Some of it also comes down to the media. They haven’t latched on to many, if any, books since then in the way that they did those series. I would generally argue that people don’t simply stand outside for hours at midnight releases for such products solely for the product, it’s to be part of a cultural or communal event as much as it is the actual product itself. And a lot of that is driven by media attention.
And, there’s also as stated above, people purchase books in a much different way then than they do now. Why would I wait for hours in a line to buy a large, physical copy of the book, when I can download it to my Kindle in a matter of seconds from my couch?
I wonder, is that actually the case? People not moving on from Harry Potter?
I think those hooked to reading by Rowling‘s entwicklungsroman did go on from there - only they diversified, chose different genres and authors to follow. And they grew up since. Some became fans of Elena Ferrante or T C Boyle, some picked up other fantasy works or Young Adult fare. Many from ‘generation internship’ will doubtless have swapped their reading at least partially for binge watching GOT or Big Bang Theory.
Also, is Harry Potter closed any more as a tale than Lord of the Rings? Or Bond for that matter? When a work builds on a powerful sense of ‘there’s more to explore’ then that’s what people do. If the world Rowling created with and for Potter was really finished and closed then nobody would ask for more. Even if Potter’s development sees a closing with the last book - can his story be regarded as ‘over’?
The media is often responsible for galvanizing interest, of course, though there’s often a grassroots enthusiasm which they will notice and then report. On those occasions when the press do try to drum up interest, and even bill the writer as the next Rowling - for example, Samantha Shannon - such success is not repeated to the same extent.
Perhaps a mania like HP can only happen by surprise and there’s no way for it to be deliberately replicated (hence, Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant, Seventh Son, The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising and Eragon)
Fourteen, actually, as I counted a short story by mistake. The five adult novels, seven YA, one Moneypenny diary, and Licence Expired (an anthology, really).
Many will have diversified, yes, though fantasy remains a popular genre for those who grew up with HP and carried on reading. I just think such people are less exploratory and will only read a book if it’s recommended to them, it’s fashionable/peer pressure/turned into a film etc.
I couldn’t count the times, for example, that I recommended Ben Aaronovitch’s popular Peter Grant series (basically Harry Potter grown up and joins the London Met) and people have responded with surprise because they’d never heard of them. Another time, a lecturer mentioned that Harry wasn’t the first boy wizard in fiction, and there were audible gasps of shock. Another person, outside uni but of the same age, insisted that HP was wholly original, despite me explaining otherwise.
To such people, Harry Potter aren’t books. Books are Harry Potter. Like vacuum cleaners are called Hoovers. It’s a shame, but hey-ho.
Change “Harry Potter” into “James Bond wasn´t the first Secret Agent in fiction” and you would have gotten the same gasps. Or change it into “Star Wars wasn’t the first Space Opera but actually a mixture of so many influences you would gasp as well”.
It doesn’t matter whether one knows better than others. But one can tell people and hope they will be encouraged to seek out other stories. There will never be a 100 per cent return on that, though.
And quite frankly, even after seeking out other stories about secret agents, I have returned to my beloved James Bond and rather re-read the old novels now.
I made that clear myself by saying this was based on personal experience and anecdotes. We’re only having a chat, like we would down the pub, and I would hardly be expected to take a spreadsheet or survey out of my pocket and place them between our glasses.
I’m not saying it’s the not the truth either. Books sell very few copies, and sales in general would be huge if everyone who had read HP had moved onto read other things.
I can’t believe this has become such a protracted argument.
Not true. Print book sales DID drop as ebook sales went up, but then started to rise again In tandem with ebook sales falling.
Books as a whole, however, are notably up on the last decade, and given The last Harry Potter book was in 07, it would seem those who got into reading through Harry Potter did move onto other things.
It is a problem that sales particularly in books, are not looked at in a uniform fashion. Certain places that sell books don’t count (Supermarkets) , many don’t count ebook sales, which will cause a huge drop in the middle of the decade (but those are now levelling out)
The fact that there is subscription services for reading books will further mess with stats, as there are many people renting ebooks, which is, by definition, not a sale. streaming did MASSIVELY harm the sales of Films and music, but you wouldn’t say people arn’t watching films and Tv or listening to music. Kindle essentially risks doing to books what Spotify and Netflix did - force change FAST.
I switched to Kindle in 2011 - and I have never read as much ever before.
The books are cheaper, one can sample books for about 30 pages, and storage is not a problem anymore.
True, as a writer myself, I hate prices going down. But as a reader it has never been as easy to get access to as many books as one wants. And I know quite a few Potter fans who became rabid readers afterwards.
I’d be the same. Love having easy access to a wide range, on a level that was unprecedented for me before ebooks. I do somewhat miss having stacked bookshelves, but even there, it’s a good thing as it forces me to be more selective about what I physically get.
Netflix/Amazon prime etc, did that to my Blu Rays - I have hundreds of DVD’s, of varying quality, but with blu ray I only buy what I already love as a true collection.
That includes, to bring this full circle to the actual purpose of the thread; Spectre, which fits nicely in the Bond blu-ray box set as well as having a quite lovely steel book of its own - it also looks stunning on an HD widescreen.