It was a pretty awesome and wonderful experience, out of about 2500 people, 2499 were nice kind cool and patient.
Wow.
Now I'm home and gonna drink a beer and read a little.
T
PS. It is funny to see J.K. Rowling slam president Bush in the first paragraph. She must hate freedom. heeeeee ha!
Posted by Beren One Hand (Member # 3403) on :
Good job on bringing thousands of fans their much needed dose of Harry Potter.
*sigh*
Got to work this weekend. Probably won't be able to read it until next weekend. Must. Resist. Spoiler. Thread.
Posted by TL (Member # 8124) on :
1000 copies?
What is that, like 25 thousand dollars?
HOLY ...!
Posted by eslaine (Member # 5433) on :
We're cooly waiting until the stores open this morning.
Okay. Not so cooly.
Posted by The Pixiest (Member # 1863) on :
I woke up early like a kid on christmas morning.... but it seems I have a "Late Delivery From Amazon"...
Pix
Posted by Orson Scott Card (Member # 209) on :
It's worth pointing out that bookstores aren't earning anything on Harry Potter, at least not this week - because everybody is treating it like the world's biggest loss leader. It's so heavily discounted that when you add the cost of extra employee hours stocking huge quantities and staying open extra hours to deal with demand, most bookstores (and other places where it's selling) are LOSING MONEY on every copy sold.
Rowling is the only person guaranteed to make huge sums - and I'm fine with that! For once, the author rakes it in <grin>.
What the discount chains like WalMart and CostCo and Sam's Club and Target are doing is pricing it so low that even if they lose money, they'll still get you in the store to buy it from them. Their identity as money-savers is more important to them than the six cents a copy they lose on Harry Potter. Better to lost that money than to be undersold!
What the bookstores are hoping is that even if they can't match the Sam's Club price, you'll still buy it from them and then buy something else, too, while you're in the store. And I approve of THAT, too, since I have a new book out that is getting prominent display in at least a few stores, as people hope that HP buyers will also pick up Magic Street ...
Posted by eslaine (Member # 5433) on :
Good strategy.
Posted by JaimeBenlevy (Member # 6222) on :
"you'll still buy it from them and then buy something else, too" That definitely worked, Borders was packed and alot of them weren't even online for the Harry Potter book. Even I took advantage of the 25% off every book sale and bought a different book.
Posted by Alucard... (Member # 4924) on :
We received one case of 10 copies, and sold them all this morning at $19.98. I got to keep the box they came in, which is this ultra-cool white cardboard box with sinister green print that says stuff like like the title and street date: 7/16/2005. Do not open until!!!
Very cool. I bet I could sell the box on eBay even!!!!!...
Posted by Ron Lambert (Member # 2872) on :
I put in my hold order at the public library--I am 13th in the holds queue, and it will be delivered to the library closest to me for pickup. (My library is a big city library, part of a library co-op that includes about fifty libraries) and they ordered dozens of copies.) I may not be among the first to read it, but it isn't costing me a penny, either. This gives me time to re-read The Order of the Phoenix at my leisure.
Posted by Eduardo_Sauron (Member # 5827) on :
I already have it! And I'm in Brazil! Such is the Potter Power! :-)
Posted by Boris (Member # 6935) on :
Yeah. I was amazed to find out that even with the 800 copies of HP that the Walmart here ordered, the store made a total of $150 before extra costs. It made me laugh a good bit.
Posted by sarcasticmuppet (Member # 5035) on :
I got the very first one off the palate at Sam's Club. Just like OotP. I finished it it about an hour ago. It's so good.
By the way, Mr. Card--are you going to review HBP? I think I remember being disappointed that I never saw your take on OotP.
Posted by MidnightBlue (Member # 6146) on :
I went to Stop and Shop at midnight for mine. There were people there buying groceries. Groceries. I don't mean like, while they were waiting for the Harry Potter line to get shorter. They got their food, paid for it, and left. I got my book. Very pretty book. I love my book.
Posted by Theaca (Member # 8325) on :
Midnight is always the best time to go shopping for groceries because the lines are short and you can move the cart around without so many annoying traffic jams. Three in the morning is even better, but midnight is good.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
My 14 year old has been grumbing that it's not fair that the book is going on sale on Shabbos, and he had to wait until after the Sabbath is over to be able to get his copy. But then again, his school friends are all in the same boat, so it's not as if they will have read it before he got a crack at it. So I tried to treat it as a life lesson "Things don't always fall your way. Get over it."
My sympathy underwhelmed him.
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
quote:Originally posted by MidnightBlue: I went to Stop and Shop at midnight for mine. There were people there buying groceries. Groceries. I don't mean like, while they were waiting for the Harry Potter line to get shorter. They got their food, paid for it, and left. I got my book. Very pretty book. I love my book.
I got my book from Stop and Shop too. and ordered it from Amazon and got it today. If anyone wants to buy a completely unused half blood prince...
Posted by Carrie (Member # 394) on :
I was the first person in the Barnes & Noble to get a copy last night. Hooray for not pre-ordering! Apparently the clocks are faster in the Music section instead of at the front registers Posted by Valentine014 (Member # 5981) on :
quote:Apparently the clocks are faster in the Music section instead of at the front registers
There's no way that would've happened at the B&N I went to, there was a countdown...
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Mine is *checks USPS* at some Los Angeles post office, looks like.
*waits impatiently*
Posted by The Pixiest (Member # 1863) on :
got mine in the US mail. It was good. Still soaking it in though.
Posted by Theaca (Member # 8325) on :
You know, Syn... I've always been told that if the mailman brings something and you don't want it, you can write refused on it and it gets sent back to the sender for free. Once you accepted it, or signed for it, or opened it you are out of luck, though.
I can't figure out why you bought it the second time at the store. Was it worth $20 to get it 16 hours earlier? I just can't comprehend that.
Posted by Goody Scrivener (Member # 6742) on :
quote:Originally posted by Orson Scott Card: What the bookstores are hoping is that even if they can't match the Sam's Club price, you'll still buy it from them and then buy something else, too, while you're in the store. And I approve of THAT, too, since I have a new book out that is getting prominent display in at least a few stores, as people hope that HP buyers will also pick up Magic Street ...
Heh, we walked out of our Waldenbooks with three very heavy bags...Just under a hundred dollars and the only hardbound in the bunch was HP6. Sorry, Scott, I completely forgot about Magic Street till I got home.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Silly Goody. It's a great book.
*ignores all the HP spoiler thread and goes to find the Magic Street spoiler threads*
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Huh. Amazon is giving me back $1 because they have lowered their price on HP6.
Weird. But I'm certainly not complaining!
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
dkw, Enigmatic, KrabbyPatty and Posable_Nurse and I were on hand at our friends' bookstore for their release party. They probably did their best day's business since opening three months ago. The little kids had a good time, I think. It was fun all around.
<waits impatiently for pictures>
I was Hagrid.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
quote:Was it worth $20 to get it 16 hours earlier? I just can't comprehend that.
I took my kid to buy his copy at the Wal-Mart this morning. They had plenty of copies selling at $15 and change.
I get to read it when he is done.
Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
I didn't go to the release party with the rest of the family, but KrabbyPatty said she's gonna be too busy to read this week so I can read her copy first if I go over to pick it up. Same as with the last three. So I'll probably go get it tomorrow after work.
Added: But I still wanna see the pictures!
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
[ July 18, 2005, 12:29 AM: Message edited by: KrabbyPatty ]
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
I particularly like how Black's eyes glow.
Posted by KrabbyPatty (Member # 7055) on :
Yes - I probably should have taken time to edit that photo a bit. I'm too embarrassed to say how long it took me just to get it online.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
It is a great pic, Bob was the perfect Hagrid....lol...
Posted by The Silverblue Sun (Member # 1630) on :
I have just finished the book, it has shaken me to tears. The sadness of knowing that even though God lives forever and always, those that are evil win battles against good honest loving people.
Posted by Katarain (Member # 6659) on :
I've never read a Harry Potter book and really have no urge to do so.
I'm the only one not on this bandwagon it seems...
-Katarain
Posted by Parsimony (Member # 8140) on :
::joins Katarain on the un-bandwagon side::
I have never been into Harry Potter. Once, out of boredom and curiosity, I read the second one while working in the fitting room at a TJ Maxx. I was quite unimpressed.
--ApostleRadio
Posted by Bokonon (Member # 480) on :
I won a t-shirt at the midnight "party" at the local bookstore.
-Bok
Posted by Blackthorne (Member # 8295) on :
I only bought one copy, even though my local "Super" Target bought at least 50k of them. At a loss of six cents a book...that's about...oh screw it.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
300,000 cents, or $3000. Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Nope, Katarain, you're not alone. I think I never even touched a Harry Potter book... And not gonna buy one, at least not in the near future. From where I'm standing they seem a little too childish for me. Posted by Ron Lambert (Member # 2872) on :
Some people just don't like fantasy. To each his own preferences. J.K. Rowling is a good writer and story teller, and for those who do not take it too seriously, the Harry Potter saga is entertaining.
Sure, the novels are about children, seen from the point of view of children. But that does not necessarily make them juvenile in the negative sense. Look at Orson Scott Card's novelet, Ender's Game, and the series of novels that sprang from it. The fact that the original story was written from a child's point of view did not prevent it from winning prestigious awards in the Science Fiction and Fantasy genre.
Posted by plaid (Member # 2393) on :
And some folks like fantasy but just don't like the HP books. I've got couple friends who read WAY more fantasy books than me... but for whatever reason, they just don't like the HP books.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
I think they are good, but not as good as a lot of things tha came before it, not when compared to the Prydian novels, teh Narnia, or TDIR series.
But I do like them, and her writing is getting better as they go, for the most part. They aren't as good as a lot of fantasy I read, but they are better than most.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
So I'll probably go get it tomorrow after work.![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Dont Know]](graemlins/dontknow.gif)