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?
I think it was really good marketing/promotion. I remember when I was younger, we had a book fair rep come to our classroom to talk about the new books they had for this year. And one year our rep was saying we needed to check out this new book they had about a young wizard named Harry Potter. So ended up wanting to read the book. I’m assuming many classrooms were given a similar speech and the buzz for the book grew from there.