But on my shortlist of Fantasy authors I think deserve to be making a few million (at least) for their talents, there are others I would have placed before her. But that’s just subjective, innit? 😀

And it is wonderful.

And the thing is, the big chainy types won’t carry the backlist for ever. The Next Big Thing will come along in some form, and then the books will be available in the bookshops, and it’ll all settle down.

I don’t think you can blame the supermarket types for wanting to take advantage of the mania. And I speak as a former bookseller who was a victim of similar things when I had my shop. Maybe you can blame the publisher for offering such advantageous deals to the supermarket types. If they weren’t prepared to offer such massive discounts … and not offer the same playing field to the smaller book chains and independents.

And thank you so much for your lovely words on RK and me! *g* Possibly the reason you kept on thinking about it is because I still haven’t nailed it properly. Bring on the rewrite!

My positive note for Harry Potter books is that they were what got my nephew reading, in his early teens. He has a mild dyslexia, like my sister, and once he started reading his English comprehension at school advanced dramatically. True, that could have come from his reading any well-written books, but even so.

The marketing of the last HP book is an unexpected move. I remember when they first started releasing the HP books as hardcover only (round about book 4 or 5) I was disgusted by the mercantile greed, as Potter mania was in full swing and they had millions of parents over a barrel forking out extra bucks for a hardcover to keep their children happy. And now, with the last ever Potter book, the publishers (or distributors) seem to be rushing to flog it off quick and cheap, as though tomorrow it’ll be out of fashion – which of course it very well may be. One wonders whether they are trying to compensate readers for all the megabucks they squeezed by extortion for the previous volumes; or whether La Rowling has just made enough money now that she’s turned extravagant philanthropist.

What puzzles me more is why the publishers would agree to the hugely cut-price supermarket sales (happening here too) when it will most likely have a detrimental effect on their future relationship with bookstores and the trade. You don’t live down that kind of business back-stab in a hurry. And then the other authors on the publishers’ list will suffer.

They could even have lowered the price a bit, not to the loss-making level of the Hypermarkets, but to something more attractive, on the same assumption of the Hypermarkets – bring people in and they will buy something else.

As a struggling author, I do tend to watch with concern any problems that bookstores have, though.