12 million copies printed for release. 3 million sold in the first 24 hours. The latest adventure of this boy magician has suddenly got the world thinking about the literary brilliance of Rowling, the upsurge of reading among the youth and the return of the good old bed time story. Or.. has it? Truth be told, not really. Every Potter release is marked by a similar pottermania, only that each time, it gets bigger, better, costlier. Every time, I hear similar run ups, the same midnight release parties, the same fear of hearing a rumour that might turn out to be true.
Rowling's Potter, makes a very good, not to mention addictive read. I give full points to the author for creating a good children's book, and sticking by story even after being turned down by 55 publishers. But is it an exceptionally outstanding? I hate to admit it, but no. What it is, is an exceptionally brilliant marketing campaign, making Rowling, and the Publishers a great deal of money. And there is nothing wrong in that. The people at Bloomsbury and Scholastic did something that had never been done before, they made people fall in love with a series during the course of its writing. All the media hysteria, all the movies, and games, the big publicity events made it much more than a stupid book release. Never had people actually waited for a book before its release, and it didn't help that the book was actually good.
And now we are sad because this is the end, the end of the 7 books. There is speculation that Rowling will write an 8th book. Well, she might.. she might not, but that is besides the point. We will have more Potters. Other publishing houses have realised that by proper marketing, they can create a best seller out of any good fiction story. Already we see a whole bunch of new series in the magical fantasy genre. They will use it, and we will see other books that have as large fan followings.
The TIME magazine ran an article this month on the extensive security precautions to prevent leaks during the printing of 12 million copies of the latest Potter. Imagine trying to prevent anybody from reading that many copies of a book that is supposed to be sent all over the world. Amazing effort. Its a shame it failed. Personally, I don't think it was necessary in the first place. There is a pleasure in reading a book, the old way, with a cup of tea, or late at night in bed. I don't care if someone tells me the ending of a book, I will still read it. Its the read that matters, the story, in its entirety, not only the ending. Anyways, for better or for worse, Harry Potter, goodbye !
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2 comments:
going by the fact that u have written about harry potter in ur first readable post, i guess u r pretty crazy about him urself.....or u have read the last book recently. am i write or am i right????? nyways....the hysteria think is justified... the fact that 7 or is it 8,9,10.... books of harry potter have been published and yet have managed to retain the fan following and the interest....explains the reason for that hysteria. i dont think it is possible to maintain such a long drawn and worldwide fan following/interest solely on the basis of marketing strategies and publicity gimmicks. true, they might give a product a temporary boost and recognition. but u have to understand that the strategies work only if u have bankable good genuine product to market. i think that the potter series was definitely like a breath of fresh air.
so how come u dont know me...???
look at me, you will see a huge harry potter fan.
(if starry is a female, well, good going!)
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