What fools these Muggles be...

[puppetmaker]

This is not a spoiler entry for either the book being released Saturday or the film that came out last week. This is about something that has disturbed me about the publishing industry that is being brought into the harsh light of day because of a book, a publisher, and a movie studio.

There is an article in Boston Globe a couple of days ago (OK over a week ago, but I have been rather busy) about a letter that is going out from Warner's legal to various bookstores and other Harry Potter events warning them with legal action if they go ahead with their plans for their book release party. Now when one agrees to sell Harry Potter, one has to sign a rather complicated contract that included the following Please ensure that you keep to our policy: that the book marketing campaign should be separate and distinct from the Warner Bros. film campaign and licensed merchandise programs Short version render to Scholastic what is Scholastic's and to Warner Brothers that which is Warner Brother's.

Once signing the contract you have agreed to use book only promotional material. This is kind of hard since the movie came out last week and most bookstores have a TON of Order of the Phoenix that they need to move now and how better than during the release of the new book. You also can not charge a fee for your event even if the money is going to charity. There were a number of stores that were doing events in association with other merchants of Harry Potter stuff (some of it licensed and some of it not) which have decided not to go ahead with their events.

I can understand from the licensing point of view why they (being Warner Brothers and Scholastic) are being so heavy handed. To hold onto to trademarks and copyright, they have to be able to prove that they are making sure that they don't let others profit off of their intellectual property. Having watched both my husband and a number of friends lose money due to the actions of others, I really can sympathies.

But the people who are being screwed over in this legal paper storm are not the big chain stores who have the resources and the money to make Potter Parties but the small local bookseller. And there in is my problem with this draconian policy. It was the independents that first promoted Potter. It was the independents that saw the potential for Potter Parties and promotion. Harry Potter did not become an instant success that some think it did. It was hand selling by booksellers that turned into a word of mouth campaign that turned into a phenomenon. These same people are being told that they really no longer matter in the grand scheme of things which is really sad. Since there would be no movies if it had not been for the independent bookshop. Scholastic would not be making money hand over fist on these books. Warner Brothers would not be seeing the profits that they have been seeing from the films which have taken in almost more money than the entire Bond franchise.

And it is not like any bookstore is making a ton of money off of this book. If anything many stores are going to lose money because of the deep discounts that the books are being sold at. They are looking at this book of a way to get someone into the store in hopes that they will buy something besides the last Hogwarts book and many will. If they had made a few more dollars on Saturday, would that have been such a bad thing? Independent bookstores are a rare breed these days. Why shut them down and lose the very thing that promoted this book to prominence in the first place? The publisher and the movie studios need the independent booksellers. If they all go away, who is going to help them create the next Harry Potter?

I am grateful that I will not be camping out at midnight for the book but will be getting it probably on the way to vacation.

Comments

Corporate dictatorship

[theresamather.livejournal.com]

I think our country as a whole is becoming more and more under the influence of corporate mentality. Small business is a nuisance for government to keep track of and are mosquitoes draining profit to big corporations. I was told by a worker at the California state board of equalization once that "you really shouldn't do business the way you do" (i.e. selling art work directly) because it was "so hard" for workers in the government to "figure out what you're doing" and "you could lie and pull any figure out of the air," as far as income goes. Paycheck stubs or chain gallery receipts would apparently be acceptable- something "where someone issues you a w-9."
I got into a debate with a Utah businessman a few days ago (granted, Utahns come to the modern economy armed with a stone axe to the proverbial gunfight) who stated that the total corporate- ization of America is a great thing- that the cream will rise to the top on stock and dividends, that the workers will learn to work hard and that "all those socialist blue state salaries and their failed experiment in anti-capitalism will go away". He extolled the moving of "all high tech" to China and India and stated that American workers needed to learn to compete with workers in Mexico and China in order to flourish- that if someone will do your $15 an hour job (high pay in Utah, btw- we're a 'right to work state' and lead the nation in bankruptcies) for $4 an hour the Americans will have to learn to do the same job for $4 an hour if they want to compete. I asked him how Americans were supposed to flourish. The answer of course was to climb the corporate ladder and invest...and if you work really hard you could reach the ultimate capitalist goal of buying a franchise.

Re: Corporate dictatorship

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

The answer of course was to climb the corporate ladder and invest...and if you work really hard you could reach the ultimate capitalist goal of buying a franchise.

So he believes that pyramid schemes are a good thing? There is only so much room at the top and only so many franchises that can be profitable. And Starbucks is not an exception to the rule. I saw one go out of business because another one was built in a more convenient place.

My accountant is a good egg about the art work sold. I send him copies of all my paperwork for various conventions and shows and he sorts out profit and loss for me.

I do think you are right about big business/corporate mentality. Especially in the age of buying up the small guy and start-ups as a way to build a company. Look at Google and Yahoo and AOL for shining examples of this sort of thinking.

Re: Corporate dictatorship

[theresamather.livejournal.com]

Google and Yahoo do buy up and absorb.
But the small guy as a legitimate way to do business-business for the purpose of selling a product and serving customers as opposed to serving shareholders is not considered to be ideal right now, from what I see. But I'm in red state central so the attitudes I see reflect the region and its profound lack of initiative too. Tax money is given away hand over fist to attract $10 an hour manufacturing jobs from elsewhere. An official actually referred to the reopening of a local iron mine as a "return of high tech" to Southern Utah recently. Yet many of these folks think their dribble of tax money is actually supporting the "freeloading blue states". Pretty funny, actually.

However did you guess that Utah is pyramid scheme central? "Self employment" and "pyramid scheme" are considered to be interchangeable terms here.

We keep track of all records too, but the state board disputed the usefulness of the records from cons. The control sheets from art shows were not enough as far as she was concerned. Verifying them all would "take too much time."
I was glad when I moved to a state where they're so poor the government can't afford personal attention like that. I'm all legal and on the up and up but "needing to get w-9's" to "prove" it was annoying as hell.:P

Re: Corporate dictatorship

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Yet many of these folks think their dribble of tax money is actually supporting the "freeloading blue states".

Do they also think that magic elves pave their roads, equip their firehouses, and run their hospitals?

Re: Corporate dictatorship

[theresamather.livejournal.com]

Nope, this is a red state! Jesus does all that! ;P

[lanofaylin.livejournal.com]

Amen sister!

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I am just tired of watching the little guy get screwed in all this corporate posturing and considering the hit that they are taking on this book, you would think they would get a break on this sort of idiocy.

[tiggerallyn.livejournal.com]

Ah, launch parties and companies protecting their turf. Ah, the battles I've fought there... :/

In the video game industry the fears of a cross-polination between products from competing vendors -- like Scholastic and Warners in this case -- just wouldn't happen. Gamers are extremely focused, and the ones who turn out for a midnight launch want their game and nothing but their game. Take the time to talk to them about anything else -- like the matching strat guide -- is a waste of time. First, he's not going to buy it, not if he has to have his game at midnight. Second, he's so focused on getting the game -- like a junkie in search of his fix -- that he's simply not hearing you. And third, gamers feel like they don't need the ancillary products.

So, I've fought the midnight launch battles as a retailer. When you win, you win big. Truthfully, though? I'm glad I don't have to go through that crap anymore.

Now, for the precise situation of Warners and Scholastic want to keep their stuff separate, thinking like a store manager....

The margin on Deathly Hollows... what margin? Bookstores are going to want to sell something that actually earns them a profit, yes?

So, I'd set my displays of the Deathly Hollows at the front of the store. And then run my register line around the back of the store. And in the back of the store? That's where I have my Order of the Phoenix tie-in displays, and if the register line happens to go past several Phoenix displays then I'll chalk that up to a coinkeydink. The two displays aren't anywhere near one another, never the twains shall meet, etc., but if the customers, while waiting in line happen to pick up an Order of the Phoenix product who am I to argue? Because I'm earning margin on that -- be it calendar, bookmark, coloring book -- and earning nothing on Deathly Hollows. The customers are going to cross-polinate between the two whether the parent companies want it or not. So I'd take advantage of the situation in a way that adheres to the letter of the agreements and violates the spirit seven ways to Sunday.

It's the cutthroat businessman in me. I spent so long thinking margin and wringing the last penny out of the customer that it comes naturally. No, there are things I'm not supposed to do, things I can't even admit to, but I'm a creative guy and I'll find a way to game the system to my advantage. That's just me.

And don't think I haven't done it. ;)

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

But you are not forcing them to buy something besides the book, you are enticing them to purchase more and that my friend is one of the oldest retail trick in the book going back to the time of Moses probably before.

Good Luck and I wish you a lot of that cross pollination.

[tiggerallyn.livejournal.com]

I was speaking hypothetically; it's not my fight anymore. ;)

It is engrained in me, though, as I've thought that way for so long. (Which is why I can't go in an EB Games or a GameStop anymore; I still critique the stores too much to get any shopping done.)

[beldar.livejournal.com]

I wish more of these corporate entities took the position that Lucasfilm (Star Wars) and to a degree Paramount (Star Trek) take toward their fans' activities. Even though low- and no-profit activities by fandom might break the letter of trademark law, they tend to be tolerated because the suits at the top know that in the end those fans will want the real films, the real books and the real licensed swag and will more gladly pony up the money because the corporate masters are so fan-friendly.

It's further complicated here because Warner and Scholastic are not cooperating, which seems really foolish of them. And dictating the layout of INDEPENDENT bookstores is just bad form. I like what your friend is doing in keeping the Hallows display separate from the Phoenix display, but the more profitable one near the cash register.

A local indie bookseller here is doing "owl post" delivery, driving around like Santa all night to drop off copies of Hallows wrapped in paper, with an "owl feather" attached. I'm guessing the hope is that the recipients will be so impressed they'll come back to the store to buy more profitable merchandise.

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

The thing that the independent book stores have going for them is that hands on personal service. Sure the big chains talk a good game and they have stolen ideas from successful book stores to make them seem more like the indies. If I have my choice I will shop my local independent book seller and screw the discount I might get at a big book store. I want a store that listen to me as a customer.