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An item on the BBC newspages claim that at least one bookseller could break the embargo and release it early.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6292128.stm
One piece that really shows how much power the publishers can wield is this: "I want the readers who have, in many instances, grown up with Harry, to embark on the last adventure they will share with him without knowing where they are they going," she wrote.
Embargos on previous instalments of the series have generally been observed because Bloomsbury threatened to withhold future Harry Potter books from stores who flouted the rules.
This time there is no such incentive.
"Because it's the final Harry Potter, Bloomsbury doesn't have that same power," says Rushton. "It has played its last ace card."
I thought it was about sauce too - we'd given up buying HP sauce after they moved out of UK and left lots of folk without jobs. When I saw the post saying HP I felt guilty - only today we bought some HP sauce because the other brands just don't taste the same.
It just goes to prove that HP is not forgotten- the sauce I mean.
What I found interesting (and annoying) was how Bloomsbury allegedly used their ability to influence the booksellers not to release the books early by the threat to the bookshops financial takings in the future (and you could say, where there are shareholders involved it could be suggested a threat to the shareholders holdings.)
Books do get released before their advertised date. Earlier this year, I was out with the boys and we saw a book in W.H.Smiths- One of Garth Nix's Keys to the Kingdom series, the Friday one I think. The due publication date was some months in the future, but it was there to buy then. Of course we bought it then, it would have been bought whatever date it came out.
This excerpt comes from the bookseller column in the Guardian.
Bloomsbury weilding the power again? (10% return limit)
As if you hadn't noticed, there's just a week to go until release of the final (or is it?) Harry Potter. After the initial weary cynicism, booksellers are ready to don their wizard hats one last time. They expect UK first-day sales of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to shatter the record of 1.8 million set by the previous instalment in 2005; everyone will be desperate to learn the fate of Harry, Ron, Hermione and co before a friend spills the beans. Where those sales will fall is more difficult to call. Undoubtedly supermarkets and internet retailers will build on their gains - Tesco expects to shift 350,000 copies in the first 12 hours, while Amazon has racked up 1.75 million pre-orders worldwide. Last time round, some bookshops were left with piles of unsold stock - a misjudgment that speeded the demise of Ottakar's - and Bloomsbury has set a severe 10% limit on the number of returned copies it will accept. Yet the nation's seemingly insatiable desire for midnight launch parties could play into the hands of high street bookshops everywhere; Waterstone's has run a canny campaign to "Save Harry". A discount war is inevitable - hardware chain Wilkinsons is already offering the £17.99 title for £7.99. Yet it is questionable whether any of the major retailers will have the stomach to drop far below half price. Independents will hope to make up losses by selling the £65 CD audiobook as well as other children's authors.
There's an independent bookshop nearby in a large shopping area, but not in the City centre I don't think.
What I have noticed is the main stores have dropped their prices to compete with Amazon, and are offering extras to attract people.
Smith's were offering a Garth Rix book when you ordered HP, but it was one that many kids would have possibly already got in their collection, as it was about two years old.
Asda appear to have 'offended' Bloomsbury according to an article on the BBC web pages, and in the Times online the selling price is looked at, and the Independent (Bookseller's winner)seller of the Year, will be buying the rest of his stock from the supermarket because it's cheaper than the wholesaler.
Independent booksellers are queuing up to buy Harry Potter from Tesco
I've just had an email from Borders asking me to pre order a Harry Potter book before Thursday, and I get a bonus 'Beanie Owl'. I'm almost tempted to get the book just for the owl, as I collect them.
I will be off down the street to pick up our copy. Shops open 9am Saturday, HP available at 9:01am. (Better than waiting around the streets at midnight) The book is set for simultaneous release across the world - as in the past - but I think we got the better end of the stick, Down Under.
Then there's probably one in my e-mail box too Stan, for the two copies I have on pre-order for my sons.(Even with the postage, it's cheaper than the cost of going into Nottingham to buy them in person.)
I received an e-mail from Amazon a couple of months ago telling me that I will be entitled to other money off vouchers between set dates to use on other Amazon certain orders once my HP order is released.
If you have ordered two copies Carol you shouldn't be paying postage (free delivery with an order over £15).
Frankly if Asda want to sell it cut price, then what can Bloomsbury do to stop them?. Everyone knows these books are sold at a loss anyway, and I seem to remember the last time they were selling at £4 on publication day.
Stirling, if you do the free delivery option it can be up to five days later arriving than if you pay for postage.
I used this free delivery system earlier in the year for four books- all in stock- and I didn't get it until nearly a week later.
It is more than my life is worth!
Carol, I have never had that problem. Every time I have ordered with the free delivery, I have always recieved them within 48 hours of placing the order.
My sister regularly pre-orders the Yugi-oh manga's and she always recieves them several days before publication day.
I'm certain that Amazon has all of it's pre-orders all packaged and sitting in the warehouse waiting for Friday, no matter what the customer has paid in postage costs. This is not something they are going to want to screw up!.
Yes, late this afternoon there was an item on the BBC web pages saying Asda had their order reinstated, after paying Bloomsbury.
We shall never know the truth. But great publicity for Asda.
Carol, I've just checked on Amazon, and the say that if you ordered the book by midnight on the 17th July you are guaranteed delivery on Saturday (praying the Post Office doesn't decide to strike between now and then of course!).
I work in a library. 40 copies of the new HP are arriving on Friday to be put onto the computer system ready to be available to the public to borrow or reserve on Saturday. All staff are on strict orders that the books must not leave the main library before midnight, and that we are not to look at them! Tempting just to peak inside, especially the last page, wouldn't you say? Maybe they will have a way of knowing if we've peeked - fingerprinting, an alarm, or a video camera trained on them??? How silly this whole thing is becoming. Thank God it's the last book.
Last night they were saying it's already on the net somewhere, and they are certain it's the genuine thing.
The sooner the books are out, and everyone can get their copy the better.
I don't see why Bloomsbury are being so over the top like this. I have pre-ordered Val McDermid's Beneath The Bleeding, which is released 31st July, and Amazon have told me I will recieve it on the 30th July.
Why should Harry Potter be treat differently, at the end of the day, it is just another book.
Yes, I agree with Viv. Clearly, I'm not alone in being the only one who may want to know if her feel about the connection between Harry and Voldemort was right. I don't feel like buying it right now, only in order to read the last three chapters or so. Interestingly, my children, who started by enjoying The Philosopher's Stone, are now bored by the whole thing. Anna watches the films. She has only so much time to read as she's been in 6th form with Harry!
Just saw this piece in the online Telegraph, basically about all the marketing that has gone alongside the books, and also the Asda furore.
Thought the last few paragraphs summed things up.
'No doubt, readers racing through their copies this weekend will feel myriad emotions. After all, it's been 10 years since the first Potter hit the shelves and many of his fans have grown up with him.
Moreover, the fact that word of mouth rather than a massive advertising campaign made Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone so successful, gave readers a feeling that the book belonged to them.
No wonder, then, that we are all curious to know whether Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be the magnum opus we hope it is. We mightn't want it to end, but this volume will bring a sense of closure.
In a recent, rare television interview Rowling told Jonathan Ross that she felt euphoria and devastation, and also a sense of relief as she wrote the final chapters It will certainly be a relief when Harry Potter returns to simply being a great series of books rather than a relentless merchandising opportunity.
We will all feel euphoria when we discover what happens to Harry, his friends and enemies. It may well be sad or even tragic. It will certainly be the end of an era.
But we can at least take solace from knowing that no matter who gets killed off, the ones suffering the biggest sense of devastation will be the marketing men.'
Right, Carol, that's it. I'm now putting into place my long-held plans for a series of novels based on a girl starting junior school, discovers she's a vampire, and ending when she leaves Uni. A neat 14 books.
Then I'll get on with the sequels. Wilhelmina in the World of Work...
Righty oh, TT.
Personally I think you should make her a split personality vampire/schoolgirl. Certainly different! (hehe) Imagine the products you could market off of that.
I can only be grateful that the Post Office haven't decided on a postal strike this week. Can you imagine the backlash there would have been?
But the marketing aspect is very relevent where children's stuff is concerned, be it a cartoon or a book.
(It was realised some time ago that the way to get to the adults pockets is via their children.)
Comments
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6292128.stm
One piece that really shows how much power the publishers can wield is this: "I want the readers who have, in many instances, grown up with Harry, to embark on the last adventure they will share with him without knowing where they are they going," she wrote.
Embargos on previous instalments of the series have generally been observed because Bloomsbury threatened to withhold future Harry Potter books from stores who flouted the rules.
This time there is no such incentive.
"Because it's the final Harry Potter, Bloomsbury doesn't have that same power," says Rushton. "It has played its last ace card."
What I found interesting (and annoying) was how Bloomsbury allegedly used their ability to influence the booksellers not to release the books early by the threat to the bookshops financial takings in the future (and you could say, where there are shareholders involved it could be suggested a threat to the shareholders holdings.)
Books do get released before their advertised date. Earlier this year, I was out with the boys and we saw a book in W.H.Smiths- One of Garth Nix's Keys to the Kingdom series, the Friday one I think. The due publication date was some months in the future, but it was there to buy then. Of course we bought it then, it would have been bought whatever date it came out.
Bloomsbury weilding the power again? (10% return limit)
As if you hadn't noticed, there's just a week to go until release of the final (or is it?) Harry Potter. After the initial weary cynicism, booksellers are ready to don their wizard hats one last time. They expect UK first-day sales of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to shatter the record of 1.8 million set by the previous instalment in 2005; everyone will be desperate to learn the fate of Harry, Ron, Hermione and co before a friend spills the beans. Where those sales will fall is more difficult to call. Undoubtedly supermarkets and internet retailers will build on their gains - Tesco expects to shift 350,000 copies in the first 12 hours, while Amazon has racked up 1.75 million pre-orders worldwide. Last time round, some bookshops were left with piles of unsold stock - a misjudgment that speeded the demise of Ottakar's - and Bloomsbury has set a severe 10% limit on the number of returned copies it will accept. Yet the nation's seemingly insatiable desire for midnight launch parties could play into the hands of high street bookshops everywhere; Waterstone's has run a canny campaign to "Save Harry". A discount war is inevitable - hardware chain Wilkinsons is already offering the £17.99 title for £7.99. Yet it is questionable whether any of the major retailers will have the stomach to drop far below half price. Independents will hope to make up losses by selling the £65 CD audiobook as well as other children's authors.
What I have noticed is the main stores have dropped their prices to compete with Amazon, and are offering extras to attract people.
Smith's were offering a Garth Rix book when you ordered HP, but it was one that many kids would have possibly already got in their collection, as it was about two years old.
Independent booksellers are queuing up to buy Harry Potter from Tesco
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article2087268.ece
I received an e-mail from Amazon a couple of months ago telling me that I will be entitled to other money off vouchers between set dates to use on other Amazon certain orders once my HP order is released.
Frankly if Asda want to sell it cut price, then what can Bloomsbury do to stop them?. Everyone knows these books are sold at a loss anyway, and I seem to remember the last time they were selling at £4 on publication day.
I used this free delivery system earlier in the year for four books- all in stock- and I didn't get it until nearly a week later.
It is more than my life is worth!
My sister regularly pre-orders the Yugi-oh manga's and she always recieves them several days before publication day.
I'm certain that Amazon has all of it's pre-orders all packaged and sitting in the warehouse waiting for Friday, no matter what the customer has paid in postage costs. This is not something they are going to want to screw up!.
We shall never know the truth. But great publicity for Asda.
The sooner the books are out, and everyone can get their copy the better.
Why should Harry Potter be treat differently, at the end of the day, it is just another book.
Thought the last few paragraphs summed things up.
'No doubt, readers racing through their copies this weekend will feel myriad emotions. After all, it's been 10 years since the first Potter hit the shelves and many of his fans have grown up with him.
Moreover, the fact that word of mouth rather than a massive advertising campaign made Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone so successful, gave readers a feeling that the book belonged to them.
No wonder, then, that we are all curious to know whether Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be the magnum opus we hope it is. We mightn't want it to end, but this volume will bring a sense of closure.
In a recent, rare television interview Rowling told Jonathan Ross that she felt euphoria and devastation, and also a sense of relief as she wrote the final chapters It will certainly be a relief when Harry Potter returns to simply being a great series of books rather than a relentless merchandising opportunity.
We will all feel euphoria when we discover what happens to Harry, his friends and enemies. It may well be sad or even tragic. It will certainly be the end of an era.
But we can at least take solace from knowing that no matter who gets killed off, the ones suffering the biggest sense of devastation will be the marketing men.'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/portal/main.jhtml;jsessionid=EDAYRPUCJJN1VQFIQMFSFFWAVCBQ0IV0?xml=/portal/2007/07/18/nosplit/ftpotter118.xml
Then I'll get on with the sequels. Wilhelmina in the World of Work...
Personally I think you should make her a split personality vampire/schoolgirl. Certainly different! (hehe) Imagine the products you could market off of that.
But the marketing aspect is very relevent where children's stuff is concerned, be it a cartoon or a book.
(It was realised some time ago that the way to get to the adults pockets is via their children.)
That trivialises the whole purpose of Childline.
If the content of the book is so awful, why was it allowed to be published?