Harry Potter: The Story of a Global Business Phenomenon

I just received in the mail yesterday a new Potter analysis book, Harry Potter: The Story of a Global Business Phenomenon by Susan Gunelius. I've read about a third of the book at the moment, and I can say that this is a well-edited book and an interesting read from the business-perspective of the marketing strategy of the Potter series. The author can be seen on youtube.com (by searching under her name), speaking about her book; she seems slightly nervous, however, by the end of the video. Gunelius will be speaking off-site as part of the Azkatraz Conference in July of this year.

The book is 194 pages long, but the text itself only runs for 163 pages. The remaining pages are bibliographic entries (always useful in Potter books to find more sources to read) and index. To be honest, though it's worth my reading this book as I have a collection of Potter analysis books and like to keep current with what's out there, I'm not sure if this a book worth the $35 price tag for people who like general books on Potter. I can see this book being used as a text in a marketing course with an emphasis on the Potter phenomenon - it would be great for that, and it's published by palgrave macmillan, which is a publishing company that does a lot of textbooks. In fact, this book probably is intended for or will be used for that purpose. In that light, it's price tag makes sense (if you know about college textbook costs, you know what I mean). At the least, it is a hardcover book.

I would love to see Gunelius condense the information she presents here as an essay in a collection of Potter analysis essays. She repeats herself a lot while she talks about different marketing strategies and tactics. Again, this is good for a college course in marketing, but not too great for a general book on Harry Potter.

The other thing about this book is that I wish that she had had the time to read Melissa Anelli's book, Harry, A History prior to publishing this one. She gets the information right, but Melissa's interviews with Rowling, Bloomsbury exec.'s and Scholastic exec.'s tell the same story in a much better way. It would have been great if she'd had that book to reference, but Gunelius' book was publsihed prior to Anelli's.

I agree with her opening: it's nice to write a book on the things you love and bring them all together as one. Gunelius likes business, marketing and Harry Potter. I like history and Central and Eastern European studies, music and Harry Potter. But it's not like I'm planning on writing a book...

Anyway, good read if you're a dork for all things Potter analysis like myself, to Potter fans this would have been better as a condensed essay - I think she could pack a marketing punch in a 30 page chapter on Potter marketing in a general Potter phenomenon book, and an excellent book for a college-level business course with an emphasis on Potter.

I'll update my blog for a complete review of this book when I'm finished reading the remaining hundred pages or so. Until then, keep safe and keep faith!