WHY I BOUGHT HARRY POTTER 7 FROM MY LOCAL BOOKSTORE

This from my author/publisher/friend Amy of Wozabooks.com in California. A story that will warm the hearts of independent booksellers everywhere, and others too.
Thank you Amy.


My Top Six Reasons for Buying Harry Potter 7 at My Local Bookstore

On July 21, 2007 at 12:01 AM, I paid the Mendocino Book Company in Ukiah,
California $37.70 for my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. While I
know this price puts the book out of reach for many low-income muggle families,
our family found a way to include it in our budget this month. Why?

Reason 1. The real magic of Harry Potter.

Trivia question: How many books were printed in the first printing of Harry
Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (then called “Philosopher’s Stone”)? Answer:
1,000. So how did people find out about it? Word of mouth. And who passed the
word? At first, independent booksellers. Then readers (mostly children) and soon
after librarians, teachers, parents, everyone; then the advertising mucky-mucks
got their paws on it. But it started with little local independent booksellers
saying “Psst, hey, little girl, read this.” Without them, who knows where Harry
would be today? That’s the real magic behind Harry’s catapult to international
fame. Although the mainstream literary industrial complex (B. Kingsolver’s term)
produces and promotes many good books, it also lets many good books fall through
the cracks. We have our local independent booksellers to thank for peering
between those cracks and picking those books up. These independents are literally
closing their doors every day because online and big box booksellers are pushing
them out of business. It is up to us to keep those doors open for them so that
they can keep the doors to a heap of good reading open for us. Our indie
bookstores put Harry on the map (and I don’t mean the Marauder’s Map) so we could
find him! Don’t you think the least we can do is give them our business?

Reason 2. What goes around comes around.

Frankly, I owe Ann Kilkenny (owner of Mendocino Book Co.). She hosted the
successful launch of my fantasy adventure The Call to Shakabaz in January. While
Barnes & Noble and Borders won’t so much as nod in my direction, small
independent bookstores here and there are discovering and hand selling my book
and helping get the word out. Booksellers like Stephanie Vela at Black Oak Books
in Berkeley (CA), Sharon Wright at Carol’s Books in Sacramento (CA), Bob Spear at
the Book Barn in Leavenworth (KS), Susan Sternberg at Alphabet Soup in
Lawrenceville (NJ), and St. Helens Bookshop (OR), are making a big difference in
my life as a first-time author, and in the lives of my young readers. I’m not a
purist. I do shop online. But I also make a conscious effort to buy at Mendocino
Book Co., especially something like HP7. It’s the least I can do to show my
appreciation to Ann and her staff. My survival and the survival of other new
authors like myself depends on her survival and the survival of other indies.

Reason 3. It’s about more than strawberries at the Farmer’s Market.

There’s a lot of talk about community and supporting community by buying local
products (also a factor in reducing global warming), but let’s put our money
where our mouth is. Our local bookstore owner is a member of our community. She
raised her children here. She sells cards and calendars made by local artists.
She provides the service of selling tickets for local dance, music, and theater
performances. She contributes to the local merchants’ association and she is part
of the local economy. Her modest earnings on our purchases do not go to a
corporate headquarters outsourced to the Philippines. Ann’s store doesn’t have an
upscale gourmet coffee bar, fancy pedestal tables, or pastries for sale; but the
store has couches, chairs, and a welcoming atmosphere. While raising my children,
I would often say “Meet me at the bookstore.” The staff knew each of them by name
and could suggest titles just for them. When we say it takes a village to raise a
child, we must remember that part of that village is the local bookstore. So what
better place to celebrate the publication of HP7? An online bookseller can’t
compete with the face-to-face, warm-and-human event of buying a great book in
person, or, furthermore, celebrating the launch of that book with friends and
acquaintances as part of a larger community. There is no substitute for the village.

Reason 4. Sharing the pie.

Apparently online booksellers will not make a profit on HP7 because of the rock
bottom price they have offered. If the online booksellers want to slit their
wrists on this one, let them, but you can be sure that someone is making a
profit. No matter what price the online booksellers offer, they still have to pay
the publisher a fixed amount per book based on the cover price. The publisher and
the author are making a profit. I don’t begrudge JK a penny of her millions. She
has earned it. If you have read her books then you are probably as confident as I
am that she will make good use of the money. But why are we begrudging our local
bookstores this sterling opportunity to turn a profit? What other business would
you prefer to support? We have a win-win situation here. The consumer gets a
terrific product while stimulating the local economy. What’s not to like about
it? My only complaint is that the cover price is so high that low-income families
can’t afford the book.

Reason 5. Keeping a promise.

I have not heard of a single independent bookstore that leaked one word of HP7
before the street date. In fact, it seems the only leak in the world occurred
through Deep Discount, an American online seller. I find it hard to believe that
there are those who so desperately need to feel like a know-it-all that they
sought and released the book or information about the book before the launch
date. In the entire world, this happened only in the U.S. What does that say
about our ability to delay gratification? (Shame on the newspapers who cashed in
on the leak and printed advance reviews.) At midnight in Ukiah, people of all
ages, Republicans and Democrats, children of every ethnicity and many religions
(and speaking in more than one language) joined our counterparts throughout the
Pacific time zone as we gleefully counted down together for the witching moment
when the sealed boxes could be slit open. You know-it-alls missed out on that
magic. I honor all the local bookstores, big and small, for keeping a promise and
ensuring that those boxes remained sealed until the contractually agreed-upon time.

Reason 6. Sheer delight.

What fun to participate in the book launch celebration! I spent hours in the
company of our small community’s beautiful children while they celebrated the
publication of a book. Our children, many dressed in costumes or with painted
faces, talked heatedly about books with each other and adults, ate the abundant
treats provided (many with Harry themes), played games at tables, watched Harry
Potter and the Goblet of Fire, skateboarded in front of the store, entered
contests to win prizes by answering HP-related quiz questions and coloring
HP-related pictures, played word games, and filled in word puzzles. Does it get
any better than this? July 21 should be declared International Reading Day in
honor of the brilliant imagination of one woman in Edinburgh and her ability to
unite the world for a weekend of peaceful reading. Now there’s magic for you.

In among the crowd of children at our bookstore, I saw one particular child whose
presence lifted my heart. Let’s call her Sylvia. Last winter, my 15-year-old son
told me that Sylvia (also 15) had been diagnosed with cancer and had only a few
weeks to live. This news broke my heart, even though I have never spoken to
Sylvia or her family. I have watched many children, such as Sylvia, grow up from
a distance. I have seen her sing, dance, and act in local children’s performances
produced by a performing arts school in town ever since she was four years old.

She is the only child of back-to-the-land hippies who spend most of their time on
an isolated sheep ranch. I find the thought of these gentle, shy parents losing
their only child devastating.
But I saw Sylvia at the bookstore. Thin and frail, with a black and red scarf
hiding her bald head, she spoke quietly with friends who asked how she was doing
and sat down with her to hear her tell them and listened and cared. These
children were not afraid to face her or her struggle and to lend their support.
When I left the bookstore at 12:20, I was elated not only because I had in my
hands the final installment of Harry Potter, but also because Sylvia is still
alive. I imagine her curled up in bed, reading. Perhaps JK’s complex and deeply
felt thoughts on death will comfort and assist her on her difficult journey.

Whether or not she wins her battle with cancer (and I hope with all the hope in
my heart that she will win), I am grateful that she stayed with us long enough to
find out how Harry ends. I could not have bought the knowledge that Sylvia is
still alive to read HP7 at an online bookseller. It is part of that community
thing. The village. All my reasons aside, just the image of Sylvia reading HP7
all the way to the very last secret revealed was worth the $37.70 I paid for the
book at my local, terrific, independent, community bookstore.

"Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that
mean that it is not real?" --JK Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows