Harry Potter Countdown
This story originally appeared in Children's Bookshelf on July 19, 2007 Sign up now!
by Shannon Maughan, Children's Bookshelf -- Publishers Weekly, 7/19/2007
Alas (tinged with a bit of "hooray"), the end is near. The end of the wait for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The purported end of J.K. Rowling's tales of the boy wizard. And the end of at least two Potter-world characters, perhaps even Harry himself. We hope that all our readers come to "the end" of HP7 in their own time, with no spoilers—despite the proliferation of leaks, early sales of the book and now, reviews in the New York Times and Baltimore Sun. In the meantime, we bring you the final stories leading up to Deathly Hallows' official debut. (And rest assured, no spoilers here.)
Whack-a-Leak; The Papers' Peeks; Rowling Speaks
In what must feel like a game of whack-a-mole, Scholastic is doing its best to quash a number of Deathly Hallows leaks and spoilers, which now include reviews of the book printed in today's New York Times and Baltimore Sun. The Times reviewer claims to have purchased the book from a New York City store on Wednesday; the Sun's editor stated in a Washington Post article that a newsroom employee's relative received an early copy from online retailer DeepDiscount.com (see below).
Rowling's British publisher Bloomsbury issued a statement this morning expressing its extreme dismay at early sales of the book and thanking the media and the company's publishing partners the world over for observing the embargo—which, thus far, seems to have held everywhere else but the U.S.
In response to the Times' and the Sun's actions, Rowling herself today added a statement via Bloomsbury: "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, who wanted to reach Harry's final destination by themselves, in their own time. 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."
Upset fans are already on the warpath, specifically targeting the Times with angry posts and threats of boycotts and canceled subscriptions on the newspaper's Web site. The Leaky Cauldron, one of the leading fan sites, has issued a rallying cry to its readers, encouraging them to voice their disappointment over the early review in letters to the editor at the Times. A form letter and links are provided on the Leaky Cauldron site.
But the Times's and the Sun's breaches are only the latest in a series of embargo-busters that have kept Scholastic on its toes. Yesterday the publisher announced it was "taking immediate legal action" against online retailer DeepDiscount.com and its distributor Levy Home Entertainment for breaching the on-sale agreement and shipping copies of HP7 through the mail, which began arriving to customers beginning July 17. Scholastic has appealed to those who received the book early to keep it under wraps until July 21.
And earlier this week, before the shipping and review snafus, Scholastic learned of what is allegedly a digitally photographed version of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows that has been making the rounds of such file-sharing Web sites as Photobucket, Flikr, Pirate Bay, MediaFire and Digg.
Spokespersons from both Bloomsbury and Scholastic admit that some of the Internet leaks may appear to be authentic, though, as a matter of company policy, they offered no official confirmation that the posted photos of book pages are the real deal. Scholastic spokesperson Kyle Good told PW, "There is a lot of material on the Internet that claims to come from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, but anyone can post anything on the Internet and you can't believe everything you see online." She added, "We all have our theories on how the series will end, but the only way we'll know for sure is to read the book ourselves at 12:01 a.m. on July 21st."
However, Scholastic has been asking the various sites that are not complying with its strict July 21 embargo to remove any alleged HP7 material and is serving up subpoenas just in case. Good told PW that such action allows the publisher to gather information quickly "to try to keep spoilers, real or unreal, off of Internet sites that fans might be on." Social networking and gaming site gaiaonline.com was one of the first targets of the crackdown. Bloomberg reported Tuesday that after receiving a subpoena from Scholastic, Gaia Interactive had removed a posting of what a user claimed to be images of the book and temporarily banned the user.
The enforcements seemed to have a domino effect, at least to some degree, as various links posted by other sites to what they said were copies of the book quickly went dead on Tuesday.
But as the official on-sale hour draws near and more spoilsports come out of the woodwork, Rowling was compelled to post another anti-spoiler plea on her web site on July 18. The updated diary entry reads: "We are almost there! As launch night looms, let's all, please, 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 secrecy of 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!"
Brit Bargain Bombast Continues
The heated Harry Potter discounting war in the U.K. has gotten decidedly ugly with giant retailer Asda (owned by Wal-Mart) engaging in a nasty battle of words—and legal action—with HP publisher Bloomsbury.
Last Sunday, Asda issued a press release accusing Bloomsbury of engaging in "blatant profiteering" by suggesting a retail price of £17.99 for Deathly Hallows when it sold the first title, Philosopher's Stone, for £11.99. The release went on to characterize Bloomsbury as "attempting to hold children to ransom" by selling at that price.
According to reports from the Bookseller, Bloomsbury initially retaliated by canceling Asda's order for 500,000 copies of HP7 (and all other Bloomsbury titles), claiming the retailer was in arrears with their bills to the publisher. In addition, Bloomsbury initiated legal action to sue Asda for libel. A spokesman for the publisher was quoted as commenting: "Hands off Harry, Asda. He's too special for you. He has no desire to be dragged into your price wars. Please don't tarnish him with your grubby optimism and your naive publicity strategy."
By Monday, the battle raged on as Asda threatened Bloomsbury with a "breach of contact" action. But Tuesday brought a bit of sunshine: the matter was resolved to the satisfaction of all parties. Asda paid its outstanding bill, made a formal apology to Bloomsbury and withdrew its press release, paving the way for the retailer's delivery of precious HP7 copies.
Special Delivery Update
As we previously reported, Britain's Royal Mail has issued a series of seven postage stamps depicting the covers of the bestselling Harry Potter books. In an AP wire report, the Royal Mail estimated that 340,000 people had pre-ordered the stamps—a count that eclipsed the previous record of 300,000 pre-orders set by a series of Beatles stamps released in January of this year.
In addition to the book cover images, the Royal Mail also released five stamps sporting the crests of the fictional Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and its houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. And perhaps even more appealing than any of those official images, fans can also go online personalize their stamps, adding their own picture alongside the crest of their favorite house. We'd much rather receive one of these posts than a howler.
Hey Butter, Butter!
Harry is soon to take on a look that decidedly dairy. Every summer in Des Moines, a butter sculpture of a cow, which is often alongside another solid-butter rendition of a figure from current events or pop culture, is one of the most popular attractions at the Iowa State Fair. At this year's Fair, which runs August 9–19, the traditional cow will have some magical company: a butter sculpture of boy wizard Harry Potter atop his Quidditch broom, crafted by 30-year-old buttermeister Sarah Pratt, according to the Des Moines Register. Pratt additionally told the Associated Press that her Harry will look more like the boy described in Rowling's books than real-life teen Daniel Radcliffe, star of the Harry Potter films.
The butter cow tradition dates back to 1911. according to the State Fair's history. The makings of each butter cow begin with a frame made of wood, metal, wire and steel mesh and about 600 lbs. of "low moisture, pure cream Iowa butter." Pratt (like her predecessors) will work inside a 40-degree cooler to apply layers of butter until a life-size rendering of one of six major dairy breeds of cows is complete, measuring about 5-1/2-ft high and 8-ft long. The project takes roughly 16 hours of work.
The Midwest Dairy Association, sponsor of Iowa's Butter Cow, estimates that the 600-lb. sculpture would butter 19,200 slices of toast and take an average person two lifetimes to consume. But, thankfully, no one's really tested those numbers: much of the sculpting butter is frozen, recycled and reused for "three or four Fairs."
And Harry has some fine, creamy company. Previous subjects captured in butter include Grant Wood's "American Gothic" (1996), Elvis Presley (1997), John Wayne (2001), the Peanuts gang (2002) and Tiger Woods (2005).
Harry Potter and the Find Madeleine Movement
The world over, all eyes will be on Harry Potter July 21. Author J.K. Rowling wants to seize that opportunity to help find four-year-old Madeleine McCann, the British girl who went missing in Portugal on May 3.
Rowling's 65 publishers in more than 200 territories will distribute a poster of Madeleine to stores selling Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The author issued a statement through PR firm Colman Getty asking retailers to display the poster, which will include the Web address of the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children.
Rowling, who has personally pledged what is believed to be several hundred thousand dollars to a reward fund for Madeleine, said in her statement, "I fervently hope that posters displayed prominently in shops all over the world when the new book comes out will help find Madeleine McCann and will raise the profile of the many other missing children in different countries."
Braille Book Buzz
Scholastic and National Braille Press, a nonprofit Braille publishing and advocacy organization based in Boston, announced that the Braille edition of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be released on July 21, the same day as it is released in print. This is the second time the Braille and print editions have been released simultaneously by the two firms who have collaborated on the previous six Potter titles. Since 1999, nearly 12,000 Braille copies of all Harry Potter books have been sold nationwide, either directly from National Braille Press or through national online booksellers such as Amazon.
And if you think the print version is a bit of a door stopper, check this out: the Braille version of HP7 will be approximately will run 1100 pages and weigh approximately 12 pounds. Its 10 volumes, when stacked one on top of the other, will stand more than a foot high and occupy 15 inches of shelf space.
National Braille Press estimates that it will cost over $50,000 to produce 800 copies of the Braille edition, which comes to about $62 a book, though NBP is in the discounting fray, offering pre-ordered copies for $18.89. As NBP's policy is to charge the same price for its products as print publishers charge at retail, donations to the Press make up the difference in production costs. NBP will also be hosting a Midnight Magic release party for its edition on Friday beginning at 11PM.
Keeping the Faith?
Though Saturday's worldwide release has retailers bracing for plenty of customers, in Jerusalem, the business forecast for HP7 day is not so rosy. According to the Associated Press, Orthodox Jewish lawmakers, including Industry and Trade Minister Eli Yishai, are upset that many retailers in the city plan to offer the book at its appointed release time (2:01 AM July 21 local time) and are not honoring the Jewish Sabbath, when Israeli law requires most businesses to close. Officials have threatened to fine any store that opens Saturday.
"Israeli law forbids businesses to force their employees to work on the Sabbath, and that applies in this case as well. The minister will fine and prosecute any businesses which violate the law," Roei Lachmanovich, a spokesman for Yishai, of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish Shas party told the AP.
But the power of Potter prevails. Steimatzky, Israel's biggest bookstore chain, is scheduled to host a Friday night HP7 event in Tel Aviv, and the company has no plans to change the time, said spokeswoman Alona Zamir.
"We're required by our agreement with the book's publisher to launch the book at the same time as everywhere else in the world," Zamir said. Zamir added that the bookstore chain has received tens of thousands of advance orders for Deathly Hallows in English, and the book's Hebrew translation is due out in late 2007.
Wanna Bet?
The offbeat site earthtimes.org, which bills itself as "a forum from 'voices from the field or street'—everyday men and women who are active agents of change and whose points of view are seldom heard in the mainstream media," has joined the Potter pandemonium. The site notes that Dublin-based Paddy Power, Ireland's largest bookmaker, has begun taking bets based on all the hoopla about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. A spokesperson for Paddy Power noted that the book's shroud of secrecy has created loads of wild speculation. "Naturally, people then want to make bets on it."
The most popular bet listed on the Paddy Power Web site in the "novelty bets" class is whether the name Harry will be the number one boys' name given to newborns in Britain in 2007. Other bets include Amazon's Muggle sales count, how long the new book will stay at number one, whether Harry Potter will have sex if there is an eighth book, and whether the pope will condemn the book as blasphemous in 2007.
Who's Harry-est?
As previously reported, Amazon.com has been tracking pre-orders of Deathly Hallows, looking for the Harry-est Town in America. That distinction has now been given to Falls Church, Va. Residents of that town ordered more copies of HP7 from Amazon.com per capita than any other town in the U.S.
To honor the prize-winning populace, Amazon.com is donating a $5,000 Amazon.com gift certificate to The Mary Riley Styles Public Library Foundation Trust of Falls Church.
Runners up in the contest include Gig Harbor, Wash., Fairfax and Vienna, Va., and rounding out the top five, Katy, Tex.
For the final tally, Amazon.com used the most recent U.S. Census data and included all U.S. towns and cities with a population of more than 5,000 people.
