Thursday, July 19, 2007

Harry Problems

Open letter to Sara Nelson on her July 9 Column: Hallowed Harry:

I am torn about your column this week, not the least becuase I just received my July 9th issue yesterday and haven't received my July 16th issue yet. Either you guys are sending out my issue late or my postman is reading up on the publishing news. Maybe he's a writer too.

Who would have thought that the publication of a Harry Potter book could have a down side? I guess I knew that Rowling's success would start to rankle people eventually. So how am I torn? I both agree and disagree with your insightful column.

I agree that there are writer's who are being published this summer and who are looking to gain media time who will probably be pissed off at the Potter blitz and their inability to access the marketplace. I agree that there are beach reads and sensitive first novels that will be pushed aside by the juggernaut of Harry. But couldn't these same books also benefit from the additional number of readers searching for books this summer who might, by chance, see their book and buy it too? Might their face-out on aisle four get more foot traffic at Barnes & Noble and subsequently more impulse purchases? Won't their home-page listing at Powells.com get more visibility simply because more people will actually see their book on their way to finding Harry? More hits equals higher visibility. Better line-of-sight and higher visibility have got to count for something.

Your statement that retailers, big and small, have made the dubious choice to discount Harry and subsequently that the price slashing will hurt their profit margin I'm sure is spot on correct. This is what kills the small retailers more than anything, but I understand they have to compete or lose customers. How else do you compete with Amazon, Costco, Target and Wallmart and all the other booksellers who will be selling Harry at such low prices you would have to be crazy to go to Books of Wonder (like I will) to pick up your copy. I guess you can't ask consumers to buy at higher priced outlets just because of store loyalty... can you?

Here's what I know. I'll buy and read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, most likely on the subway on my way to work with a dozen other straphanger adults of all ages. And my bet is that for a number of those readers Harry has been a gateway book to the land of reading - which means more sales for more books in the long run, books that will not be discounted but sold at full profit margin. So in my book, there are good problems and there are bad problems. Harry problems are the good ones.

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