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Not giving readers what they want

11/3/2012

4 Comments

 
When an author writes a series of books in one genre he/she develops a fan base. This can be both a blessing and a curse. It can be a blessing because the author has a group of people out there waiting to buy the next book. But it can be a curse because invariably these fans expect more of the same. Some authors are happy to oblige. For example Lilian Jackson Braun wrote a series of “The Cat Who…” mysteries till the end of her life. But what if an author wants to write something very different? The problem with this is that readers will not like it. This may have happened recently to no other than the author of the Harry Potter books: J. K. Rowling.

As many of you know, the Harry Potter books began as children’s books and progressively turned into books for adults. But still, apart from the violence and darkness that you get in the never-ending battle of good vs. evil, the books by and large had nothing objectionable. There was kissing, some veiled references to couples hanging out together, and the only curse words in the series were “effing”, “damn,” and “bitch” (this last one only said only once). After finishing the Harry Potter books Rowling wanted to write something very different, something more “real.” And that she did.

Her newest book is called the Casual Vacancy. I have not read it because I think the e-book is overpriced, but according to several reviews I’ve read, it is set in the microcosm one finds in a small town with all its maladies. The book has drug addiction, suicide, rape, domestic violence and abuse, adultery, and pornography. The “F bomb” is dropped everywhere, there is a vivid description of a used condom, and a reference to a “miraculously unguarded vagina” that has gone viral on the internet.

By all accounts the book seems to be good. It has received very high praise from many major outlets of the publishing world, and it contains very sharp social commentary. Rowling was not naïve about what she was doing. This IS what she wanted to write about, and she knew many readers would not like it, which is exactly what happened. Even though readers knew this wasn’t Harry Potter, many still expected the high-flying themes and heroics of the Potter books, not the bleak landscape that they encountered in The Casual Vacancy. On Amazon The Casual Vacancy has a rating of 2.9 on 1,382 reviews. On Goodreads the rating is more favorable; 3.4 on 9,622 reviews. Compare these figures with the last book of the Harry Potter series (Harry Potter and the Deadly Halows) which has 4.6 on 3,766 reviews on Amazon and 4.53 on 741,168 reviews on Goodreads. Regardless of this, the book has become a best seller. However, I wonder how many of the readers turned off by this book will read more of her writing in the future?

Of course Rowling is rich and has a huge fan base. She can afford to lose some readers. But the same may not be the case for lesser known authors with smaller fan bases. How can a writer harmonize his/her desire to write something different with the desire of the fans for more of the same?

What do you think?

                                  ***
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4 Comments

Why I will Not Buy J.K. Rowling's New Book

8/4/2012

6 Comments

 
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As many of you know I am a serious Harry Potter fan. I think the books are brilliant and that Harry Potter will be remembered as one of the greatest characters of all time. That is why I was interested in J.K Rowling’s new book, “The Casual Vacancy.” Whereas the Harry Potter series started out as books for children, this is a book written for adults. The book will be out in September but the Amazon’s book page is already up and running. So I stopped by to take a look and what I saw left me speechless.

Whereas the hardback will sell for $20.93, Rowling’s kindle book will sell for $19.99! I couldn’t believe my eyes. This price even has the old trick of proclaiming it is being “discounted” from the original list price of $35, so you “save $15.01 (43%),” yeah right. It seems that Jo has willingly or unwillingly walked into the traditional publisher’s dishonest scheme of pricing e-books the same as print books. How could she have allowed this to happen?

I admire(d) Rowling because she did things differently. She insisted on retaining a certain level of control over the movies to make sure directors would not do crazy things with them and was willing to give up a percentage of her profits in exchange for this. She was a visionary in allowing fans to write fiction based on her characters, and she also opposed the over-commercialization of the Harry Potter franchise.

In the discussions on the book page people have pointed out that it is the publisher (in this case Hachette Book Group), not the author, who sets the price. Although this is true, Rowling could have tried to negotiate this beforehand. I can only surmise that she is either ignorant of the whole e-book/print book controversy, she doesn’t care, or she agrees with the publisher’s point of view.

Whatever it may be, I am very disappointed. Jo, you gave us Harry Potter and for that I will be thankful forever. However, I will not buy your overpriced book no matter how good it is although when the book does come out, it being a JK Rowling book, I expect it will become a best seller. On the meantime I should take some solace from the fact that in the book tags 326 people have so far voted for the tag “overpriced kindle version,”  so for what it is worth I am not alone.


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