Subscribe to Business UpdatesPotter Sales Top 8 Million Despite Leaks
by
findingDulcinea Staff
Internet leaks, early reviews, and advance shipments abound the week before Harry Potter's much anticipated departure, but despite the fanfare and 12 million-copy print run the franchise's business partners have found it difficult to turn large profits.
30 Second Summary
J.K. Rowling's final volume in the Harry Potter saga was released at 12:01 a.m. on July 21, and sold a record-setting 8.3 million copies in its first 24 hours in the U.S.
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" enjoyed heavy media coverage in the week before its release. Stories on leaked copies of the book, dizzying sales figures, and surprisingly low profits for booksellers contributed to the Potter furor.
Days before the release, what appeared to be leaked excerpts of the book surfaced all over the Internet in the form of digitally photographed pages and spoiler Web sites. In one instance, lucky customers got to preview the book when a distributor shipped 1,200 official copies early, and Rowling openly criticized advance book reviews appearing in two American newspapers.
However, the disclosures didn’t diminish expectations: the first print run consisted of an unheard of 12 million copies.
Despite the Potter series' staggering sales figures––325 million copies have been sold since Harry debuted in 1997––publishers and retailers aren't necessarily sharing in the success.
Independent booksellers struggle to compete with chain store price wars. Also, analysts say Scholastic, the U.S. publisher, has neglected key aspects of its business by concentrating on the Potter franchise.
But as fans and the book industry look to the Potter-less future, the search is on for the next character that can endear readers as absolutely as has Rowling's wizardly orphan.
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" enjoyed heavy media coverage in the week before its release. Stories on leaked copies of the book, dizzying sales figures, and surprisingly low profits for booksellers contributed to the Potter furor.
Days before the release, what appeared to be leaked excerpts of the book surfaced all over the Internet in the form of digitally photographed pages and spoiler Web sites. In one instance, lucky customers got to preview the book when a distributor shipped 1,200 official copies early, and Rowling openly criticized advance book reviews appearing in two American newspapers.
However, the disclosures didn’t diminish expectations: the first print run consisted of an unheard of 12 million copies.
Despite the Potter series' staggering sales figures––325 million copies have been sold since Harry debuted in 1997––publishers and retailers aren't necessarily sharing in the success.
Independent booksellers struggle to compete with chain store price wars. Also, analysts say Scholastic, the U.S. publisher, has neglected key aspects of its business by concentrating on the Potter franchise.
But as fans and the book industry look to the Potter-less future, the search is on for the next character that can endear readers as absolutely as has Rowling's wizardly orphan.
Headline
In the first 24 hours, the final Potter installment averaged more than 300,000 copies sold per hour in the U.S., and more than 5,000 books a minute. The book also outperformed the current Harry Potter movie, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.”
Source: The San Francisco Chronicle
Scholastic has filed a lawsuit against DeepDiscount.com and its supplier, Levy Home Entertainment, for violating their contract by shipping 1,200 copies of Harry Potter before the release date.
Source: The Wall Street Journal (may require subscription)
Internet leaks of Rowling's closely guarded Potter conclusion spread rapidly across the Web, sparking dismay from the author, publishers, and fans. Coming in the form of files containing 700-plus digitally photographed pages, the purported leaks have cropped up on many of the most popular file-sharing Web sites.
Source: The Los Angeles Times
One of the most popular spoiler sites has a plot synopsis and a list of characters that die in the book.
Source: www.zendurl.com/h/hallows/
Despite selling 325 million copies of the Harry Potter series since it first debuted in 1997, many of the businesses associated with the franchise have had difficulty generating large profits. For independent booksellers, the difficulty comes from having to compete with large retailers like Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble that can afford to reduce their prices of the final book up to 50 percent. For the publishers Scholastic and Bloomsbury, the energy spent on the Potter titles during their release years often comes at the expense of other, more sustaining facets of their businesses.
Source: BusinessWeek
Reactions
On her official site, Rowling asks readers to "ignore the misinformation popping up on the Web and in the press on the plot of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I'd like to ask everyone who calls themselves a Potter fan to help preserve the plot for all those who are looking forward to reading the book at the same time on publication day. In a very short time you will know EVERYTHING!"
Source: J.K. Rowling's official site
The New York Times and the Baltimore Sun both published reviews of the book on Thursday, before it went on sale. Although the papers state that their copies were purchased legally, their reviews inspired a brusque response from Rowling: "I am staggered that some American newspapers have decided to publish purported spoilers in the form of reviews in complete disregard of the wishes of literally millions of readers, particularly children. I am incredibly grateful to all those newspapers, booksellers and others who have chosen not to attempt to spoil Harry's last adventure for fans."
Source: Reuters
Reviews
There were only three reviews of the final Potter book published in North America before the book's release. The first appeared in Toronto's Globe and Mail on July 18. The New York Times and the Baltimore Sun published the other two on July 19, provoking an indignant response from Rowling.
Sandra Martin from the Globe and Mail writes in her review that "Ms. Rowling's purpose as a novelist has always been to pit hope against despair and the power of love versus the chilling blackness of hate and intolerance. That is why her Harry is a boy, not a superhero. Yes, he can do spells, but so can all the other wizards. His strengths, the ones that he will have to rely upon if he is to become a man, are feats of character, not wizardry. It is this evolution that adults have been watching and kids have been sharing."
Source: The Globe and Mail
In The New York Times review titled "An Epic Showdown as Harry Potter Is Initiated Into Adulthood," Michiko Kakutani writes that "with each installment, the 'Potter' series has grown increasingly dark, and this volume—a copy of which was purchased at a New York City store yesterday, though the book is embargoed for release until 12:01 a.m. on Saturday—is no exception."
Source: The New York Times
Titled "Raise a butterbeer to final tale," Baltimore Sun reviewer Mary Carole McCauley refuses to reveal the whole ending to readers, relinquishing only a morsel: "while we really can't divulge the ending of Book 7, we can tell you this much: As the series draws to a close, Rowling gives her favorite character a rare and precious gift, a treasure that outshines any other boon she can imagine -- including immortality. She gives Harry a family."
Source: The Baltimore Sun
Reference Material
Scholastic's "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows" home page offers message boards, a midnight release party locator, and an answer to the question, "What are the Deathly Hallows?"
Source: Official Scholastic Web site
Related Topics
Although many have lauded the Harry Potter series for inspiring literacy among children, an upcoming report from the National Endowment for the Arts says that the books have actually had little effect on adolescent reading habits. In addition, independently owned bookstores have seen their Potter sales decline at the hands of larger retailers whose high volumes allow them to offer the book at steep discounts.
Source: The Boston Globe
The Potter series has become nothing short of a cultural phenomenon among its devoted fans, but it has also endured its share of condemnations from religious groups. Derided for the prevalence of wizardry and witchcraft found in their pages, the books have inspired bans and burnings since the first release a decade ago. In light of the newest release, The Globe and Mail has asked an interfaith panel to discuss these and other issues in an online forum.
Source: The Globe and Mail
Cheryl Klein, continuity editor for the American editions of Harry Potter, talks to National Public Radio's "Talk of the Nation." Klein talks about her job, the series, and answers questions from listeners about Rowling's much-anticipated conclusion.
Source: National Public Radio
Jim Dale, Broadway veteran and voice of the American audio editions of the Potter series, talks to New York Times reporter Motoko Rich about his work with the final Potter adventure. According to Dale, it took him about two and a half weeks working six-and-a-half-hour days to complete the reading. When asked for clues about the book's ending, Dale replied, "it's a surprise ending. Let's just say that."
Source: The New York Times
An Oregon couple due to marry the night of the book's release plan on making a special trip to the bookstore after their reception. Courtney Lanahan and Shawn Gordon will be ushered from the reception straight to their neighborhood bookstore where store managers will sell the newlyweds the first copy of Rowling's final installment.
Source: The Miami Herald
Bookstores in Israel had wait until Sunday to sell their copies of "The Deathly Hallows," so as not to violate the Sabbath. The Sabbath laws forbid Jewish employees from working between sundown Friday and sunset Saturday, and Israel's Industry and Trade Minister Eli Yishai said that any stores caught violating the laws would be prosecuted and fined.
Source: The Los Angeles Times (may require free registration)
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