Another Muggle for Rowling; Coming to Terms

by Shannon Maughan, PW Daily for Booksellers -- Publishers Weekly, 1/26/2005

J.K. Rowling gave birth to a baby girl in Edinburgh, Scotland, on Sunday. The baby, as yet to be named, joins brother David, who is nearly two years old, and sister Jessica, who is 11.

Rowling delivered another "baby" last month: the manuscript for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which Scholastic will publish July 16. The trade edition will run 672 pages and retail for $29.99. A deluxe edition, which contains a 32-page black-and-white insert, will comprise 704 pages and retail for $60.

To sell Scholastic's baby, retailers and distributors must sign a Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Agreement and an on-sale-date contract by April 1. Among the familiar stipulations, retailers agree not to put the book on sale prior to pub date. (The on-sale-date contract applies to all Scholastic books with firm laydown/on-sale dates in the calendar year 2005.)

In Harry Potter tradition, pricing for the book is becoming an issue. Independent booksellers across the pond have already voiced their strong opposition to deep discounting of the book by U.K. supermarkets and chains. "If any of the people who make the decision to discount an absolute certain bestseller and so deprive the trade of millions of pounds worth of profit would care to explain why, I and several other independents would be interested to meet them," wrote Anna Parsley of Kendrake Children's Bookshop in a letter to the Bookseller.

In an effort to unite indies in this common cause, Parsley e-mailed 900 members of the Booksellers Association's Children's Booksellers Group and urged them to ask Bloomsbury to "sell the book to independents at the same price they sell it to Amazon, Argos, Asda, Tesco, Woolworths, etc." If that were the case, Parsley and other booksellers say that they could sell the book for any price they choose. "Every time a new Harry Potter comes out," Parsley wrote, "independent booksellers have to stand meekly by and watch as our one chance in a long time to make some meaningful profit is snatched away from us,"

Parsley's attempt to rally her colleagues was dashed, however, when BA chief Tom Godfray suggested that such an effort to pressure Bloomsbury could in fact be illegal, infringing on the country's Competition Act. For its part, Bloomsbury has said it will not budge on its terms.

In the meantime, W.H. Smith has begun taking orders for Harry Potter at ₤9.99, which is a 41% discount off the suggested retail of ₤16.99. This action indicates that booksellers have predicted correctly that Half-Blood Prince will sell for an average price even lower than that of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. W.H. Smith sold Phoenix at ₤11.99 in 2003 and took advance orders for more than 300,000 copies (matching Amazon.co.uk). W.H. Smith, which has 545 high street stores, said the deep discount on Half-Blood Prince applies only to orders taken before April 2. After that date, the price could change.

The issue has become so heated that bookseller Elaine Silverwood at Silverdell in Kirkham lamented to the Bookseller that "indie survival is on the line."

Stateside, Amazon.com, BN.com and Target are taking orders at $17.99, a 40% discount. Costco is offering the title at $16.99; Wal-mart at $16.66. Powell's Books, Portland, Ore., is accepting reservations at a 30% discount, and some Book Sense member stores, including the Tattered Cover, Denver, Colo., and the Red Balloon Bookshop in St. Paul, Minn., are selling the book at the suggested retail of $29.99.

More information and downloadable retail and distribution forms/agreements for Half-Blood Prince can be found on the customer support area of the publisher's Web site.