The boy wizard's adventures are nearly at an end, and the 21 July release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is the seventh and final release of the saga. The fifth film, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, will piggyback on the media storm created by Deathly Hallows for a blockbuster run at the box office.

There has never been a book release more hyped. Customers from America to Australia will queue for hours for the book's launch at precisely one minute past midnight; closer to home, Irish booksellers have organised their own Potter parties (see panel). Already, the stratospheric statistics have started rolling in:

Amazon. com have recorded an unprecedented 1.6m pre-orders, 200,000 of those in the first two days in December, a month before JK Rowling even finished writing the book. The six previous novels have sold 325m copies in 250 different languages, including Irish and Ancient Greek.

The publicity doesn't end there.

Last month, a hacker calling himself 'Gabriel' posted what he claims is the last chapter of the novel on the internet to make "reading of the upcoming book useless and boring." He went on to write that he was only following "the words of the great Pope Benedict XVI when he was still Joseph Ratzinger. . . he explained why Harry Potter brings the young of our earth to the Neo-Paganism faith." Just how many people read the extract and whether it will discourage them from reading the book remains to be seen.

But all publicity is good publicity. Everyone from Christian fundamentalists to literary critics, Stephen King and even new-age Wiccans have criticised not only the books themselves but their portrayal of good and evil, witchcraft, and the occult. All of these book burnings and protests have of course led to more and more column inches and free publicity for Harry and his publishers.

The Harry Potter books now stand head and shoulders above the rest of the books' industry with almost cinematic hype and popularity. One decade after a small print run of 5,000 copies introduced Harry to the world in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, people are queuing all night as they would for prestigious concert tickets or film premieres.

But why the maniacal popularity? Is it all about the writing? Are the books simply that good, or is JK Rowling selling an experience to her consumers along with it? Is it proper magic or just pure marketing? All capitalism, and no soul?

Stephen Brown, a marketing lecturer in the University of Ulster, is the author of Wizard! Harry Potter's Brand Magic, an unauthorised examination of the books and their marketing appeal. For Brown, the HP books are perfect marketing in motion: reading them is like a soccer player watching Zinedine Zidane turn and weave in front of goal. He first became aware of the HP universe with the release of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

"When the third book was released back in 1999, there was an item on the BBC News at nine o'clock at night about these kids going wild and crazy for the Harry Potter books, " he says. "The publishers had delayed releasing the book until 3.30 in the afternoon in order . . . allegedly . . . to ensure the kids wouldn't leave school early in order to get hold of the book. And my immediate reaction was 'Wow, what a marketing stunt'."

Bloomsbury, publishers of the HP books, had learned the first lesson of what Brown calls retromarketing: never give the public what they want. Withhold it from them until they go crazy with expectation. Tease them with delayed releases and press conferences, launch the book's name before the author has even finished writing it.

And the teasing and tantalising aspects of Harry Potter marketing have continued in the eight years since. At the beginning it was leaked that the books were scarce because of limited print runs, so customers should buy now or be disappointed later. Now, in the era of book reservations and internet pre-ordering, it is Joanne Rowling herself who has been made scarce . . . giving rare interviews, making surprise public appearances and dropping hints on her website.

Last week, it was front page news that she had decided to attend the premiere of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

By keeping away from the public eye, Rowling has ensured a media frenzy greets her every public appearance. "Of course, when you get the media excited you get a lot of coverage . . . it generates itself, feeding itself almost. So it's a brilliant tactic, " says Brown. "I don't know whether it's deliberate, but I suspect it is."

Rowling has always protested her innocence on the subject of the HP hype, but Brown thinks this is just another selling point: "She has always said that she is not a marketer, she implies that she dislikes the commercialisation of the whole phenomenon. But actually, if you read the books themselves, they are full of marketing."

Harry's broomstick, the Firebolt, is described like a sports car . . .

you can almost imagine Jeremy Clarkson salivating over its brochure. Every book is full of wizarding brand names, from Bertie Botts' Every Flavour Beans to Gladrags Wizardwear and Ollivander's Wands. Since the success of the films, muggle versions have flooded the shops . . . pre-prepared products for a pre-prepared market.

"There's no doubt in my mind as a marketeer . . . when I read those books, I think JK Rowling is very marketing-savvy. She might deny it, but of course denying it is marketing savvy too, " says Brown.

"Think about it . . . what author in their right mind would turn around and say, 'Well actually, I'm only here to make money. I'm a marketer. I sell stuff?' That kind of thing is unsayable in literary life.

"Although she's untutored in marketing, she's very marketing savvy. I call her an 'authorprenuer'." The success of the books has been matched by the popularity of the film versions.

Universal have even announced that they are to open a Harry Potter Theme Park in Orlando, Florida in 2009.

Thanks to the success of the books, films, Coca-Cola cans, pyjamas, rucksacks and sweets that are Harry's legacy, Rowling is now a billionaire (in US dollars, at least) at the age of 41. It's a far cry from her humble beginnings, and her fairytale story might just be the most useful HP marketing tool of them all.

The story . . . a struggling single mother writing her books in the cafes of Edinburgh when her child falls asleep, suffering rejection after rejection until finally success comes her way . . . wouldn't sound out of place in a Richard Curtis film. A media-friendly story made Rowling a media-friendly character, but it wasn't what first drew the world's attention to the author and her series.

Neither was HP simply a playground phenomenon that went global. "If you look at it in detail, it was never entirely a grass roots thing. Marketing has been involved right from the very outset, " says Stephen Brown. "Within a month of the first book being published, the American rights were sold to Scholastic for a record sum of $105,000 ( 77,000).

That in itself attracted a huge amount of media interest. Who on earth can be worth this amount of money? How can they make the money back on a story about a boy wizard?"

The first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, was only reviewed in The Scotsman. That review mentioned the sale of the American rights, and media interest grew from there until Rowling was tracked down and her story hit the headlines.

"They uncovered this wonderful fairy story about this penniless author on income support with a kid, writing in a cafe. And because she's getting this huge advance from America there's this fairy story element to it, " Brown says.

It may not have been planned but Rowling's story reads like a marketeer's dream. It's a once in lifetime phenomenon and Stephen Brown doesn't think we'll see the like of it again. Pottermania has built upon the old 'whodunit' technique, with readers expectantly waiting for a decade now to hear how the story will end.

Since the early part of the series, Rowling has made no secret of the fact that she had already written the last chapter of the last book and kept it safe in a secure location ever since. Reader anticipation has been ramped up again and again as Rowling alludes to the ending, dropping hints on her website and in interviews. She revealed the last word of the final sentence would be 'scar' and then refuted this in an interview with Jonathan Ross last week. In 2006, she confirmed that at least two main characters would die in the final book.

In two weeks' time when the ending is finally revealed, it could well signify the last days of Harry Potter as a brand. With the anticipation over, readers could lose interest fast.

"I think the Harry Potter brand will fade very, very quickly, " Stephen Brown said. "A lot of people are motivated to keep reading Harry Potter because they want to know what happens. . . once that question is answered then the motivation to remain with the series will definitely diminish. " It's been 10 years since the first Harry Potter book was published.

Children who grew up with him are 21 now, leaving college and entering the workplace. Harry himself will be 18 inDeathly Hallows. Can we really expect a new generation of children to follow him as avidly as the first did?

"The books have become increasingly adult, " Brown says.

"From my own research into Harry Potter consumers, often it's adults who give the books to kids and say, 'This is what you should be reading.' There is a sort of nostalgic element to the whole thing."

Once the new batch of Harry Potter enthusiasts moves on from that nostalgia, it might be some time before we hear about the boy wizard again. After all, it's happened before.

During the course of his research, Stephen Brown came across an author whose centuryold story almost exactly mirrored JK Rowling's own tale. She was a former schoolteacher, living in a rural area and poverty-stricken.

Desperate to get her book published, she received rejection after rejection. Just when she was about to give up hope, she got her children's book published.

It was a huge success. There were films, stage shows and tie-in merchandising, just like Harry Potter. There were even seven books in the series. But now, a hundred years later, few people remember the author, and fewer still remember the names of the other six books in the series. The book was Anne of Green Gables, and the author was LM Montgomery.

"Of course, history doesn't repeat itself, " Brown says. "But wasn't it Seamus Heaney who said 'History doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes'?"

Coming to a Potter party near you
Harry Potter parties for the 21 July book launch

DUBLIN
Waterstone's Dawson Street have already got 600 reservations for their midnight party for the book's launch. There'll be a magician, balloon makers, face painters and a live owl before the book goes on sale at one minute past midnight.

CORK
Eason's in Patrick Street have had a midnight opening for the past two Harry Potter book launches, and this year they'll be expecting big crowds again.

There'll be goody bags for those queuing and a music group for entertainment.

GALWAY
Hughes & Hughes in the Galway Shopping Centre will open at 11pm in preparation for the midnight launch.

There will be a magician, in-store competition and a free book with each copy of 'Deathly Hallows' sold.

KILKENNY
The Book Centre in High Street will open at midnight. The shop will be decorated for the launch and staff will be wearing costumes. They expect a huge crowd, just like the one for the launch of 'Half-Blood Prince'.

LETTERKENNY
Eason's in the Courtyard Shopping Centre will open for the midnight launch, too. The shop will be decorated and there will be a raffle for the book and some goodies to go with it.