# Early release of HP7, big deal! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 19, 2007, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-release-of-hp7-big-deal/412378 "2007-07-19T13:44:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-release-of-hp7-big-deal/412378/1 "2007-07-19T13:44:48Z")
Seriously folks, this whole media circus about people getting their hands on Harry Potter 7 books a few days before it’s release and how it’s an outrage has got to stop. Does it really matter? Does anyone really care? What is the big deal? So the official release date is 7/21, okay, that’s when the masses can expect to get their hands on it easily. Does it really matter that a few folks might get theirs a few days early? Why would publishers even be angry? Shouldn’t their reaction be “yeah, so, it’s a fictional book, who cares?” Go after them legally? Why? Is there some sort of race to see who can read the thing first that I don’t know about? ---
**Author:** ![yellowval](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/919ad9/32.png) [@yellowval](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowval)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-release-of-hp7-big-deal/412378/2 "2007-07-19T13:50:40Z")
I, for one, am just thankful that this is the last book in the series so I never have to hear about the latest Harry Potter craze again. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-release-of-hp7-big-deal/412378/3 "2007-07-19T13:53:41Z")
I tend to agree. I will buy the book and I look forward to reading it, but it does not matter to me if I buy it Sunday or in 2 weeks. Despite the protests, I am sure the publishers love all this extra free publicity. It will generate extra sales and extra sales of the first 6 books. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-release-of-hp7-big-deal/412378/4 "2007-07-19T13:53:45Z")
I am a devout reader of Harry Potter and I actually feel the same way as **yellowval**! Let’s just get it over with. And I have no problem with people acquiring books early provided they don’t just plaster spoilers everywhere all over the Internet. All that being said, I certainly do understand the excitement of a bunch of people getting the book all at the same time and reading it all the same time. I actually probably could wait a week or two to buy/read it but it _is_ the conclusion and I don’t want to accidentally be spoiled by some inconsiderate fool. As it is I’m not even sure if I will be buying it Saturday, but sometime this weekend probably. Almost done guys. Thanks for bearing with us and it’s just a little bit longer! ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-release-of-hp7-big-deal/412378/5 "2007-07-19T13:56:44Z")
I’d be more pleased to know that this is the last HP book, if I could believe that the media won’t find some other book, movie, or DVD to go wild over next year. As it is, I just can’t get excited about Harry being in the news - it’s a slow news season, if it weren’t him it would be Royals, or more about Lindsay Lohan, or Paris Hilton… _yawn_ Wake me for the three minutes of real news, please. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-release-of-hp7-big-deal/412378/6 "2007-07-19T14:13:04Z")
I want the hype to be over with already too, but I put more blame on the p.r. departments. The hype is publicity stunts that the media falls for. It is a chicken and egg thing. Who’s at fault: the p.r. department for the hype, or the media for falling for it? Last week the Iphone, this week Harry Potter, next week some other damn thing. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-release-of-hp7-big-deal/412378/7 "2007-07-19T14:23:06Z")
[QUOTE=zamboniracer] I want the hype to be over with already too, but I put more blame on the p.r. departments. The hype is publicity stunts that the media falls for. It is a chicken and egg thing. Who’s at fault: the p.r. department for the hype, or the media for falling for it? Last week the Iphone, this week Harry Potter, next week some other damn thing. [/QUOTE] I’m quite impressed with the PR on this one, especially having the HP 5 movie open just 10 days before the HP 7 book release. But most of the hype is icing on the cake. When you’ve got tens of millions of people who’ve read the first six books, and are waiting with bated breath to get their hands on the seventh, how much hype do you need? ---
**Author:** ![catsix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@catsix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catsix)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-release-of-hp7-big-deal/412378/8 "2007-07-19T14:29:05Z")
Yeah really. I’ve been waiting for this book since about … two days after the release of _Half Blood Prince_. I’ve managed to avoid the spoilers (thankfully), and am hoping not to have this one spoiled for me as I stand in line, book in hand, the day it comes out. Because that’s what happened with _Half Blood Prince_. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-release-of-hp7-big-deal/412378/9 "2007-07-19T14:42:39Z")
Hi. 🙂 My name is Lib, and I’ve never read a Harry Potter book. ---
**Author:** ![Elza\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Elza\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elza_B)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-release-of-hp7-big-deal/412378/10 "2007-07-19T14:46:52Z")
[QUOTE=Liberal] Hi. 🙂 My name is Lib, and I’ve never read a Harry Potter book. [/QUOTE] Is this the new “I don’t own a television?” :dubious: . Good God. Some of us enjoy Harry Potter. I’m looking forward to the last book, and I will be staying up to read it after we pick up our copy at midnight (actually, I plan to sleep beforehand, mainly because I can’t stay up past 10 most nights anyway). I don’t want to be told what happens. I want to read it for myself. I don’t care if people get it early, I just don’t want to be spoiled. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-release-of-hp7-big-deal/412378/11 "2007-07-19T14:47:45Z")
[QUOTE=zamboniracer] Who’s at fault: the p.r. department for the hype, or the media for falling for it? [/QUOTE] The media. The PR people are doing precisely what they are paid to do. Their job is to get the book in the media and in the public eye. The media, on the other hand, should not be mere PR people who pass on the latest press release or thinly-veiled corporate advertisement as if it were news. While they might often be hard to distinguish from PR flacks, the news media still likes to claim that they subscribes to journalistic values and ethics, and i think we should hold them to the claim. [QUOTE=Liberal] Hi. 🙂 My name is Lib, and I’ve never read a Harry Potter book. [/QUOTE] Me neither. Maybe we can start a club. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-release-of-hp7-big-deal/412378/12 "2007-07-19T14:55:59Z")
[QUOTE=mhendo] Me neither. Maybe we can start a club. [/QUOTE] Great idea! **Silver Members** : Never read any of the books **Gold Members** : Never read any of the books and never saw any of the movies **Platinum Members** : Never read any of the books, never saw any of the movies, and never opened a Cafe Society thread about Harry Potter **Tritium[sup]1[/sup] Members**: Never read any of the books, never saw any of the movies, never opened a Cafe Society thread about Harry Potter, and thought this thread was about Hewlett Packard. [sup]1[/sup]The price of Tritium is about $30 thousand per gram. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-release-of-hp7-big-deal/412378/13 "2007-07-19T15:01:23Z")
[QUOTE=mhendo] The media. [/quote] The people! The media wouldn’t run the stories about HP coming out if people didn’t tune into the stories. Even at New York Times, the “most searched term” is “harry potter” and the 4th most emailed story is the Harry Potter review (following a summer recipe list, a fitness article, and a travel article). The 9th most emailed is “Chronic Fatigue No Longer Seen as ‘Yuppie Flu’”. Yeah, what yuppie propagandist wrote that? > [@](#): > > Me neither. Maybe we can start a club. I read one, but I didn’t inhale. Can I join? ---
**Author:** ![T\_SQUARE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9de053/32.png) [@T\_SQUARE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T_SQUARE)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-release-of-hp7-big-deal/412378/14 "2007-07-19T15:04:49Z")
Well, it makes sense for the publishers to at least threaten legal action. Otherwise, it will seem to retailers that there isn’t much consequence for selling any future products early. Pretty soon, release dates are meaningless. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-release-of-hp7-big-deal/412378/15 "2007-07-19T15:11:08Z")
It’s an experience that everyone can either enjoy, or pass up if they’re not interested. For those who want to enjoy it, a huge part of the fun is the suspense. Ruining the suspense ruins the experience, and for no good reason. Usually when experiences are shared, they’re negative. This is a positive. Why spoil it? ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-release-of-hp7-big-deal/412378/16 "2007-07-19T15:12:20Z")
[QUOTE=Liberal] Great idea! **Silver Members** : Never read any of the books **Gold Members** : Never read any of the books and never saw any of the movies **Platinum Members** : Never read any of the books, never saw any of the movies, and never opened a Cafe Society thread about Harry Potter **Tritium[sup]1[/sup] Members**: Never read any of the books, never saw any of the movies, never opened a Cafe Society thread about Harry Potter, and thought this thread was about Hewlett Packard. [sup]1[/sup]The price of Tritium is about $30 thousand per gram. [/QUOTE] Well, right now i qualify for Gold Membership, as my participation in this thread obviously precludes me from higher honors. But i’m so close to Tritium membership, because i _did_ actually think the HP stood for Hewlett Packard before opening this thread. I did, however, buy myself one of [these t-shirts](http://www.threadless.com/product/844/Spoilt) this week, which gives away a key Harry Potter plot development (WARNING: link contains spoilers of various movies). **Trunk** , i get what you’re saying, but i also have a sort of prescriptive attitude regarding the news media, one that places on their shoulders some responsibility for running stories that have some actual news value, not just stories that [del]morons[/del] people will watch. Sure, that’s an elitist and antidemocratic sentiment, and i sort of feel bad for having it. Sue me. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-release-of-hp7-big-deal/412378/17 "2007-07-19T15:18:51Z")
[QUOTE=mhendo] Well, right now i qualify for Gold Membership, as my participation in this thread obviously precludes me from higher honors. But i’m so close to Tritium membership, because i _did_ actually think the HP stood for Hewlett Packard before opening this thread. [/QUOTE] You’re Tritium. This thread isn’t in Cafe Society, so you did qualify past Gold. (Besides, it was a trick what with the misleading title and all.) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-release-of-hp7-big-deal/412378/18 "2007-07-19T15:25:12Z")
Many, if not most bestseller books have something called a “Laydown date.” This is the date the stores are allowed to place the book out for sale. It exists so that all competing retailers will have an equal chance at the customers. They are enforced with fines and sanctions that come down from the publisher (it is not unusual on slow days for one bookstore to send employees to a competitor to record and report any laydown violations). So, essentially laydown furor exists over every new release by Stephen King, Tom Clancy, etc., its just more confined to people inside the industry who know about these things. It is a jerk move to blantantly violate laydown, and they are also probably breaking their contract with the publisher. Everyone’s supposed to get an equal shot to sell a book like this. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-release-of-hp7-big-deal/412378/19 "2007-07-19T15:25:30Z")
So…what are you going to discuss in your meetings? ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-release-of-hp7-big-deal/412378/20 "2007-07-19T15:25:49Z")
It’s a big deal to me because some assholes are going to try as hard as they can to spoil the ending for the rest of us. I did not pre-order the last book and was perfectly fine with waiting three weeks after the release to buy my book. I tried as hard as I could to avoid spoilers and then on the radio the asshole radio personalities on a show I used to listen to played a sound bite of some asshole who was at a local bookstore yelling, “Snape kills Dumbledore!” to all the people waiting in line to buy the book on the release date. So the day after the book was released the asshole radio personalities, which I used to like, spoiled the ending for me by playing that sound bite of the asshole spoiling it for the people waiting in line. I really want to discover the ending for my self. Fuck the assholes who enjoy being assholes just for the purpose of being an assholes. Fucking assholes. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-release-of-hp7-big-deal/412378.md?page=2)