Hear, hear, Kevin! We're buying 2 copies of HP 7 in my family, to prevent bickering over who gets first dibs. And we are buying both at our local bookstores, Northern Lights in Duluth. The least we can do to support our local bookseller, who's organizing a big party at the old train museum at midnight on July 21 -- complete with an excursion on the Hogwarts Express.

Thank you, Kevin, for articulating your reasoning so nicely. Perhaps your most telling observation is that publishers seem less and less interested in driving consumers into bookstores. While we often hear news of independents' stagnant market share, less often is mentioned the role that some publishers play. Instead of supporting a consistent and longstanding sales channel with new ideas and a few extra dollars, they too often seek ways to take sales away from independent bookstores. Then they wonder why some stores can't make it.

Thanks for "getting it," Kevin. Too many people fail to make the connection between buying their books at a deep discount somewhere, then wondering whatever happened to that wonderful bookshop down the street? They notice it's gone when they want a book that isn't on the bestseller list, or when there's no story hour to take their kids to, or when they go looking for a donation to a community group, or to sell an ad in the high school yearbook, or any of the other things that most independent stores do as a matter of course...but we can't do it if people don't shop here. Of course, many independent stores discount books, too, but when the market creates the expectation that a book will be sold at cost--or at a loss--it hurts the entire publishing industry, and in a larger sense, it hurts communities. Kudos to you, and I hope your local bookstore has lots more customers like you!

Indie or chain, nobody's gojng to make a dime on this one... The bigger picture here is that Scholastic has a long track record of getting a bandwagon started, overloading it, and driving straight over a cliff--the YA horror collapse of '94, and the Goosebumps stock plunge of a couple years later come to mind... Now they're throwing book contracts at every YA dark fantasy author in the UK, and most of the non-HP big sellers haven't been Scholastic titles-grab your crash helmets, people, I think it's about to happen again...........

hear hear again kevin! as most of my friends know i will never read the book (it will just take a place next to my signed copy of jack klugman and rue mcclanahans' books) and i am THE undisputed reigning betty bargain but in the interest and solidarity of the small business person i will locate a local indie bookstore and purchase it at full price (ugh!).

"The sad truth is, every sale matters to independent bookstores. Every time we buy something elsewhere to save a few dollars, we're increasing the chance that those bookstores won't survive." Yep. That's why my family will be paying near full price and hanging out all evening at Joseph-Beth in Cincinnati, where we live. Having J-B here is a wonderful asset to our city. I for one want to do everything I can to make sure it stays in business. If that means paying more for books when I could get them more cheaply at the Evil Empire, well . . . it feels fantastic to thumb my nose at Bentonville, Ark.

Wow, you've sure swayed me! Good job making your case, Kevin. I'll do my book-buying duty on June 21.