I was a huge Potterhead back in the day (well…I still am, just not as obsessed). I know the books are great and all, I know how addictive her writing style is, that she can create such vivid and engaging characters and places, and the stories keep you hungry for more…but IMO that still does not completely explain the insane hype that generated. I don’t think there has ever been this level of mania and craze for a book – a children’s/YA book for that matter. So I am wondering, what are some of the factor that led to the hype? I’ve heard things like the rise in Internet (and internet fandom), JKR’s rags-to-riches story, etc all contributed. So for those who have been there, what was the mania like at that point, and what factors (aside from the quality of the books themselves) that lead to it?
In addition to that my personal opinion is that a lot of the continuing hype comes from the publishers (and later movie production companies) applying an excellent media and PR strategy to keep the hype going. The PR behind HP was probably the first and so far pretty much best PR startegy for a book series to this date. I guess “Game of Thrones” could have launched a similar succesful campaign if season 8 wouldn’t have been so bad and if Martin would finally get around to publish books.
It may sounds dismissive, but I think it’s actually quite impressive to find a strategy that has been going for basically over two decades without pissing too many people off or -much worst- to bore people. It’s not easy to do but they managed it and I find that very impressive.