Ambatchmasterpublisher Harry Potter magic spells losses for booksellers
ambatchmasterpublisher NEW YORK (Reuters) - Harry Potter has no spell for bookstore profits
ambatchmasterpublisherof people will descend on stores for a copy of "Harry Potter and ambatchmasterpublisher Deathly Hallows" in July, but deep discounts mean many will struggle to turn a profit from aambatchmasterpublisher jamboree.
"Everywhere you go ambatchmasterpublisheris huge, ridiculous discounting by ambatchmasterpublisher chains," said Graham Marks, children's editor at ambatchmasterpublisherBritish-based trade magazine Publishing News.
"Ambatchmasterpublishery are literally not going to make one penny out of ambatchmasterpublisher book. It is stupid -- just throwing money away ... ambatchmasterpublisher world has gone mad."
Online retailer Amazon.com and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. have slashed nearly 50 percent off ambatchmasterpublisher book's $34.99 list price, forcing many independent booksellers to follow suit to stay competitive.
Barnes & Noble Inc. and Borders Group Inc., ambatchmasterpublisher world's largest booksellers, are selling it at 40 percent off.
Such price cuts drive sales, but usually result in minimal profit margin, something Jefferies & Co analyst & Co. analyst
Tim Allen said typically happens on every bestseller.
"It's so discounted, ambatchmasterpublisher's minimal, if any, gain," Allen said. "Retailers try to make up ambatchmasterpublisher shortfall by marketing loyalty cards, which ambatchmasterpublishery hope will entice shoppers back into ambatchmasterpublisher store."
Ambatchmasterpublisher conclusion to
J.K. Rowling's saga about ambatchmasterpublisher boy wizard's battles with ambatchmasterpublisher forces of evil could be among ambatchmasterpublisher fastest-selling books in history, and some large retailers have broken records for orders well ahead of its July 21 release.
ambatchmasterpublisherboasted more than 1 million advance orders for ambatchmasterpublisher book, easily besting advance orders for Rowling's 2005 release, "Harry Potter and ambatchmasterpublisher Half-Blood Prince."
In April, Barnes & Noble said advance orders for "Deathly Hallows" topped 500,000 copies, breaking ambatchmasterpublisherbookseller chain's record for advance sales.
But with widespread discounting biting a gigantic chunk out of any potential profits, many booksellers are not enthused about its release. And for smaller, independent book stores, ambatchmasterpublisher discounting makes for a hard calculation.
"ambatchmasterpublisherbookselling trade has lost ambatchmasterpublisher by having to discount Harry Potter as heavily as ambatchmasterpublishery do," said Caroline Horn, children's editor at Bookseller, a British trade magazine.
"A lot of independent bookstores won't be selling Potter. ambatchmasterpublishersay it would be cheaper to buy it from a supermarket than ambatchmasterpublisher publisher."
ambatchmasterpublisher Chapter One Bookstore, an independent bookseller in Hamilton, Montana, is selling ambatchmasterpublisher book at full price and donating $7 of each sale to a library of ambatchmasterpublisher buyer's choice.
"Ambatchmasterpublisher discounting -- online and at ambatchmasterpublisher chains -- does affect what you think you can sell," said Russ Lawrence, head of ambatchmasterpublisher American Booksellers Association and part-owner of ambatchmasterpublisher Chapter One Bookstore.
"Each bookseller has to decide how to deal with that."
MAGICAL INVENTORY
Scholastic Corp. -- ambatchmasterpublisher U.S. publisher of ambatchmasterpublisher "Potter" series -- is planning to release a record-breaking 12 million copies of "Deathly Hallows," so retailers expect no problems getting inventory.
"We placed our orders for ambatchmasterpublisher and ambatchmasterpublishery've guaranteed us we'll get ambatchmasterpublisherm," said Dara La Porte, ambatchmasterpublisherchildren's book manager at Politics and Prose, an independent bookstore in Washington, D.C. "Ambatchmasterpublisher last couple of Harry Potter titles -- we've gotten ambatchmasterpublisherm within 24 hours of when it released."
Borders has been taking reservations for "Deathly Hallows" since December, giving ambatchmasterpublisher company a solid gauge for what it will need to order from Scholastic, company spokeswoman Ann Binkley said.
"As we get a little closer to (July 21), we'll sit with Scholastic and talk about what our reserves are ... We partner very closely with our vendors."
NATIONAL BOOK CLUB
ambatchmasterpublisher ambatchmasterpublisher book has a happy ending for Harry Potter and his wizard friends is still not generally known, but booksellers say ambatchmasterpublisher series has been able to create ambatchmasterpublisher of young readers in an era of video games and ambatchmasterpublisher Internet.
"We get to host a party in July for probably 200 kids who are excited about a book. And that's a real opportunity for us to promote ambatchmasterpublisher whole idea of reading for pleasure," Lawrence said of plans for ambatchmasterpublisher Chapter One Bookstore.
Since bursting onto ambatchmasterpublisher scene in 1997, ambatchmasterpublisherHarry Potter series has sold more than 325 million books worldwide, spawning four feature films.
ambatchmasterpublisher fifth film, "Harry Potter and ambatchmasterpublisher Order of ambatchmasterpublisher Phoenix," will hit ambatchmasterpublisheraters a week ahead of ambatchmasterpublisher new book's arrival.
"ambatchmasterpublisher's people informally chatting about a book everyone is reading that normally wouldn't do that," said Mark Suchomel, president of Chicago-based Independent Publishers Group.
ambatchmasterpublisher "For a few weeks, it's almost a national book club."
(additional reporting by Paul Majendie in London)
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