Books vs. Movies

Harry Pottter and the Half Blood Prince is, of course, a huge success. But after reading this news story, this statistic kind of blew me away:

Even allowing for deep discounts on the $29.99 release, "Half-Blood Prince" still easily generated more than $100 million in revenue. It's not only the richest opening in publishing history, but tops the combined estimated take for the weekend's top two movies, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "The Wedding Crashers."

In today's visual society, when a book beats the movies, that says something. I wonder if there is a way to make this more than an isolated incident. How do we generate the same interest or even a tenth of the interest in other books? Are the Harry Potter novels that much better than all the other books out there? I just don't buy that. They're well written, sure, but not overwhelmingly so. I don't think it's appreciation for fine writing that is driving these sales. On the other hand, there's clearly something universal about the story and the characters that reaches a vast majority of the people on the planet. I guess I am just wondering if there will ever be another series of books that reaches the world the way this series has.

How does one tap into that universality and reach millions? Well, start by putting in themes that matter to everyone: Friendship, Heroism, Good vs. Evil, and Doing what is Right (even when what's wrong is much easier). Then there is the marvelous world created by Rowling and the fact that it's connected to our own, allowing us to understand it far better than we would if it were a brand new world with no connection to the one we're familiar with. The characters are real and interesting people. We all know someone like know-it-all Hermione or loyal friend Ron. The story is universal because it deals with themes we understand, characters we recognize, and puts them in a world we know.

But that's not enough. The story has to grip you. And this one certainly does. There's enough mystery in the story to keep us interested. And enough of the mystery is revealed as the story progresses so we're not kept waiting until we no longer care.

So how do you write a book that'll make you a billionaire?

Make it universal with a good story. It's as easy at that.

Heh.