Hail Harry -- Independents Revel in the Release of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Booksellers all knew it would be big, but no one really knew just how big…. By sunset on June 21, the longest day of the calendar year, over five million copies of the longest book most people will ever read were sold around the country. Kids who previously needed naps after 10 pages of The Red Badge of Courage, stayed up through the night to finish the 870-page Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Evidence of the book's arrival was found on the local and national news in all media, at supermarkets, shopping clubs, health food stores, and, most of all, bookstores. Large or small, bookstores around the nation were inundated with customers wanting their Potter fix.

Although the book was for sale in virtually every bookstore in the country, many of the most creative and best-attended events were found at locally owned independent stores.

Independents were able to draw on their past experiences with appealing promotional events and on their established ties with their communities, local businesses, schools, and libraries.

The excitement surrounding the Order of the Phoenix release has prompted comments from a wide-range of ABA-member booksellers, including numerous postings on the booksellers-only General Forum at the Idea Exchange on www.BookWeb.org, some of which are reprinted here.

Susan Danner of Danner's Books & Coffee Shop in Muncie, Indiana, told BTW that the success of the event surpassed "anything we had ever dreamed possible." The store's midnight party, which was attended by 1,000 people and was included in reports by the Associated Press, USA Today, and Indianapolis television news, was the result of the creative skills of the staff, and the "dedication, commitment, and loyalty of the staff and customer volunteers. About 20 customers helped with the party Friday night; one staff person's husband used two vacation days to help get ready."

All night Harry campout on the village green in Craftsbury Common, Vermont, across from Galaxy Books' satellite store, Stardust Books. (See more photos below.)

The small community of Craftsbury Common, Vermont, was closely involved with the release of Order of the Phoenix by Galaxy Books at its satellite store, Stardust Books. The town's Select Board approved camping on the village green for the night of June 20. Families, with hardcore and nouveau fans alike, set up tents on the green awaiting the midnight release at the store. The festivities started at 6:00 p.m. when Linda Ramsdell, owner of Galaxy Books and its satellite, joined forces with an after-school enrichment program, to offer a roller-blading party followed by a barbecue. As midnight approached, the store staff roused some of the sleeping campers, with varying success. Ramsdell told BTW that about 50 people crammed into the tiny store and purchased 40 books. Galaxy Books in Hardwick opened at 6:00 a.m. and sold out all 150 copies by noon.

The city of St. Joseph, Michigan, gave Forever Books permission to close the brick street in front of its downtown storefront, one block from the Lake Michigan shore, owner Robin Allen wrote in her posting. "Over 600 people in our community of 15,000 attended, most dressed in costume…. At midnight, Harry and Ron Weasley arrived in front of the store, driving the Weasley car, stuck full of branches from the Whomping Willow tree. The trunk and doors were opened and over 200 prepaid books were distributed in 12 minutes. We sold another 200 that evening and closed at 1:00 a.m. after the last customer left. As of Monday morning, we've sold over 600 copies at full price from our 1,500-square-foot store. We've received e-mails from strangers who promised to buy all their books from us from now on! We were thrilled!"

At A World of Books, in San Leandro, California, owner Barbara Keenan had not seen anything comparable in her 20 years at the store. She was thrilled with the sales of the book, but even happier at any event that "brought parents and children together at midnight to watch the kids play. Everyone was decorating wands, adults too. It was just fun. A lot of parents came dressed up. One hundred kids come to the store on Sundays and play different strategy games here, but I've never seen their parents."

Keenan told BTW that residents had their choice of chain bookstores in the area, but hundreds of people lined up outside the store starting at 8:00 p.m. on Friday and again at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday. "We work with the schools and with the community and it all came together," Keenan said. "We sold 500 copies of the book at full price but we had the party and gave out cake, punch, and all kinds of Harry Potter collectible cards, buttons. People were very happy. It was like Christmas in June, I was thrilled."

An article in the San Francisco Chronicle echoed Keenan's experience with families and the Potter series. "If nothing else, many said, the Potter series has encouraged parents and kids to read and discuss books together. Cody's marketing director Melissa Mytinger said the store has doubled the number of young adult books sold in the past four years -- a phenomenon she attributed to the Potter books," as reported in the June 22 article.

The same article mentioned several Bay area independent bookstores where hundreds upon hundreds of children and adults were entertained with a remarkable array of magic acts, light shows, book-related snacks, and craft projects while waiting for the clock to strike midnight. The Chronicle quoted one bookseller at A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books in San Francisco as saying, "When they line up for the book, it will be like the last helicopter out of Saigon."

"What everyone seems to have missed is that the Harry Potter market has no age when it comes to the books," e-mailed Mary Alice Gorman, owner, with husband Richard Gorman, of Mystery Lovers Bookshops in Oakmont, Pennsylvania. As others reported, the age range among children spanned those who needed the book read to them, to those who were able to drive themselves to the midnight events. Many adults of all ages were spotted at parties around the country, with no children, purchasing the book for themselves.

In the small town of Califon, New Jersey, which Lorilee Buzby, owner of Califon Book Shop, describes as "a very small town (population 1,200) and virtually crime-free," the desire for a copy of Order of the Phoenix drove someone to burglarize the store. Someone broke into the store and stole four copies of Order of the Phoenix and one of the Harry Potter baseball hats supplied by Scholastic, Buzby reported on June 20. As the police were investigating, Buzby said, "People have been wonderful. Scholastic is shipping me free copies to replace the stolen books," and she also received support from fellow booksellers at Womrath's Bookstore in Tenafly and Romo Books in Far Hills, New Jersey, and from her sales rep, Mark Levine, at Baker and Taylor. All "very nice gestures," Buzby said.

The store received media coverage from as far away as Philadelphia.

"My Harry Potter party was a huge success and thanks to some thoughtful people I've been able to fill all my orders. The little damage that was done (air conditioner and storm windows) will be repaired or replaced, and hopefully the police will find out who broke into my store," Buzby concluded.

All booksellers contacted have been delighted with the execution of their ambitious plans. Not one regretted the effort and expense required to produce the parties, from elaborate to modest. Most stores sold far more books than they anticipated and would increase their orders next time. Some felt great satisfaction having enough books to sell when the chain stores ran out. From Cook Inlet Books in Anchorage, Alaska, co-owner Lynn Dixon posted, "The big box [stores] were so jammed on Friday night, people left and came to us. We now have about the only copies left in town, and the tourists keep coming."

The Scholastic Book Fair certificates posed problems for some stores that had run out of books by the time some certificate holders showed up. "I guess they overlooked the 'subject to availability' statement on their certificate," wrote Scott Yanke of Scott's Books in Delano, Minnesota, in a posting. Gorman of Mystery Lovers Bookshop mentioned the "confused and disappointed" Scholastic certificate holders in her posting. But, she wrote, "they calmed down when they sipped butterbeer and ate pretzel wands."

Dixon had more positive experiences with Book Fair customers. "We've had many certificates redeemed and most of those customers bought something else…and were very appreciative of the fact that we were redeeming the coupons and actually had books," she said.

Most reporting booksellers described well-planned, unforgettable, nearly magical, experiences for children and adults. No child attending a midnight release party will ever recall the price of the book, but will always remember the party at the bookstore where they saw the live owls, a remarkable Hagrid-look-alike, or won a chocolate frog for first place in a trivia contest. --Nomi Schwartz

Fans Awaiting the Midnight Release
Outside Grass Roots Books & Music, Corvallis, Oregon.	Outside Stardust Books (satellite store of the Galaxy Bookshop), Craftsbury Common, Vermont.
Outside Pickwick Book Shop, Nyack, New York.
Costumes Aplenty!
Staff "dressed to sell" at The Open Book, Westhampton Beach, New York.	Flourish & Blotts arrive for the evening at Galaxy Bookshop in Hardwick, Vermont.
Winner of Capitol Books(Montgomery, Alabama) costume contest.	Galaxy Bookshop owner Linda Ramsdell and fan.
Hagrid arrives at Galaxy Bookshop.	Mother and child dressed for a purchase at Capitol Books.
At Last!
Fans jam the Pickwick Book Shop.
Worth the Wait