But the movies are awesome. Cool image Tack!

Actually...

it took me 11 hours to read this book

I've read the first book. It's a decent read, but I don't quite see why everyone seems to think that Rowling lady craps diamonds now. I wouldn't have quite the problems with it, if she weren't all about the money now. Let her try writing something BESIDES the little wizard brat, and see how successful she is.

The figure I saw was that the book sold 5 million copies on the first day. Retail price is $30, which makes wholesale price about $15/copy. She's a pretty important person, so we'll assume she personally gets maybe $5 a copy in royalties, the publisher gets $10 to pay for printing and marketing costs. Without even touching her advance fee, merchandising, movie royalties, ad infinitum, she made $25 million in one day. Granted, that's just my not-very-well-educated guesstimate. I could be way off. But you get the picture.

As far as I'm concerned, not one single human being on the face of the planet is worth $25 million a day.

---Jamin

Jamin,

I say all the power to her, and she deserves whatever she is making.

She has written 5 bestsellers in a row, and there were periods of time when multiple copies were on the best seller list together for extended periods of time.

She has committed to writing 7 books in this series. After that I'm sure she will write other things, which will undoubtedly be successful on name recognition, and hopefully based on content. There are undoubtedly millions of people who are already wishing that they had book 6 to read after just finishing book 5 (although it is likely going to be another 2 years before 6 comes out).

Personally, I'm glad the books have been as popular as they are. Most kids spend hours upon hours each week glued to the tv and video games. It's comforting to know that there still is something out there to put down the controller, find a cozy spot and read!

She is single handedly responsible for more children reading today....to me that is worth a hell of a lot more than someone who cannot read dribbling a basketball down the court on tv.

We need more Rowlings in this world.

Well, let's not forget the "Reading Rainbow" and the other children's programming on PBS.

Edited my post "responsible for more children reading today"

I'm in favor for anything that makes people have to actually think

Tacks,

Ok, I'll concede that making kids (and adults, for that matter) spend more time reading and less time vegetating is a good thing. And I definitely agree that she's worth way more than sports stars and actors and such.

And she may deserve some nice stacks of money, because of what she went through earlier in life. Pay her back for all the bad hands life dealt her before, or what have you.

I just don't think she's worth that freakin much. When she makes multiple times more in one day than 90% of the population will ever see in their entire lives, it's just not right. The same goes for Bill Gates, Julia Roberts, and anyone else that makes that kind of money.

Sorry, I don't mean to sound rude, or like I'm on my big soapbox or whatever. Its just my opinion - more on the pitiful state of modern capitalism than JKR personally. So I apologize for attacking her like that. My major goal in life is to make enough money to buy my kids decent christmas presents and send them through college. Anything past that is just a waste, imho.

---J

Hmmm...took her 3 years to write this book. Spread out what you think she gets over that time, not over a day. I think you'll find that it is reasonable compared to Nike paying Kobe Bryant or LaBron James millions each year for wearing a pair of sneakers.

There are plenty of people in this world who get rich for no reason, inheritances, lottery, dumb luck, lying and stealing. Rowling has created a product that people want to buy, that's the american way.

I knock Gates plenty, and you can argue whether or not his products are better than others, but the fact is, his business model (whether legal or not) has been better than that of his competitors.

My goal in life is to feel that neither I nor my family ever feel we are missing out on anything

I personally think watching the 2-hour film is better than reading a book for a whole week

My major goal in life is not to die at a terror attack, a car accident or by SARS (although no country is infected by it anymore)

what about china and canada?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/3004760.stm

I typically always enjoy books better than the movies based on them.

Why not? You've been on a soapbox since I've known you.

I think people like JKR deserve more than people like Eminem (woo, there is someone shaping young minds) and NBA stars.

My $6.21 canadian.

Finally finished last night...a bit tired today

For those of you who are too lazy to read..lol

The audio CD version is available as well. Unabridged (that means not edited), it requires only 27 hours of your time. It's 23 CD's.

For those of you who haven't read the first four books. You can get caught up in an additional 49 hours (Year 1: 8 hrs, Year 2: 9 hrs, Year 3: 12 hrs; Year 4: 20 hrs).

Kind of scary, that if you spent 3 hours each night listening to Harry Potter rather than your must-see-tv-repeats, it would take 3 1/2 weeks to listen to the entire series.