Why Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Won't Be Profitable for Booksellers

Bookstores everywhere are getting ready for the millions of people that are eager for the release of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" in July, the latest in the Harry Potter book series. J.K. Rowling's stories about a boy wizard and he's battles against evil is among the fastest-selling books in history, retailers expect nothing different from the newest edition. Some stores have already broken records for orders long before its release. Amazon.com has reported over one million advanced orders, easily out doing the number of advanced orders for "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince". Amazon is not the only one breaking its own records for advance orders.

Sadly, even if the books sell good the profits will be minimal. Discounts are then main reason. The Book's list price is 34.99, but stores like Wal-Mart and Amazon.com will sell it for almost fifty percent off. Barnes & Noble and Borders, the world's largest booksellers, will have it at forty percent off. The people hurt by this the most are small independent bookstores, because they either have to lower their prices too or not sell the book. Of course, the big booksellers are not making much profit from them either. Cutting prices does drive sales but with minimal gain, the retailers have to try to make the buyers "returning customers". The most common way they do that is with loyalty cards, you the old buy six, (or whatever) and get one free. Loyalty cards are effective. The bookselling markets have lost millions discounting the Harry Potter books as much as they have. This makes the sellers less then enthused about the release. However, this problem is not just with Potter books it is the same with almost every bestseller.

The publisher of the Potter series has planed a12 million (record-breaking) copies release of "Deathly Hallows"; book retailers do not expect any problems getting their copies. They hope! Running out of books might cause a riot. Most bookstores get the books within 24 hours of its release.

But, it is still a lot of pressure Scholastic Corp.

The "Deathly Hallows" is supposed to be the last book in the Potter series. I cannot believe that she would end it; it has made her a lot of money. I myself do not like to read the books but do enjoy the movies. However, the actors that play the potter and the other two are getting a little old but there are ways around that if they wanted to keep it going. Whether it is a happy conclusion or not, for the young wizard Harry and his friends has been kept secret, there were reports that the book was printed in the dark to keep it secret. I have no idea if that it true. And, as much as I think that all the useless wizard langue that kids have learned is just that, useless, and waste of brain space, But her books have encouraged millions of youngsters to read. That is hard to do in this era of video games.

Since the first book in 1997, the Potter series has sold well over 325 million copies worldwide, and four feature films. A fifth installment, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix", is set to open in theaters a week before the new books release. That should help book sales!