Coming into this century, it was widely predicted that literature as we know it was in its death throes. Books were on the way out. The novel of the 21st century would be delivered in electronic form to our desktops. Publishers would have to adapt or go the way of the dinosaurs. Then in 1997, a phoenix arose out of the still-warm ashes of Literature that struck the prophets dumb: Harry Potter. Continue reading The Novel Strikes Back
Category Archives: Modern Marketing
Harry Potter – The Magic Is In The Marketing
We’re informed by a gushing press that the seventh and final Harry Potter tome sold 11.4 million copies on the first day, smashing the records set by previous Potter releases to become the fastest selling book in history. Funny that – it was also the most hyped. Continue reading Harry Potter – The Magic Is In The Marketing
We’re So Pretty, Oh So Pretty…Vacant
In my previous post, I owned up to a foolish public declaration as a teenager that Creedence Clearwater Revival “shat on” The Beatles. That was essentially an adolescent rebel yell in the face of peer authority, clumsy and misdirected, but rooted in a perception that I consider legitimate to this day – that the masses are prone to stampeding. Such was the case with The Beatles. They could do no wrong. Every single was a smash hit, every album hailed a work of genius. The adulation, the mass approbation, was overwhelming and, it seemed, indiscriminate. Lennon’s wry observation at the peak of The Beatles’ fame that they were “more popular than Jesus” sparked outrage, but it wasn’t far off the mark. Continue reading We’re So Pretty, Oh So Pretty…Vacant