Potential Top-Selling Book Of The Year? The New 'Harry Potter' Screenplay

It is quite likely that for the first time ever, the largest publishing event of the summer is a script for a play.

According to a report by CNBC, the script of "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" ranks as top desired pre-ordered item on both Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN and Barnes & Noble, Inc.BKS.

Harry Potter and his wizard friends have transitioned from the beloved thick-paged books to the big screen to stage plays, and the print edition of the script is proving to be almost as popular as the "Harry Potter" books.

The script is published by Scholastic Corp SCHL, and 4.5 million copies have been printed for the U.S. market.

Related Link: Social Data Suggests Harry Potter World May Be Gaining Popularity

"We expect it to be our biggest selling book of the year," CNBC quoted Mary Amicucci, chief merchandising officer at Barnes & Noble, as saying in a statement.

The release of the script comes at a much needed time for the book industry. CNBC noted that as a whole, book sales were down 13.7 percent in January from a year ago, and e-book related revenue fell 25 percent over the same time period.

"For the millions of us who are Harry Potter fans, a new Hogwarts story is a huge event," Seira Wilson, Amazon Books editor, said in a statement. "I'm excited to see how the 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child' script fits in with the books we know and love. I could easily see young fans adapting to the format and using it to act out the play on their own."

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