Fresh off her global Olympics cameo reading an excerpt of “Peter Pan” to the bazillion viewers who gaped at the London 2012 Games Opening Ceremony, author J.K. Rowling now gets to turn her attention back to her own magic-fueled kid-lit fantasy that ended up spanning a few generations: Harry Potter.

Rowling earlier this year announced she's writing a book for adults, her first foray beyond the Potter Empire that has kept her busy since Harry hit bookshelves back in 1997. Moving on from Potter publisher Bloomsbury with the move, Rowling stated, "The freedom to explore new territory is a gift that Harry’s success has brought me, and with that new territory it seemed a logical progression to have a new publisher. I am delighted to have a second publishing home in Little, Brown, and a publishing team that will be a great partner in this new phase of my writing life."

The last Potter book came out in June of 2007, and the last movie last year, but Rowling can't quit Harry — not just yet.Continue reading...

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Steal this e-reader: Amazon's new Kindle is going global.

Introduced late Tuesday, the new Kindle will be available for the first time in over 100 countries, with the capacity to download books and periodicals on AT&T and international partner wireless networks.

Through the Kindle store, consumers worldwide will have a choice of 200,000 titles, and US consumers a choice of 350,000 titles, from publishers Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Lonely Planet, Penguin, Bloomsbury and Hachette. Expected to ship October 19, the international version will retail for $279, while the US versions pricetag will drop $40, to $259.

Consumer interest is expected to build this holiday season. CNET reports that Forrester Research recently upped their 2009 sales forecast for US e-readers to 3 million units, from earlier targets of 2 million, with about 60% market share for Kindle and 35% for Sony's Reader.Continue reading...