Book sellers hope new Harry Potter has the magic touch

At the peak of the Harry Potter craze, Nancy Merritt and Johanna Albrecht lost themselves in the magical novels, fought back fatigue at midnight book release parties, then waited for J.K. Rowling’s next folio of wizarding lore to be published.

The publication of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” the eighth book in the series, released at 12:01 a.m. Sunday, finds the two local Potter fans anticipating more than just a good read. The pair of 20-somethings are now book sellers – Albrecht at Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill and Merritt at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh – and are coordinating all-out marketing campaigns for the newest Potter installment, a literary event that loyal fans have awaited for nine years.

By the time the seventh Harry Potter installment was published in 2007, the series had transformed the publishing industry, igniting the young adult genre with its string of best sellers and blockbuster movies. Harry and his Hogwarts pals turned a generation of video gamers into serious readers who got their muggle parents hooked on the dark intrigues at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

“The Cursed Child” now joins a global Harry Potter franchise that has sold more than 450 million books worldwide, including more than 160 million in the United States alone. “The Cursed Child” is a long-awaited blessing for book sellers, especially traditional book stores racked by e-books and online sales.

“I think the anticipation is very high,” said Albrecht, 28, last week. “The excitement over it is about having the chance to celebrate the characters and stories that people loved and grew up with.”

Albrecht’s and Merritt’s coming of age mirrors the trajectory of the newest Potter book, which fast-forwards nearly two decades and features Harry Potter’s kids and the occult progeny of his Hogwarts classmates. Merritt considers the latest midnight celebrations as literary reunions, heavy on nostalgia, but it remains to be seen how the “Cursed Child” will contribute to the Harry Potter franchise.

“I don’t think there are any parallels,” said Michael Cader, founder of Publishers Lunch, a leading industry newsletter. “The next indication will be how people feel once they read it. Readers and fans will tell us whether it’s working.”

Catching up with Harry

The “Cursed Child” – a script of a stage play showing in London – is a continuation of the Harry Potter saga, even though author Rowling vowed to end her Potter run at the seventh book, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.” The “Cursed Child” is not a novel but rather a 320-page script, co-authored by playwright Jack Thorne, director John Tiffany and Rowling.

The new book catches up with Harry – a civil servant in the Ministry of Magic and a married dad with three school-age children – 19 peaceful years after the evil Lord Voldemort has been vanquished. But all’s not well: Harry’s middle child, Albus Severus Potter, is struggling with the dark burden of the Potter legacy. So there you have it: Harry Potter – the next generation.

The pre-publication hoopla was shrouded in secrecy, in classic Potter marketing fashion. Book sellers had to sign affidavits promising that they would not open book shipments until an appointed time. Those attending the London stage production at the Palace Theater were given buttons as personal warrants vowing to keep the story details secret until publication day. In the same spirit, the New York Times reviewer gave the production a glowing review without revealing who does what to whom or why.

Book sellers are betting big on the new book, which will retail for $17.99. Amazon has reported “Cursed Child” is its top preorder of the year, in both print and e-book versions. At Barnes & Noble, it has logged the most pre-orders for the chain since “Deathly Hallows.” Good news for the chain which saw sales for the fiscal year that ended April 30 fall 3.2 percent.

To capitalize on the book’s expected popularity, all 640 Barnes & Noble company stores nationwide – like their independent book store counterparts – featured promotional events with Quidditch teams and costume parties Saturday evening and were planning to stay open past midnight to distribute copies. Some stores – and Wake County libraries – have additional events Sunday.

The Cary Barnes & Noble, for instance, is planning Sunday afternoon skits by Raleigh Little Theater and a lecture by Susan Sipal, author of “A Writer’s Guide to Harry Potter.”

“We’re expecting this book to be one of the best sellers at Barnes & Noble this year,” said Ingrid Campbell, the Cary store’s community business development manager.

Expectations mixed

The publisher of the Potter series, Scholastic, is printing 4.5 million copies for the first run of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts I and II.” That’s a huge print run by almost any measure – except the first print runs of the final three Potter blockbusters: 6.8 million for “Order of the Phoenix,” 10.8 million for “Half-Blood Prince,” and 12 million for “Deathly Hallows.”

The original books are getting a revival as well. The buzz surround the play and new book led to a jump in sales of the first seven with 1.34 million copies sold last year, a 63 percent increase from the previous year, according to Nielsen Bookscan.

As a literary phenomenon, Harry Potter became a mega-franchise that spawned popular movies and helped revive the young adult fiction genre, paving the way for such series as “The Hunger Games” and “The Maze Runner.” The story about the boy wizard with its emphasis on wands and spells and potions also proved controversial, as teachers took advantage of its popularity to promote reading among students. According to the American Library Association, the Harry Potter cycle topped the list of the 100 most banned and challenged books at schools and libraries in the decade.

But even as Triangle stores prepared for large turnouts for their midnight release celebrations, not all were not assuming that stratospheric sales would automatically follow. The Regulator Bookshop in Durham pre-ordered 300 volumes, whereas past Potter pre-orders would exceed 1,000 to meet demand.

“We weren’t sure if it was as big as the last time, since it’s a script,” said Amy Spaulding, the store’s events coordinator. “We were wondering: ‘Have people outgrown this or not?’ ”

Spaulding, who was planning to dress as Defence Against the Dark Arts professor Dolores Umbridge for the store’s event, has a personal connection to the Potter legend. Her father, Dick Spaulding, was vice-president of marketing at Scholastic during Harry Potter’s heyday. In the 1970s, her uncle was the publishing company’s president.

Now the moment of truth has arrived: Has the magic finally run out?

“From an industry-wide impact, this is the most exciting thing: that there’s a book that feels like an event again,” Cader said. “Yes, a lot of people have it Fed-Exed to their homes, but a lot of people remember how fun it is to go to the store itself and celebrate and buy it on the spot and run right home with it.”

This story was originally published July 29, 2016 at 6:52 PM with the headline "Book sellers hope new Harry Potter has the magic touch."