A new book by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling is set to hit the shelves in December with the proceeds going to charity, the British writer announced Thursday.

It may not be a new Harry Potter novel, but "The Tales of Beedle the Bard," is expected to fetch around $8 million through sales, a rep for British charity The Children's High Level Group, which Rowling co-founded, said.

The foundation also said it plans to publish three editions of the book, all in English, to be printed and distributed by Bloomsbury (in the United Kingdom), Scholastic (in the United States) and Amazon, right before Christmas.

Six out of seven handwritten copies of the book, which is a collection of five wizarding tales referred to in the seventh and final Harry Potter book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," were already given away by Rowling to close friends as gifts, while one was auctioned in December 2007 for almost $4 million. The item was specially crafted, bound in brown morocco leather and mounted with hand-chased silver ornaments and seven moonstones.

"There was understandable disappointment among Harry Potter fans when only one copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard was offered to the public last December," said Rowling, adding that she was delighted the book would now be available to everybody.

Amazon plans to produce as many as 100,000 copies of a collector's edition that will imitate the handwritten original, and will be priced at $100, while Bloomsbury and Scholastic will deliver copies at more accessible prices, 6 pounds and $12.99 respectively.

Rowling said the new edition for the general public will include her illustrations and introduction, the stories themselves and commentaries ostensibly by Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of the fictional Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, "which appear by generous permission of the Hogwarts Headmasters' Archive."

In her own words, Rowling described "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" as a distillation of the themes found in the Harry Potter books, calling it her goodbye to a world she lived for 17 years. Of the five stories in the 157-page book, only one, "The Tale of the Three Brothers," is mentioned in the Potter novels.

"We are so thrilled to be publishing such an exclusive and special book. This unique project will raise vital funds for the work of CHLG, to help us change the lives of hundreds of thousands of marginalised and institutionalised children who are living in appalling conditions, and make sure that no future generation suffers in this way," Emma Nicholson of the CLHG said.

The Harry Potter novels sold more than 400 million copies around the world and was translated into 64 languages. The final book which was published a year ago on July 21st, broke all sales records as the fastest selling book ever.

In other Harry Potter-related news, the trailer for the sixth movie of the Potter franchise has been making the rounds on the Internet. Based on Rowling's sixth Potter book, the movie will follow Harry Potter through his sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as he begins to find out more about Lord Voldemort and his past.