Writer. Contributing Editor at The Discarded Image. Digital Content Strategist. Here's where I publicly explore the books I'm reading, the projects I'm working on, and other current interests. Harry Potter and the Publishing Fiasco
I’m not a Harry Potter fan, but I have been following the flap over bookstores who shipped the final installment prior to tomorrow’s release date. The New York Times reports that Rowling’s publisher, Scholastic, is suing one bookstore and its distributor for contract violation. CNN reports that some customers who received the early shipments are trying to make a buck (or 300!) by reselling them on eBay, and have also posted what they claim to be the actual text online. The book has been #1 on all the sales lists for weeks—prior to publication!
All this prompts me to ask a few questions. What’s your opinion?
1) Does an author or publisher have the right to keep a story secret until the release date? Put another way, where should the line be drawn between intellectual property rights and public following (which the public might see as community ownership)?
2) Is it morally acceptable for a customer who received an early shipment to profit from the bookstore’s mistake?
3) Does the accidental or intentional early release of such a story hurt or hinder book sales? Are you more or less likely to purchase the book if you already know how it ends?
4) Why is there no similar buzz about what happens in my next History Lives book? I mean, the security guys I hired to guard the manuscript are totally bored, people! Don’t you want to be the first to make a few hundred on eBay?
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