Booksellers Forced to Cut Prices on Harry Potter Books Just to Keep Up

Children have been reading Harry Potter books all over the country since being released in 1997. The story of the young boy who has faced evil with his magic time and time again, is now being ended with the last book to the saga by J.K. Rowlings. This book is being chatted about by everyone, even people who do not normally take the time to read novels.

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" the final book to the series is being released July 21. Although this is a well-anticipated book looking to break many records, many retailers will be lucky to break even with the sells. The large bookstores such as Amazon.com and Wal-Mart Stores Inc have lowered the selling price by 50 percent of the listing fee, which is $34.99. The world's largest booksellers, Barnes & Noble Inc. and Borders Group Inc., have discounted the book by 40 percent. This increases buyers to visit the stores more often, but often cause a low profit margin. This is a normal occurrence with best selling novels because it helps a store create frequent customers.

The smaller book stores are being forced to cut their prices just top keep up, and some stores have even decided not to sell the book because it would be cheaper to buy the book from a supermarket. According to Justin Grant, "Since bursting onto the scene in 1997, the Harry Potter series has sold more than 325 million books worldwide, spawning four feature films." No one seems to know if Harry Potter will have a happy ending or not, but what is for sure is that this top selling novel will not be a top money making novel.

Each retail bookstore will have to determine separately how to promote the last novel to Harry Potter or if the store will even carry the book at all. An independent bookseller in Hamilton, Montana called The Chapter One Bookstore has decided to sell the book at the full listing price but will then donate $7 of each sale to a library of the buyer's choice.

One thing is for sure, although the profits of this book are not expected to reach a record-breaking number, the actual number of sales are expected to be high. Especially with the cost of the book cut in half at most stores around the nation.