How could Amazon afford to give away the costly overnight shipping of “Harry Potter” books? “Harry’s initial success is key to Amazon’s initial success, which is key to the rise in the Internet-stock market, which is key to Amazon’s ability to spend on promotion more than it makes on sales, which is how it can FedEx 250,000 Harrys for free. This helps to create the biggest publishing event of all time, which actually does not even primarily benefit Amazon (which will sell fewer than 10 percent of Harrys sold) but in fact benefits most of all its primary competitor, Barnes & Noble, which will sell far and away the lion’s share of Harry.” – New York Magazine
- HARRY LOVES A PARTY: While Barnes & Noble and Amazon sold about a million copies between them on the opening weekend of “Harry,” independent bookstores used the occasion to throw elaborate parties, many of them beginning with the midnight release of the book. – Publishers Weekly