It's a simple question,
Why was the Harry Potter series so successful?
I mean, it didn't add anything new to the genre, and there are a lot of other better series, with better character development and what-not.
I'm not saying its bad, but what makes an almost average book so popular?
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Anonymous2007-02-14 20:18
shut the fuck up nigger
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Anonymous2007-02-19 19:27
Standardized reading in middle school.
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Anonymous2007-02-19 20:18
Because it's fun.
...although that still doesn't explain the success part.
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Anonymous2007-02-20 0:11
>>4
Yeah it does. If a book is entertaining people will read it.
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Anonymous2007-02-20 0:24
>>5
Yeah, but there are a lot of entertaining books out there that nobody has heard of.
Marketing muscle helps, I guess. Someone high up in the publisher of Harry Potter decided to push it.
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Anonymous2007-02-20 2:09
>>6
this is the reason. there's nothing particularly good about harry potter books. it's all just hype and marketing. there are literally tons of better, funnier and in general more entertaining books out there. they just haven't been pimped as much as hp has.
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Anonymous2007-02-20 11:24
Probably yeah. Managing to get a Harry Potter wave born, and then a bunch of bandwagoners will read the book because others did or others just generally out of curiousity, because it's been heard so much. I remember hearing about it my final year of 9th grade in English class, about these books that had suddenly "got kids reading" ... and nobody here knew about it. One or two years later it's all people are talking about, and then movies come out, etc.
We're on the other side of the product life cycle curve now, though, I hope.
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Anonymous2007-02-21 16:19 ID:OlVTVNYW
was it even advertised that much when it first came out?
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Anonymous2007-02-22 13:48 ID:hLj7DiVr
>>9
No. The book sold poorly for some time after release. It was only because it was initially sucessful that the marketting push followed. Quite frankly it is because it meets a certain writing standard that anyone has even heard of it. Unlike the FOX network most publishers do not push books by first time authors for no good reason.
There's always going to be something better than whats popular out there. And there's always going to be a group of people who do not like the popular thing for whatever reason. The fact is the Harry Potter series appealled to a broad enough group of readers that it sells well, and continues to sell well, contrary to popular belief you really cant sell crap just by pushing it hard, it doesn't continue to sell and requires unfeasible investments especially for publishing houses who dont run on the highest margins.
Another thing being that the Harry Potter movies and associated wave of extraneous products came considerably after the books became popular, given that theyre not exactly a challenging read for the most illiterate of people i should hope the vast majority of its popularity comes from the books not the movies.
Is it important why it's so successful? Could it be that it's a kids/teenage story, a segment that really has the ability to manipulate their parents, which means the parents get into reading it too making it essentially a cluster bomb? Do we see as many other books that are 'as accessible' as those are, the Da Vinci Code and Harry Potter? No. This is a book that newbie readers can pick up and enjoy. And get hooked on, because it's so simple and sequential somewhat in broad composition. This is not the Lord of the Rings with page after page after page after pa.... or some complex thinking and existensialist mish mash.
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Anonymous2007-03-04 19:36 ID:bHWHt2s5
I'd have to say that it's biggest help is it's accessibility. Sure there are better things, but they weren't as easy to read and the characters didn't seem to age with the readers (Though I'm still waiting to read something about Harry or Ron having wet dreams or Hermione getting her period, I mean, Judy Blum wrote about periods, and her stuff was for fourth graders. At least, I think it was Judy Blum who wrote that book about the girl getting her period.) Basically, it was just a little luck - or if I wanna be cheesy, magic. Also most books that so much as use the word "Magic" seem to be poorly written DnD trash, or at least, in my experience. There's always Eragon, I mean, sure it follows the Hero's journey so closely that it's practically the Bastard Child of LotR and Star Wars...
Oh well, any book that reaches the masses is good to me, the world needs more books that can become water cooler talk.
Also, Da Vinci Code: 'cause Jesus was a pimp, that's why. He was all: "yo Marry, I'm like, God's son and shit, lets have sex." and she was all "Damn Jesus, you're so fine." and then he was like "Hey baby, you know what they say, 'Go forth and multiply." and the rest was history.
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Anonymous2007-03-08 13:51 ID:TXmNt73A
>>10 contrary to popular belief you really cant sell crap just by pushing it hard
Eragon would like to disagree with you
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Anonymous2007-03-08 19:57 ID:MUe+iIcO
Judy Blume rox, i liked her books better than harry potter
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Anonymous2007-03-08 21:41 ID:EuNLcWKk
I just want to know why it is so BAD.
SNAPE KILLS DUMBLEDORE!
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Anonymous2007-03-08 21:59 ID:cJ8BoCKW
What I'm still curious about is why Fundies see Harry Potter as bad and Lord of the Rings as good. Is the the underlying Christian themes in the latter? If Harry Potter was heavily influenced by Christianity, would it be considered less evil?
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Anonymous2007-03-09 14:55 ID:gYcisjBC
>>15
Eragon hasn't sold brilliantly and has been pushed very very hard indeed, from the very begining.
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Anonymous2007-03-09 15:54 ID:7u043gIc
>>18
If you really get into it, the Harry Potter series is heavily influenced by Christianity as well.
Harry Potter is the saviour son, he's performed many 'miracles' - feats that he should not be able to accomplish, even with wizardry. He is the child of one magical being, and one mortal, etc...
Lord Voldemort is a brilliant wizard himself who fell from grace and became the evil being that he is.
The golden son and the dark prince have to meet in a final battle that will determine the fate of all other beings. The all enduring fight of good against evil.
I'm sure you'd find a lot more underlying themes if you really sat down and thought about it.
>>21
Yes I have.
Have you?
What facettes are you saying are wrong?
>Harry Potter is the saviour son, he's performed many 'miracles' - feats that he should not be able to accomplish, even with wizardry. He is the child of one magical being, and one mortal, etc..
Harry Potter's mother is from a muggle family, and his father is from a Wizarding family. Harry's first 'miracle' was surviving the murder of his parents. In every book he accomplishes some feat that a wizard of his age shouldn't be able to do.
>Lord Voldemort is a brilliant wizard himself who fell from grace and became the evil being that he is.
Voldemort was an excellent student while he was at Hogwarts, until he turned bad and 'fell from grace'.
>The golden son and the dark prince have to meet in a final battle that will determine the fate of all other beings. The all enduring fight of good against evil.
"golden son" being Harry Potter - the entire wizarding world loves him. "dark prince' - Voldemort.
They will fight, and the outcome of it will determine the fate of the world. If Voldemort wins, evil will reign supreme. If Harry wins, the death eaters will back down and Voldemort will be dead or incapacitated.
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Anonymous2007-03-13 4:34 ID:khwFSJAA
>>22
>Harry Potter's mother is from a muggle family, and his father is from a Wizarding family. Harry's first 'miracle' was surviving the murder of his parents. In every book he accomplishes some feat that a wizard of his age shouldn't be able to do.
that doesn't mean it's a jesus parrallel
>Voldemort was an excellent student while he was at Hogwarts, until he turned bad and 'fell from grace'.
voldemort was rotten before he even came to hogwarts, it goes into this very heavily in half-blood prince (hence me wondering if you even know what you're talking about)
>
"golden son" being Harry Potter - the entire wizarding world loves him. "dark prince' - Voldemort.
They will fight, and the outcome of it will determine the fate of the world. If Voldemort wins, evil will reign supreme. If Harry wins, the death eaters will back down and Voldemort will be dead or incapacitated.
again, you're really grasping for straws here. you could probably find similarities in fucking 300 or something.
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Anonymous2007-03-13 5:21 ID:lNBxFrkW
>>contrary to popular belief you really cant sell crap just by pushing it hard
All Gandalf's magic has it's source in a being that is based on the Judeo-Christian God.
And he only ever uses it in dire situations as part of a grand plan to help men vanquish a powerful minion of a being that is based on the Devil.
Magic is okay as long as you say it comes from God and liken it to miracles (though in the Elves' case it was more akin to art and technology).
Otherwise, fundies will assume it has it's source in the Devil.
Rowling is REALLY GOOD at writing easy-to-read prose. I don't mean good prose, I don't mean complex or realistic or beautiful prose, I mean goes-down-fast prose. Harry Potter is the equivalent of cotton candy. You can eat a ton of it no problem.
All she really did was write a potboiler-level fantasy novel that people found really EASY to read, while just "hard" enough that they didn't feel too guilty reading something for children.
Gripphook whipped the small billyclub over his head and down, cracking Hermoine's forhead. He then set his beedy eyes on her shins. He licked his sore-infested lips and held onto a chair leg and squatted, taking a putrid crap which spackled into the tattered seat of his pants.
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Anonymous2007-10-14 3:51
Ron entered the room and drew his wand on Griphook. It was already too late. The goblin disappeared in a puff of brown smoke. Ron remembered his father telling him of a powerful goblin hex in which a female wizard is used as a host. The goblin implants itself in the females uterus, biding it's time until the umbilicle cord is severed.
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Anonymous2007-10-15 20:56
they put across a new idea something not often seen
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Anonymous2007-10-16 1:48
They indeed did put across a new idea. The beautiful notion that a ragtag group of Death Eaters can successfully capture a Pumkin Patch Daycare center and perform butt gapes on every wizarding couple's infant child. Lucious Malfoy himself hexed his gnarled chode with the forbidden curse, trastifficus toephallus, which gave his meat extra girth as well as smelling like sweaty foot soaked in vinegar and Cheetos.