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Growth of the Internet, Harry Potter fan fiction seem parallel By Joan Gandy, The Denver Post It was a magical timing of events. In 1998, while many American households were being wired to the Web, Harry Potter vanquished Lord Voldemort's plans to obtain the sorcerer's stone in J.K. Rowling's first book about the boy wizard. In the nine months it took Potter to ascend to the top three spots on the New York Times' best-seller list, an online network emerged that has kept interest soaring despite the years fans waited between releases for each book in the series. ""Harry Potter' is the biggest online fandom," said Julie Holmes of Denver, a fan-fiction writer and moderator for FictionAlley.org "Not "Star Trek,' not "X-Files' nothing compares to Harry Potter. There's got to be something to that." Holmes' four fan fictions and two ficlets (short stories) are a small portion of the almost 80,000 chapters available at FictionAlley.org. Almost 193,000 stories based on Rowling's characters are at another site, Fanfiction.net In these tales, the wizarding world not explored by Rowling is mined by fans. For Holmes, the central characters of her stories are not the trio Harry, Hermoine and Ron but the Slytherins. "Their qualities are ambition and cleverness, and I relate to that," said Holmes, who writes under the name Slytherincess. "That's much more like me as a kid." In Holmes' Hogwarts, Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson are more than Potter's nemesis and a secondary character. Their struggles with Voldemort's return, young romance and parental pressures to become Death Eaters are center stage. It was her kids' interest in Gryffindor Halloween costumes that first led Holmes to the online fandom. While searching online for Gryffindor scarves, Holmes pulled up fan-fiction sites and was intrigued. Although she lurked on sites, only reading, she eventually typed "Muggle Studies," an eight-chapter fan fiction. "I don't know what possessed me to start writing," Holmes said. "At the time I was staying home with the kids, and it was just a creative outlet." Not all fan fictions are wholesome trysts into the summer activities of sidelined characters. In Holmes' ficlets, her Syltherin heroine and Potter succumb to their hormones while researching in the Hogwarts library. And this teenage romp is mild compared to some fan fiction. When Harry Potter made his debut, less than a third of American households had Internet access, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics. In 2000, a year after the boy wizard freed Sirius Black in "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban," 42 percent of households were surfing the Net from home. "It is arguable that the growth of Harry Potter fame and fandom is directly related to the growth of the Internet and to the middle-class readers' Internet access," writes Lelia Green and Carmen Guinery in the article "Harry Potter and the Fan Fiction Phenomenon." As interest in the Internet and Rowling's novels grew, fan fiction, fan art and role-playing Web sites matured like the mandrakes in Professor Pomona Sprout's greenhouse. After meeting at the Yahoo group Harry Potter for Grownups in 2000, about a dozen fans, including Heidi Tandy, decided to make a site dedicated to Harry Potter fan fiction. FictionAlley.org was launched in July 2001. "A lot of us started writing fan fiction in order to explore our theories about the book," said Tandy, who is president of FictionAlley.org. "At the time there was no site that hosted all types of Harry Potter fan fic." Harry Potter fans at these Web sites also are encouraged to alter and interact with the wizarding world. On role-playing sites, such as neohogwarts.com, participants sort into houses, try out for the quidditch team, take classes, do homework and open accounts at Gringotts bank. "They are like writing a fan fic," says Holmes, who participated in one role-playing game that lasted two years. "They are so involved." What Holmes enjoys about fan fiction and the Internet is that it "transcends stereotypes."

"It allows me to be a little more expressive. Every day, somebody new is born, and they haven't discovered Harry Potter. The Internet leaves a tangible legacy for them."

Published in the Asbury Park

With just two days until the release of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," take a few minutes to watch the video of the first U.S. edition of the sixth book in the series being signed by author J.K. Rowling and then shipped off to New York City.

That's where it will remain under lock and key in an undisclosed location until it is presented to the grand prize-winner of Scholastic's nation-wide public library sweepstakes at 12:01 a.m Saturday. Log on to www.scholastic. com/harrypotter and click on the "Check Out What's New with Harry Potter" to watch the video.

Patti Martin, Staff Writer

Harry Potter fans fuming

Amazon.com and walmart.com mistakenly told customers their books won't arrive on time as promised.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Perhaps the evil wizard Lord Voldemort had something to do with it.

Customers who preordered the eagerly anticipated sixth installment of the "Harry Potter" saga on Amazon.com and walmart.com were in for a shock this week when the retailers mistakenly e-mailed them to say their books might arrive later than expected.

"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" is slated for release early on Saturday, and both Web sites had promised anxious customers that their books would arrive that day. The U.S. publisher of J.K. Rowling's book said some 10.8 million copies were printed.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (Research) rushed to calm shoppers' worries and put a recorded message on walmart.com's toll-free customer service number assuring customers that the books would arrive on July 16 as promised.

"If you are calling in reference to the Harry Potter release notification that you received on July 12 that indicated the release date had been changed to July 20, please be advised that the e-mail was sent in error," the message says.

"On July 11, we inadvertently issued an e-mail that indicated a delayed delivery for the preorders of the new Harry Potter books that were to be delivered July 16. The next day, on July 12, we sent an e-mail to the same customer base informing them that the preorders for July 11 will be delivered on July 16," Amy Colella, a walmart.com spokeswoman, told CNN/Money.

Amazon.com e-mailed customers to say its notice that books might be delayed "was sent to you in error."

"We sincerely apologize for the concern we caused with this incorrect message, and hope you will be thrilled to know that we've begun preparing your order for shipment and we are confident that it will be delivered on Saturday, July 16," the e-mail to customers reads.

Amazon.com spokeswoman Patricia Smith said a few thousand customers mistakenly received the notices.

"It was a complete goof on our end," Smith said. "I don't know if it was human error or computer error, but the bottom line is, it was an error."

Still, some fans weren't convinced their books would arrive quickly enough.

"I got one of those e-mails," reads one post on fan Web site mugglenet.com. "I'm getting a second copy at midnight just in case, because if it doesn't arrive I'm canceling my transaction. I'm still furious."

Is Harry Potter dead?

Is Harry Potter dead?

Not the character -- the brand. With the world abuzz, one expert says the brand is overexposed. July 11, 2005: 4:01 PM EDT By Parija Bhatnagar, CNN/Money staff writer

NEW YORK(CNN/Money) - Here we go again.

The world is abuzz about another Harry Potter book -- the sixth in the series -- getting ready to make its big, splashy, media-grabbing debut to legions of Potter fans this weekend.

Not to be a downer, but after this week's release, there's just one book left before the series ends.

Pottermania is alive and well today, but has anyone thought about what happens when the series reaches its seventh-book climax?

At least one branding expert is willing to go on the record to predict the demise of the Potter brand in the next two to three years.

"I'm even more adamant about this point of view today than I was three years ago," said Martin Lindstrom, an independent global branding consultant and author of "Brand Child." "Harry Potter is headline news today because of the media blitz surrounding the new book. Six weeks later, you won't hear anything."

Lindstrom said that kids today are not as enamored by the magic of Harry Potter as they were when the author first introduced the child wizard to young and adult readers almost seven years ago.

He cited the results of a 2003-2004 global survey of 20,000 kids between the ages of 7 and 12, which he conducted along with U.K.-based market research firm Miward Brown in 18 countries.

Said Lindstrom, "When we asked kids whether they thought Harry Potter was a fading phenomenon, 69 percent said they did. I think that percentage today is probably closer to 80 percent.

"The fact is that the main concept of Harry Potter is this idea of undiscovered secrecy," he added.

But all the multimillion dollar licensing deals for Harry Potter products, the big movies and the intensive media blitz, he believes, have overexposed the brand to kids.

"A few years from now, people will know Harry Potter because it became a huge business phenomenon in such a short period of time and not for the great story that it was," Lindstrom said.

Other industry watchers, however, disagreed with Lindstrom's views

Robert Passikoff, branding consultant with Brand Keys Consulting, said the demise of the Harry Potter brand was something that was "never going to happen.

"The Potter series has longevity," Passikoff said. "Whether or not there is life for the brand after the seventh book is not even an issue. In the same way that people go to buy Mary Poppins books, 30 years from now you will find Harry Potter on bookshelves."

Contrary to Lindstrom's critique of the overuse and overexposure of Harry Potter, Passikoff said the worldwide adoption of the story's characters and the brand itself has made it an instant classic.

"This brand resonates with consumers of all ages," Passikoff said. "It's a brand that is well-differentiated and unique. J.K. Rowlings has been very stringent with how the brand is developed. I think it's a very well-managed brand."

Lynne O'Connor, partner with branding firm Lippincott & Margulies, agreed with Passikoff.

"From my own anecdotal experience, Harry Potter is a very compelling brand," O'Connor said. "Obviously, from the point of view of licensing management, it has to be maintained wisely because there already are a wide array of Harry Potter-themed products in the market."

"The other thing to think about is the audience," she said. "If there continues to be evidence that the brand is meaningful to its current and new audiences, that means it could live long for generations to come."

Harry Potter, IBM, And The Wizardry Of Online Book Retailing

Rather than sorcery, it is the integration of many disparate IT technologies and services via IBM's WebSphere that will be key to the delivery of millions of copies of the new Harry Potter book on Saturday.
By W. David Gardner
TechWeb.com

When the new Harry Potter book arrives simultaneously in the hands of millions of children across the world Saturday, it might look to be a seamless operation from the printing press direct to readers.
It won't be, says IBM's Katie Kean, whose IBM WebSphere Commerce operation has some behind-the-scenes involvement in delivering millions of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince." Many disparate IT technologies and services interconnected with IBM's WebSphere technology are contributing to what is considered the largest event in the history of publishing.

WebSphere is a key supplier to Scholastic Inc., the U.S. publisher of the Harry Potter series.

Kean, who is vice president of services and support for IBM WebSphere, says the event is a sterling example of the changes online retailing is undergoing as different multi-channel pieces of book publishing, selling, and delivery are increasingly integrated. "People think the multi-channel (phenomenon) has happened," she said in an interview. "It hasn't; although it may look seamless."

The IBM executive said book selling is pacing overall online retailing and she reels off statistics to support her view: Of the top 400 online retailers, 25 percent are selling books, representing the top category by far. At the same time, online retailing is expanding rapidly with 6 percent of all retail sales last year driven by Internet channels.

"Web selling has taken off quickly," she observed. "Twenty-seven percent of all retail sales are influenced by the Web now. And 75 percent of U.S. Web users shop online and 67 percent purchase books online."

Kean said that retailers are increasingly flocking to the Web, and the resurgence in e-commerce is driven more and more by efforts to use multiple channels to improve sales. The phenomenon of "buy online, pick up in store" is being enhanced by Web sites designed to keep customers coming back.

She cited contests, auctions, and rebate promotions as examples. Scholastic, for instance, titillated and involved visitors to its Harry Potter Web site by sponsoring a "Harry Potter Essay Contest." Excerpts from the winning essays are featured on the Web site.

The pressing challenge to tie together different databases, software programs, and hardware into a unified, operational system remains the hardest test of online retailing, Kean observed. "We're trying to provide a seamless experience across all these channels," she said. "And the biggest challenge is on the back end (databases, for instance.) But when you get to integration, that's IBM's sweet spot."

Kean said WebSphere has followed a strategy of being able to integrate heterogeneous software, database and hardware systems, which has made it easier, for instance, to tie older databases with new software systems. She added that a "slight shift" in retailers' emphasis from IT cost-cutting to increasing sales may be a bellwether of the future, as CEOs are stepping up their efforts to drive sales. For retailers, she noted, IT cost containment remains a paramount issue nonetheless.

With Amazon.com alone announcing that nearly 900,000 copies of the "Half-Blood Prince" have been pre-ordered, online sales of the book are certain to number in the millions in the U.S. The wizards at IBM have their work cut out for them.

Pope's concern over Harry Potter

Pope Benedict XVI expressed concern that the Harry Potter books "erode Christianity in the soul" of young people in a letter two years ago, a German writer says.

The comments came in an exchange of letters between the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and Gabriele Kuby, a Bavarian-based Roman Catholic sociologist who penned a book criticising JK Rowling's blockbusters.

In a letter dated March 7, 2003, the text of which could be seen on Kuby's website, Ratzinger thanked her for sending him a copy of "your informative book."

Indianapolis men claim to have copies of new Harry Potter book
By Associated Press
Thursday, July 14, 2005 - Updated: 10:01 AM EST

INDIANAPOLIS - The newest Harry Potter book isn't supposed to go on sale until Saturday, but two Indianapolis men they they've bought advance copies it.
This is the latest breach in what was supposed to be a tightly controlled release. ''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'' was to to become available simultaneously to readers and reviewers, alike.
Scholastic Incorporated is the U.S. publisher of J.K. Rowling's fantasy series. A company spokeswoman says she's unaware of any security breaches in the Indianapolis area. But she says embargo violations will be dealt with case-by-case.
Fourteen books were accidentally sold last week at a grocery store in Canada. And a drug store in upstate New York also accidentally sold an advance copy.

Do you speak Harry Potter?

Pope and the peril of Harry Potter

THE Pope has said that the Harry Potter books "erode Christianity in the soul" of young people, a German writer claims.

Bavarian-based Roman Catholic Gabriele Kuby, who wrote a book criticising JK Rowling's blockbusters, said the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger made the comments in an exchange of letters two years ago.

In March 2003, Ratzinger wrote thanking her for sending him a copy of "your informative book". He said: "It is good that you are throwing light on Harry Potter, because these are subtle seductions that work imperceptibly, and because of that deeply, and erode Christianity in the soul before it can even grow properly."

Holiday

The Vatican made no comment about the claims. The Pope - who is from Bavaria - is on holiday.

Kuby argues in her book, Harry Potter - Good Or Evil, that the Potter novels glorify the world of witches and magicians at the expense of the human world. She also says the boundaries between good and evil are blurred.

Kuby said that she sent her book to Ratzinger - then the Vatican's doctrinal watchdog - after he commented favourably on an earlier book she wrote, My Way To Mary.

According to Kuby, Ratzinger wrote: "I gladly permit you to cite my opinion on Harry Potter."

The sixth Potter book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, goes on sale at midnight tonight.