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?
Demographics played a huge part, a massive bubble of readers with a book they could be interested in. Tolkien’s Lord Of The Rings books came out in time for the Baby Boomers to read them at just the right time. Mega rock 'n roll bands created songs around LOTR (such as Led Zeppelin). So all these Boomers had all their kids at just the right age for Harry Potter.
And then the clever message about getting kids to read ‘wholesome’ stories of a poor kid doing well in a fantastic world appealed to parents and kids alike.
Publishers kept the train rolling by getting these kids into other books as they got older, like the teenage vampires and dystopian games.
.