good Morning America, the second, third, and fourth book covers at Book Expo America, the LeakyCon convention and the American Library Association convention respectively, it took no time for fans to catch the fifth cover right on the Scholastic website. We have two more fun reveals planned in the coming month.”

While the covers might seem like a superfluous move to those readers who’ve found new content to love since first enjoying the world of Harry Potter, this type of investment and effort on the part of the publisher could prove to be a brilliant strategy, considering the fact that the first title in the series, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, was published the same year that this year’s entering high school seniors were born. An entire generation of young adult and middle grade readers have missed out on the buzz generated by a new release of the content, at least until now.

The new cover for the fifth installment, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, is available for viewing on Scholastic‘s website, along with the previous four books’ updated covers.