Scholastic has unveiled the first of seven new covers for a set of U.S. trade paperback editions of J.K. Rowling‘s Harry Potter series. The new editions will come out in September.

Amulet graphic novel artist Kazu Kibuishi created the covers. What do you think? Kibuishi explained his process in the release:

When I was asked to submit samples, I initially hesitated because I didn’t want to see them reinterpreted!  However, I felt that if I were to handle the project, I could bring something to it that many other designers and illustrators probably couldn’t, and that was that I was also a writer of my own series of middle grade fiction. As an author myself, I tried to answer the question, ‘If I were the author of the books – and they were like my own children – how would I want them to be seen years from now?’

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While the entire country tuned into the Super Bowl last night, a number of Harry Potter characters followed the action on Twitter.

We’ve embedded a complete collection of these Harry Potter-themed posts below. If you thought that the evil Lord Voldemort caused the power outage at the New Orleans football game or rooted for the Voldemort Raisins, you should read these tweets.

Harry Potter tweets still rule the Internet. Last February, the Professor Snape Twitter feed (a parody account dedicated to the famous Harry Potter character) published the most popular tweet of the Academy Awards.

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BBC One and BBC Drama have teamed up to create a television adaptation of The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling. The series should be released in 2014.

The author had this comment in the release: “I’m thrilled that the BBC has commissioned The Casual Vacancy. I always felt that, if it were to be adapted, this novel was best suited to television and I think the BBC is the perfect home.”

Neil Blair negotiated the deal with BBC One Controller Danny Cohen. Blair will produce through his production company and Rick Senat will be the executive producer on the series. Rowling will “collaborate closely” with the show. The number of episodes and length of each show will be decided.

Author J.K. Rowling revealed that her next book would likely be for young readers, chatting with fans in a webcast hosted by Scholastic.

During the virtual event, which drew more than a million Harry Potter fans, Rowling discussed her next writing project. She said, “The next thing I publish is likely to be a book for children. The reason, I’m not committing myself wholeheartedly, is because after fifteen years of being a writer for Harry Potter, where you would say something and someone would seize on it and say, ‘You are definitely doing that now.’ And you kind of thought you weren’t allowed to change your mind. And it got a little intense, so I try not to commit myself with my plan. So I’m not 100 percent sure about doing it, but I think it will be a book slightly more for children.” Read more

In just six days, J.K. Rowling has sold 375,000 copies in all formats of her new novel for adults.

Little, Brown and Company publisher Michael Pietsch explained in a statement: “The Casual Vacancy has exceeded our expectations in its first six days in stores, selling 375,000 copies in all formats.  We believe it is on track to become the year’s bestselling novel in hardcover.”

The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling set a Goodreads record for the all-time biggest “started reading” day. Currently, more than 40,000 people have marked the book “to-read.”

The book unseated Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins as the book with the strongest “started reading” day. Insurgent by Veronica Roth holds third place. As of this writing, The Casual Vacancy has 38 percent five-star ratings on Goodreads.

While promoting A Causal Vacancy, J.K. Rowling revealed a few juicy Harry Potter tidbits.

Deadline reported that Rowling may write another story set in the Harry Potter wizarding world that does not star The Boy Who Lived. She is also pondering a “director’s cut” version of two installments from the Harry Potter series, writing them them with more “finesse.”

Would you read the director’s cut of Harry Potter?

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I am delighted that my new novel for adults is published today.

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) September 27, 2012

Did you buy a $17.99 eBook copy of J.K. Rowling‘s A Casual Vacancy before 3 p.m. ET on September 27? You are entitled to a new digital copy of the book. Hachette has published an official statement about the formatting problems with the eBook edition:

Yesterday the eBook file for The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling was released to all U.S. eBook retailers. There were issues with that file, including the adjustability of font color and size and adjustability of margins. As soon as Hachette was made aware of these issues, a replacement file was uploaded to all eBook retailers. Hachette has requested that each retailer contact their customers directly about reloading their eBook. Any consumer who purchased the eBook on Thursday, September 27, before approximately 3:00pm ET, who has not heard from their retailer, should contact them and request that their eBook be reloaded. No consumer should have to repurchase the eBook.

The novel for adults has earned some divided early reviews on Amazon For A Casual Vacancy. As of this 5:30 p.m. ET writing, the book had 19 five-star reviews and 15 one-star reviews. The majority of these early reviewers have not read the book.
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In a long profile of J.K. Rowling at The New Yorker, journalist Ian Parker shared some juicy tidbits about The Casual Vacancy–a novel for adults by the Harry Potter author that has been guarded by nondisclosure agreements and a strict embargo.

If you want to find out more about the top secret novel before it comes out on September 27th, you should read the whole “Mugglemarch” profile.

SPOILER ALERT: If you don’t want to know more about the book, you should stop reading now. Below, we’ve collected five spoilers from the article that show us more about the book.

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If you search for information about Emma Watson online, you have a one in eight chance of visiting a malicious website.

Hackers and spam sites have used Watson (pictured, via) to lure unsuspecting readers, and she has been named the Most Dangerous Cyber Celebrity by the technology security company, McAfee.

This is the eighth year McAfee has tracked the most dangerous stars. Supermodel Heidi Klum led the list last year.

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