Preserving the Magic Moment

One week before the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, let us review what has been done to bring and preserve the magical moment for everyone around the world.

Paper to Book (US Edition - Scholastic)
- After 17 years since Rowling had the idea on a train from Manchester to London, the last Harry Potter book is finally finished on January 11, 2007 in room 652 of Edinburgh's Balmoral Hotel.
- Scholastic lawyer Mark Seidenfeld picks up the pages in England. For safekeeping, he uses the manuscript as a seat cushion all the way back to the U.S
- Seidenfeld hands off copies of the draft to Arthur A. Levine (Rowling's American editor) and Cheryl Klein (the Potterologist), who look for problems.
- Meanwhile, artist Mary GrandPré reads a copy and works her end of the magic, crafting illustrations. She has called the Harry Potter books a "candy store for an illustrator."
- Back to Rowling. Editors' notes in hand, she revises the first draft, then hands it off to her agent, Christopher Little who orchestrates another handoff to Klein, who has flown to England for the mission. "I felt very special, I felt like I had a secret," she says. Klein's cover is almost blown when she is stopped by airport security.
- Klein gets the manuscript safely back to Scholastic. What happens in that Chamber of Secrets and at the presses is the process-that-shall-not-be-named.
- Potter is printed, somewhere. The record-breaking first run of 12 million dwarfs the number for the first novel.
- In GPS-tracked boxes toted by FedEx, the books fan out across the country. To limit leakage, millions of copies arrive at bookstores within an eight-hour window.
- Finally, if all goes to plan, on July 21 at 12:01 a.m., the magic moment.

Security
- Containers bound and locked with steel chains
- Satellite tracking systems in every box and truck
- Books only to be delivered 8 hours before sale
- Printing factories all around the world
- 6 armed guards per truck
- Lots of agreements to make sure nobody leaks any details
- Other unknown protections

Complications
- Hackers
- Bookstores who unpack early
- Factory workers telling family and friends

Pre-orders
- 1.7 million on Amazon (Update - 1.8 million) (Final update - Over 2 million)