Riding the bullet with Harry Potter

"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" sold almost four million copies in its first U.S. printing.

(CNN) -- The Harry Potter stories are about as old-fashioned as they come. The hero gets his correspondence via owl, attends an old English boarding school, and even spends his time learning magic spells, for Pete's sake. An Information Age adolescent could probably duplicate some of Harry's skills with the click of a mouse.

Yet these throwbacks to the schoolboy novels of yore have managed to achieve something generations of parents have struggled with: They have gotten youngsters to read, and have brought adults along with them.

So much so, in fact, that the fourth book in the Harry Potter series, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," was given a welcome often reserved for ... well, nothing in the history of publishing.

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The book was simply a phenomenon: Almost 4 million copies in the first U.S. printing, another million-plus in the United Kingdom, midnight bookstore openings, a tidal wave of hype. Secrecy surrounding the work prior to its July 8 release date was so heavy that when a handful of copies were accidentally put on sale beforehand, the news made headlines worldwide.

"Goblet of Fire" and the rest of the Potter series have shown no signs of flagging, in either sales or popularity. A Potter movie currently in production can only add to the amazing story.

Other top stories of 2000 in book publishing included Stephen King's release of two e-books and a memoir, "On Writing," following his recovery from injuries suffered in a 1999 accident; the continued popularity of "greatest generation" books and military memoirs; and the controversy stirred by "Darkness in El Dorado," which questioned a storied anthropology study.

But if the Harry phenomenon had any competition as the year's top book story, it was not so much from other releases as from the rapidly growing technology King shrewdly exploited: the e-book.

The master of horror, Stephen King, proved he's not afraid of technology by releasing two e-books this year.

The form's popularity received a major boost in March when King released a new work, "Riding the Bullet," through his publisher exclusively as an e-book. Other authors, including Frederick Forsyth and Andrew Vachss, have followed King's lead. There was even a new award given to the best e-books of the year.

In July, King struck again, this time releasing a serial novel, "The Plant," through his own Web site, although he has since temporarily suspended future releases of chapters.

Will the year 2000 mark the end of publishing as we know it, then?

Not likely. As a panel at this year's BookExpo noted, e-books tend to complement conventional "p-books," or paper books. They may be convenient to take on trips or as a way of moving information around, but they will not kill off the "dead tree" variety. If anything, the two forms can benefit each other by providing readers more options.

And, as the Harry Potter phenomenon indicates, there is a good deal of life left in the humble book yet.