The Harry Potter books were the most hyped in the modern era of publishing when they first came out. They remain popular today; Amazon Charts tracks the most-read and sold books for fiction and non-fiction, and almost all the Harry Potter books continue to dominate. When the final book was released, people were sleeping outside bookstores and waiting for them to open. Bookstore employees saw a level of security not found in books before. The Deathly Hallows were delivered to shops a few days before release, but they were covered in embargo tape with security tags that needed a code from the publisher to unlock and sell them. Will we ever see another book with this level of cultural hype again?
Many of the largest Harry Potter fans dressed as their favourite characters and camped at bookstores hours before opening. Many larger bookstores had midnight release parties, and the entire place was decorated. Fans exchanged theories and talked about their favourite characters. Trivia and prizes were given out for best costumes. Whenever a new book came out, it felt like a global event. It wasn’t just hype; it was this massive shared experience.
I still remember when the first bunch of books came out. There were no pre-orders then, and the internet was still taking off. Many bookstores were sold out like crazy, and they had no idea when stock would be replenished. When the later books were released, Harry Potter became a cultural touchstone, and everyone knew about it. I remember Amazon had a special delivery system for the last few Potter books and commissioned FedEx to have extra planes and trucks for the deliveries.
A few things came close to eclipsing Harry Potter for a time, but never had the staying power. When the original Game of Thrones series was on television, it was a unifying cultural phenomenon that everyone from all demographics was into. After the show ended, it didn’t have the same staying power, and the books were too dense for the average person to read. However, it remains to be seen if the Winds of Winter book will be a huge event due to crossover appeal from nonreaders.
In recent times, a few books. However, the parties attended the bookstores and felt forced to do so. There were release parties, and the larger stores had a huge crowd. Sunrise of the Reaping reignited the fan base of the series, which has become a bestseller, but not a true cultural phenomenon. Onyx Storm had people camping out and no trivia or people dressing up.
One of the big reasons why it might be impossible to duplicate the success of Harry Potter is the retail landscape. When those books came out in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the USA, all had more chain bookstores and books sold at grocery stores. Grocery stores sold books, Costco, Toys’ R US, and even Tesco and Sainsbury’s. Many of these places stopped selling books or went out of business. Now, the vast majority of book purchases take place online, and via Amazon. You can have a book that outsells Harry Potter, but you would never see people buying it.
Wrap Up
Harry Potter, to read them too. I think for a book to achieve Harry Potter levels again, it would need to be all-ages and have universal appeal regardless of those who have read all of the books, and when they have kids, they continue to sell millions of copies every year globally because everyone of all ages loves it—people who are middle-aged, regardless of gender or sexuality.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.