puppetmaker (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
puppetmaker) wrote2007-07-19 07:58 am
puppetmaker) wrote2007-07-19 07:58 am
What fools these Muggles be...
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.
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.
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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.
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