Drapetomaniac

I believe JK Rowling has succeeded in creating a new mythology for the human race. And with the capability of today’s technology, it grew fast and became world wide. In fact, she is the first writer to become a billionaire simply through her writing. That’s billion with a B.

As a writer, I believe in a creative person’s right to profit and enjoy the story of her success. I also understand the desire to keep your creations close to you. But – as someone who loves human creativity and likes to see it prosper, her draconian reach disturbs me.

The Disturbing Realm of J.K. Rowling
• Recently suing someone who has run one of her most detailed fan sites, The Harry Potter Lexicon, for the past several years, who now has decided to write an encyclopedia of Harry Potter based on his observations. It’s worth noting that there are several critical books with Harry Potter themes for and against it (think religious issues). It’s also worth noting that The Harry Potter Lexicon has been reference by J.K. Rowling and Warner Brothers over the past several years, sometimes for profit.
• Other Corporations Joining in – Someone photographed, page by page, the last book in the Harry Potter series and posted it on The Internet. This was illegal and of course it upset her. Ironically, since there was no financial gain and it would be hard to show it damaged her ability to profit from her millions upon millions to be earned from the work (who is going to download the book and not buy it?), prosecution would be hard.

  This didn’t stop Canon from volunteering to track down one of their customers. They had already inspected the downloaded book (which means they downloaded it) and identified, “From what we know, the device is one of the original Rebel cameras, probably a 350D, and given that they’ve been out for three years, it’s likely the owner would have had it cleaned or repaired in that time.”

  To be fair, they noted Rowling’s people hadn’t contacted them. This just means Canon took the initiative to download the illegal copy, analyze it, then determining the likelihood they would be able to track their customer and report them to Miss Rowling.

• The New York Times and the Baltimore Sun printed reviews of the last Harry Potter book before it was released. To which Rowling replied, “I am staggered that some American newspapers have decided to publish purported spoilers in the form of reviews in complete disregard of the wishes of literally millions of readers, particularly children. I am incredibly grateful to all those newspapers, booksellers and others who have chosen not to attempt to spoil Harry’s last adventure for fans.”

  I would like to point out that I started reading The New York Times reviews when I was 14 and haven’t stopped. If my daughter, who is younger, is reading the Timesfor critical literature review – Good! Her melodramatic retort acts as if millions of children sit down with tea and the Times every morning to read critical reviews. The few children who do – congratulations to their parents, but make sure they play too.

  A second point for Miss Rowling – it was reviewed like any other book. It would have been special treatment not to review the book before people bought it. Imagine buying a book before reviews were available and then finding out it was jibberish. The fact is, she had a pre-order bestseller.

• The general obsession of secrecy. News flash – people who don’t want spoilers don’t read them. There are plenty of sequels that provide previews, etc. Harry Potter was maintained like classified secrets. While fans certainly wanted surprises, they do so in any series of books. Surprise and suspense is also a powerful marketing tool. When Blair Witch Project was released, there were many long lines. The hope is that people walk by and ask what you’re going to see and then they realize it must be good with such long lines. Well, when I asked someone what they were in line for, he sardonic youth replied, “We got free passes for this movie, but they make you come half an our early and stand in line to get in.” This is what Rowling’s marketing team has been doing by restricting access to any information. Sure it’s fun to have such suspense as a fan. To some extent I want it. But I don’t need multi-national lawyers and security firms protecting me from it. And if it were there, it sure would be nice to have access to some bit of information. As it stands, she marketed through momentum and a bit of hyper-reality.

I’d like to thank Miss Rowling for producing Harry Potter and stoking the imaginations of our children. I’d like to now ask her to calm down and consider letting fans and other creative people treat her work like any other, more than likely increasing her revenue even more.

Otherwise, a spell for Harry Potter to practice: Copryightus nonobsessus, ego nonflatus!