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Plugging Harry Potter Spoiler Leaks is Useless

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I'm hearing from CNN about all the hype surrounding J.K. Rowling's final installment for her outlandishly popular Harry Potter series. The 7th book, called Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, is eagerly awaited by millions of bookworms around the world. In fact, two little rabid girls in Alaska had lined up at a bookstore for 11 days and counting! I'm also thoroughly amused to learn that Rowling's publisher, Bloomsbury, is putting all the stops at keeping the book's contents a secret that it had locked up all its copies in a cage! Well, thing is, my friend RJ of Comicgasm had already posted a Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Spoilers post on this blog. It not only tells you which major characters die (RIP Hedwig), but includes what looks to be photographs taken of each page where the deaths happen. I also know someone who is currently reading the book from photographed pages! The New York Times offered their own review of the book in yesterday's issue of their newspaper, which angered both Rowling and Bloomsbury. Rowling growled:
I am staggered that some American newspapers have decided to publish purported spoilers in the form of reviews in complete disregard of the wishes of literally millions of readers, particularly children
My view is that this is a case of much ado about nothing. I mean, if someone is looking for spoilers, they will get what they're looking for. But if someone doesn't want to be spoiled, then they better refrain from reading spoilers and wait for the book to arrive in shelves. And seriously, the New York Times article didn't even have spoilers in it, so where is Rowling's displeasure coming from? She is the richest bitch witch woman in the world, having amassed $15 billion from her previous six books. Is she worried people won't buy her final book just because of these spoilers? Ah, greed indeed! I have the highest respect for Rowling though, but I don't read her books. I only watch the movie adaptations, which are quite good. Are you looking forward to this book? How do you think Hedwig died? My friend tells me Hagrid sat on him. Ouch.

5 archived comments

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  • Rich Pearson

    Ouch indeed for poor Hedwig. I agree 100% that the J.K. Rowling had no right to be upset with the New York Times. However, I do think that all content creators from book publishers to bloggers have the right to capture full value from their original content. "Full value" can and should be defined by the creator/ owner. For some content, it could be enough to just link back to your site, while others may want a share of the ad revenue. Locking up the books in cages is laughable, and spoilers will never go away. But technology can help bring some visibility to where it's occurring and, where appropriate, allow content owners to request some of the value that is being generated from re-use

  • Ria Jose

    Am I the one being referred to as reading the book from photographed pages? HAHA! I love spoilers, but I know that not everybody likes them. I post spoilers at my blog but not with the intention to spite anybody.

  • RJ

    Drew is one of the people that made me blog about the spoilers, now half my YM list hates me while the other half loves me for giving them copies of the leaked book.

  • Aileen Apolo

    I hate spoilers, so I'll just avoid reading stuff first. And since I got my book early this morning, I'm just going to read, read and read the weekend away!

  • benj

    The surprise ending: it was all a bad dream. And Harry was dead from the beginning of the movie. And... Voldemort is Harry's father. And... the fairy god mother from cinderella is an alumna of hogwarts!