Scholastic Threatens Lawsuit, Rowling Searches Desperately For M.I.B. Memory Eraser Thingy
Thursday, July 19th, 2007
Attention Potter fans: Harry DIES! Just kidding. We don’t know. We would if we’d pre-ordered from DeepDiscount.com, though. Scholastic Inc., Potter’s US publisher, announced “immediate legal action” against both aforementioned e-tailer and distributor Levy Home Entertainment for shipping books ahead of the 12:01 AM Saturday release. Wednesday’s statement from Scholastic alleges forbidden copies made it to customers as early as Tuesday the 17th.
Rowling herself pleaded with readers to keep plot developments hush-hush, and Scholastic asks that early recipients hide the illicit packages. Uh-huh. Reports indicate that most early copies are safely stowed in padlocked sock drawers across the nation, but at least one spoilsport uploaded photos of the whole thing to Gaia Online.
Diehard Pottermaniacs are advised to stay indoors, avoiding all forms of media, earplugs firmly in place, until tentatively heading to their local big-box bookstores for the magic moment tomorrow night.
Is there a place for product placement in books? With advertisers’ ever-increasing fears about the demise of the thirty-second TV spot, product placement has become a more and more popular way of promoting consumer goods, whether we’re aware of it or not. Books have mostly remained an untapped resource for advertisers, but readers 