[NOTD] News Of The Day - 08/07/2007

"Harry wished he had eight more eyes," J.K. Rowling wrote in "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," her first book about the boy wizard and his adventures at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. For Harry, Diagon Alley offered a cornucopia of robes, eels' eyes, spell books, quills, potion bottles and magic wands.

If Harry jumped out of the book and entered any Borders or Barnes & Noble store these days, he might be equally overwhelmed.

A stepped-up sales blitz of Potter-themed merchandise is under way thanks to the perfect storm of the release July 21 of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" -- the seventh and final book in the series -- and the fifth movie, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," which comes out 10 days earlier.

The strategy is an about-face from 2005, when book No. 6, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," hit shelves. Booksellers then scaled back on Potter paraphernalia, which didn't sell as well during the lead-up to the fifth novel, 2003's "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix."

But Ann Arbor-based Borders Group Inc. is upping the ante this time around by offering everything from calendars and journals to wall scrolls, wands and lunch boxes.

"There is much more product available this time because of the timing of the movie and book releases," said Diane Mangan, director of children's merchandise for Borders.

A Borders location in the Detroit suburb of Novi gives Muggles -- those who aren't wizards or witches -- the chance to spend their hard-earned money on all kinds of Potter stuff.

Sticker books and action figures populate two tables devoted solely to Potter merchandise. Sweet-toothed Potter-philes can leave the Novi store with their own version of the candy cart from the Hogwarts Express train. Two stands offer Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, and Chocolate Frogs and Blood Pops can be found elsewhere in the store.

Not to be outdone, rival superstore chain Barnes & Noble Inc. also has jumped back into the Potter merchandising game, offering T-shirts, baseball caps, chess sets, calendars, bookmarks, journals, wands and games.

"We will be offering a larger assortment of gifts or non-book products this year," said Kim Brown, vice president of merchandising at New York-based Barnes & Noble. "We've never had a moment when the book and the movie are very close, so I think that will help sales. But I think they're going to be strong no matter what."

JP Morgan analyst Nancy Hoch said it makes sense for big book retailers to offer Potter goodies.

"Given the convergence of the film and book releases and the overall excitement around the seventh and final book, I would expect Harry Potter-themed merchandise sales to be up this year," Hoch said.

While the national chains are pushing more Potter merchandise, they are quick to point out that their main focus still is on the book, which will wrap up Rowling's epic fantasy series. Worldwide sales of the first six books already top 325 million copies, and the first U.S. printing for "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" is 12 million.

"We're a bookstore, so our prominent feature is the book," said Brown of Barnes & Noble. "The gift items are just an enhancement to the display."

Many independent booksellers also are selling extras, but mainly they are focusing on the big event: the debut of "Deathly Hallows."

The Booksmith in San Francisco is bringing in local high school students to help staff its release party, which will feature refreshments, prizes and a costume contest. Partygoers also will find some related merchandise, including Golden Snitches and Hogwarts Castle building cards.

"The extra merchandise is cool, but we are mainly going to sell HP7 that night and we know that," said Christy Pascoe, a senior staffer at The Booksmith. "The extras are mostly to provide interesting displays for people to look at while they enjoy the games, contests and refreshments."

The Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, Ariz., is breaking up its Potter festivities into two days.

Its Midnight Launch Party will feature a local rock/alternative band as well as a fire-dancing troupe that dresses in Hogwarts uniforms. The next day, Changing Hands will provide face-painting, tea-leaf reading, lightning-bolt tattooing, magic wand-making and a reading of the first chapter of "Deathly Hallows" by a local stage actor.

"The thought of just hosting a fabulous 'goodbye and thank you' party for a wonderful series is what we wanted the community to enjoy," said Yvette Roeder, Changing Hands' public relations manager.

Having a celebratory shindig at just one location isn't enough for Sally Wizik Wills, owner of Sister Wolf Books and Beagle Books.

Her stores are taking readers on a Harry Potter Party Tour, with stops at an area library and coffee shop. A coffee bar inside Sister Wolf Books in Dorset, Minn., will be transformed into the Three Broomsticks and serve butterbeer, one of Harry's favorite libations.

"Parties celebrating the release of new books are a way to gather with other folks who share an interest in Harry Potter, have some fun and get the book," Wills said. "It's fun, especially for children, to be out in the middle of the night -- an unusual occurrence. The parties are a celebration of the books and those who love them."

Source: AP

J.K. Rowling refuses to rule out further adventures for the boy wizard Harry Potter, reports Nigel Reynolds

Harry Potter fans are used to suspense and high drama but this cliffhanger is the biggest adventure of them all. J K Rowling has disclosed that she may write more books about the boy wizard.

The author issued a statement yesterday saying "never say never" in response to the launch of a global "Save Harry" campaign.

Fans want her to continue her Hogwarts adventures after the publication of what she has maintained would be the seventh and final title, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, on July 21.

Rowling has told readers the she plans to write an encyclopaedia about all the Hogwarts characters, spells and place names. But until now she has been adamant that there would be no more adventure stories.

A spokesman for Rowling said yesterday: "As she said on Friday night in her BBC interview with Jonathan Ross - never say never.

"It's not saying that she definitely is [going to write another title] and it's not saying that she definitely isn't. I cannot comment further."

Rowling's decision to leave the door open for further books will fuel even more speculation about which two major characters she kills off on July 21.

Half of her fans are convinced that one will be Harry, the other half believe that he will emerge triumphant from his battles with Voldemort.

Recent remarks, when Rowling spoke of her "sense of bereavement" at ending Harry's adventures, now take on greater significance.

Is she thinking that the Hogwarts stories may continue into the future without Harry?

She said: "I always knew that Harry's story would end with the seventh book, but saying goodbye has been just as hard as I always knew it would be.

"I can hardly believe that I've finally written the ending I've been planning for so many years. I've never felt such a mixture of extreme emotions in my life, never dreamed I could feel simultaneously heartbroken and euphoric."

The "Save Harry" campaign was launched last night by Waterstone's. The book chain aims to gather a million signatures online - though it believes the final number may be several million - for a petition demanding that it will deliver to Rowling demanding more Potter books.

It reads: "We, the undersigned, petition J K Rowling to write more new adventures for Harry Potter and his friends no matter what happens at the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."

The book store cites Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes as the closest example of an author killing off a hero then bowing to public demand to revive him.

In 1893, heartily sick of his creation, Conan Doyle wrote the Adventure of the Final Problem in which Holmes apparently tumbles to his death over the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland while struggling with his arch-enemy, Prof James Moriarty.

"I weary of his name," the author explained. "I must save my mind for better things."

A public outcry followed -fans even wore black armbands for Holmes on the streets of London - and eight years later the hero of Baker Street returned in The Hound of the Baskervilles and in many other short stories.

"Couldn't the same happen for Harry Potter?" Wayne Winston, the head of children's books at Waterstone's asked yesterday.

He went on: "Harry Potter is a fictional character and therefore can't ever really be killed. In the end, characters such as Sherlock Holmes and Harry Potter belong to the public's imagination - they'll live forever no matter what happens in the books.

"We're not asking J K Rowling to start work on another novel tomorrow, we're just asking that she doesn't rule it out.

"Of course she wants a break but when she wakes up one day in the future with a fantastic new idea half-formed in her mind, hopefully she'll run with it and not deny her muse."

In a recent survey by Waterstone's, 85 per cent of eight- to 11-year-olds and 66 per cent of all readers said they wanted more Potter books from Rowling who, with a fortune estimated at more than 500 million, has become the richest author in history.

Mr Winstone said: "Harry Potter is a global phenomenon, not just in the UK and the US, so aiming for a million signatures may prove to be conservative."

Source: The Telegraph, UK