The Potter Phenomenon

Mikaela says:
We write a lot here on m-pyre about community and the things that bring people together.

This predisposition has got me pondering the global phenomenon of a millions and millions of people holding their breath in anticipation of getting their hands ... on a book.

A book!

Kids lining up outside of bookstores around the world for midnight distribution on the release date (which is generating a lot of controversy in Israel, since the release is on the Sabbath). For a book!

Lola Lorber, 14, wears a wizard's hat while reading "Jane Eyre" as she waits in the prepaid line to pick up her copy of J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" at Books of Wonder bookstore in New York on Friday. -- AP

Isn't this amazing?!?

I've been wracking my brain to think of a similar instance. The Star Wars movies? Lord of the Rings?

The fact that there have been 7 books helps build the anticipation and readership with each new installment. The fact that the movies don't suck and pull in fans who wouldn't normally read helps. The power of the stories, characters, and writing helps. The secrecy and integrity of the author and publishing houses have helped more than we know.

But still... it's a little overwhelming. And it's about reading! Reading is fun? Reading engenders community? Wow! We've lived to see the day.

It's got major capitalism implications, too. As far as I can figure (with very little research), the first 6 books have sold 325 copies worldwide, in over 60 languages. The 6th book sold 9 million copies in the U.K. and U.S. in its first 24 hours!

The 7th book has broken all pre-order sales records, with 2.2 and 1.4 million sales from Amazon and Barnes & Noble, respectively. The American publisher (Scholastic) has published 12 million of the latest and final book in the series, its largest-ever print run.

The first 4 movies have earned $3.5 billion in global ticket sales. The 5th movie took in $77.4 million the first weekend and is expected to rake in $1 billion worldwide.

So if you figure that the books sell for an average of $10 each that's $3.25 billion in book sales w/o the 7th book, compared to $3.5 billion for movie ticket sales for the first 4 movies.

All of this from a book!

Here at my office, where we toil away all day in silence, hardly ever chatting or even saying hello, we just had a 15 minute spontaneous conversation about books just from speaking the word Potter.

And best of all, all those millions of Book 7 are being printed on recycled paper after a successful lobbying effort by an environmental group in Canada, which got the support of the author, and now all the publishing houses have agreed to do so, saving untold acres of forests. That's the power of consumer pressure!

Harry Potter, boy wizard, community builder, saver of trees. He's made so many millions of us so very happy.


With hours to go,

M