Rowling Outs Dumbledore

[tamaranth]

'Dumbledore is gay'

I can hear the squeaks of fanfic writers Proved Right from here ...

... and can't help wondering whether Rowling's work (or her sales figures) would have been blighted if she'd made this revelation earlier.

In other surprising literary news, the Booker Prize Foundation is making all the shortlisted novels available online. Apparently "the downloads will not impact on sales, it is thought. If readers like a novel tasted on the internet, they may just be inspired to buy the actual book."

It must be nice to have such faith in human nature.

- what if the reader doesn't like the novel? (Normally, they'd have had to shell out to find out. Even though Waterstones, Tescos etc are offering Booker-shortlisted novels at a discount, the cost is not trivial.)
- how many people read a novel twice? (I reread a lot, but apparently this is Abnormal.)
- personal experience indicates that I would not pay money to have a hard copy of a book I already had in e-text. (Unless it was The System of the World, which I acquired as a non-free e-book and then bought in hardcover as well.)

And, because triplets of news are good, a third literary story: First edition of The Importance of Being Earnest found by Oxfam in ... a handbag.

A friend's mother stashes her good jewellery in the pockets of clothes hanging in her wardrobe, so's to minimise potential burglary-losses. A couple of years ago we were at the opera when, hunting for a handkerchief, she discovered £20,000-worth of diamond necklace in the depths of her pocket ... Can't help wondering if, somewhere in Cheshire, someone is bemoaning their habit of hiding valuables in a really safe place.

Comments

[moral-vacuum.livejournal.com]

We've been discussing this over at chez desperance. The general consensus is that the totality of the character is on the page - if it's not in the book, it doesn't count.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

Absolutely. But I still think Rowling might have deliberately held off on this revelation until all seven books were out.
Of course, it's possible that she read it on teh interwebs :)

[frandowdsofa.livejournal.com]

A handbag? how wonderful.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

poetic justice at its finest!

[pennski.livejournal.com]

It's just beautiful.

[nils.livejournal.com]

Downloads will not impact on sales? Hm, that's in sharp contrast to what the music industry like to claim. Which is odd, as music is something you can listen to repeatedly, while (as you say) most people only read a book once.

Maybe they're not expecting people to read the whole book online? I guess that's implied by the word 'tasted'...

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

I'm much more likely to buy a CD that I've already heard and liked than to buy one that's an unknown quantity: hence the joy of illicit downloads.

Interesting point re reading online: I wonder if they are working on the basis that reading on a computer screen is Icky. And I wonder what percentage of people would actually read the work online ...

Ha! Poll time!

[reddragdiva]

We know that in science fiction, downloadable free copies lead directly to sales of the author's entire catalogue. I don't see why it would be different in other genres.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

We know that in science fiction, downloadable free copies lead directly to sales of the author's entire catalogue.

Example? I am familiar with the argument that free downloads raise an author's profile, but not with any concrete evidence that shows an author's sales being improved after making a novel available online. (Possible exception here for series, where -- in the classic 'pusher' business model -- the first hit's free ...)

[reddragdiva]

baen.com have found that putting a book up sells actual paper copies of the author's entire back catalogue. Cory Doctorow does reasonably well too, though he sells books by being a relentless self-publicist (which is arguably an excellent way for an author to market themselves). The idea being that if people can actually read the things, they might like them, and who makes it to a physical library these days? We have being bored at work and on the net for that now.