Harry Potter and J. K. Rowling’s Influence on the Book Industry

Harry Potter has a lot to answer for. Ever since J.K. Rowling put pen to paper and created the magical boy-wizard phenom known as ‘Harry Potter’ you will have noticed (if you’ve been in a book store these past few years) a proliferation of fantasy books being published both for the Kids and adults market. Sweeping sagas with complicated plots of epic proportions with multitudes of incredibly detailed characters and a page count on a par with ‘War & Peace’. Not only has ‘Harry Potter’ netted ‘J.K. Rowling’ enough cash to call herself the 2nd richest woman in entertainment (behind ‘Oprah Winfrey’ of course) but she’s single handedly re-vitalized the book-publishing Industry across the globe. If you check out the book-shelves of most big-chain book-stores in Manhattan for instance you will see more book covers depicting fantastical themes and magical storylines than ever before. I’m sure there are many fantasy writers out there who owe a debt of gratitude to the self-effacing Ms. Rowling as I’m sure a good percentage of them wouldn’t have seen the light of day (i.e.: Published) had it not been for the huger than huge success of the ‘Potter’ books. I’d also like to add that a good deal of Graphic Artists must be seeing more work with this proliferation of the fantasy genre.

It remains to be seen if the fantasy book industry and indeed the book industry as a whole will remain as profitable now that the ‘Potter’ series has come to an end and it’s unlikely that any other author will be able to take over the mantel that Ms. Rowling has left behind. At least for a few years and ‘Potter’s magical dust settles. With the steady influence of the series being omnipresent these past few years it remains to be seen who will save the book industry now? But perhaps it doesn’t need saving. Hopefully the interest sparked by this series of books amongst children and adults alike will allow new and talented authors to succeed where they may have failed years ago. Books that probably wouldn’t have been published 10 years ago may now be given a chance but only if the Book publishers/Agents etc. allow themselves to free themselves of pre-conceived notions of how a story should be told and be more open minded as to what constitutes a book the public are going to want to read.

An example of how a book-genre has been adopted and unwisely pushed is in the Horror genre. Since ‘Anne Rice’s’ wonderful series of books my enthusiasm for some of the current crop of Horror books has been dampened by the proliferation of Vampire books I see staring out at me with self-indulgent fanged epics. As well written as some of them are, the storylines have been done to death and if you’ve read ‘Anne Rice’ (who’s talent for descriptive narrative I can only dream of) then you’re hardly likely to embrace these second rate ‘Rice’ wannabies. With the fantasy novel there should be more free-reign for original thought and expression and if imagination and talent are given free reign perhaps another unlikely talented uber-success might emerge. It’s all about building on the impetus of the ‘Potter’ success story. ‘Strike while the iron is hot!’ as they say and if anything has been learned from the success of the ‘Potter’ series, it’s that originality sells.