The countdown clock on Scholastic's Web site read 24 days 15 hours, when the Harry Potter team gathered on the morning of June 21 for the latest in an ongoing series of meetings. With less than a month to go till the magic midnight hour, staffers involved in All Things Harry assembled in one of Scholastic's sixth-floor conference rooms to get updates from the sales, marketing and publicity teams.
At the sales meeting, chaired by outgoing children's books president Barbara Marcus, the top agenda items were security and logistics, two issues to which Scholastic will devote countless hours before Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince's July 16 release date. Among the Scholastic team members charged with ensuring that, in the words of Marcus, Half-Blood Prince "arrives at the right stores in the right numbers," is Ed Swart, Scholastic's director of operations.
Swart is overseeing a complex operation that will utilize 600 fully loaded trucks, more than 1,000 partially loaded trucks and over 1,000 UPS vehicles to get HBP to the stores on time. With a tight turnaround from the time Scholastic finished editing the manuscript to the on-sale date, Swart and his aides made the decision to send the fully loaded trucks from the bindery directly to national accounts. Haulers servicing regional accounts will load up from either the bindery or Scholastic's Jefferson City, Mo., warehouse, while the UPS trucks will be supplied by the warehouse.
One factor in deciding to send books directly to its biggest customers, according to Swart, was the implementation of a GPS tracking system being used by the company's national carrier. The new system "allows us to know where every truck is as they make their way from the bindery to their destination," Swart said. Once a truck reaches its location, the GPS system creates an "electronic fence" that alerts Scholastic to any movement of the rig beyond six feet.
Reaching its national accounts, which have their own warehouses and distribution networks, is relatively easy compared to fulfilling orders for independent stores. Scholastic has designated "hundreds of secure locations" across the country as staging areas to supply stores when the time is right, Swart said. And the company has determined that most independents will start receiving their allotments on July 14. It's a decision that will "keep booksellers on pins and needles, wondering if the books we ordered will arrive," noted Ellen Davis, owner of Dragonwings Bookstore in Waupaca, Wisc. (Her shipment arrived on time.)
No accounts can receive HBP, however, until they meet Scholastic's stringent security requirements. "We go back and forth with some accounts until we're satisfied with their security plans, and then we say, 'OK, you're good to go,' " Swart said. Addressing the possibility of onsale breaks and security breaches, Scholastic attorney Mark Seidenfeld observed at the meeting, somewhat philosophically, that "invariably, stuff is going to happen." Among the most serious breaches over the release of Order of the Phoenix was the purchase of a copy of the book at a Brooklyn health food store by the Daily News, which then ran a brief excerpt. Scholastic sued the News, charging copyright infringement. The suit was quickly settled, although terms were not disclosed.
To deal with the inevitable, the team went over plans for how breaches would be handled. Marcus said her biggest concern about potential breaches centered on the week before publication, when books have arrived in stores and store managers are in charge of keeping them under lock and key. She reiterated the need for the Scholastic sales team to remind all accounts that once the books are in their possession, they become responsible for HBP's safekeeping.
Plans were also discussed on the deployment of a network of people who would be visiting stores across the country looking for violations of the embargo. Seidenfeld, who will be on call if any legal action is deemed necessary, said his attitude about doing so much legal legwork comes down to "take an umbrella, but hope for clear skies."
While executives, including Marcus and Swart, believe that the allocation efforts for HBP are their best to date in the Potter series, they are also aware of the need to keep some books in reserve. Many of the books that will be held back will be barely off press when they are loaded into trucks; as of late last week, books were still being printed and all Swart was sure of is that all 10.8 million copies will be printed before July 15.
To speed the resupply effort, rather than keeping books at the bindery, the company has sent trucks to 12 staging areas across the country to be closer to stores. This tactic should guarantee that accounts will be able to get new books no later than the end of Monday and in some cases within a few hours. There are no plans, however, to resupply stores over the weekend, though conference calls were set up for Saturday and Sunday to access the stock situation. "We need to review point-of-sale information to see how the sell-through went before we can make resupply decisions," Swart said. "To get it right, you need the full view."
Helping Scholastic to oversee the HBP process from beginning to end was Stacy Ellmos. Scholastic named Ellmos HBP project manager back in January, and her inches-thick notebook binder attests to the thousands of details in her charge. Among the items she is tracking are the record-setting (5,000-plus) midnight parties set for July 15, a number of which will be held for the first time in such non-bookstore venues as airport shops and mass merchandisers. And it wasn't clear back in June if the eight-month pregnant Ellmos would even be around to salute HBP's arrival; her due date is just after Harry's, and at the meetings staffers teased her (half-seriously) that if she went into labor before July 16, they'd be calling her in the delivery room.
That was just one day in the life of the Harry Potter prep. There would be many, many more.
June 29, 2004
JKR announces the title of her next book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, on her Web site.
December 21, 2004
JKR delivers manuscript to Bloomsbury and Scholastic; on-sale date of July 16, 2005, is announced.
March 30
Scholastic announces first printing of 10.8 million copies; trees across North America shudder.
May 5
5.5 million temporary tattoos sent to retail accounts.
June 1
Scholastic announces library sweepstakes; winner to receive first signed copy of U.S. edition.
June 3
First security breach: two men arrested in England for trying to sell two copies of HBP to a reporter; both ordered to stand trial and released on bail.
June 4
10,000 flashing Harry Potter pens given out at BEA; attendees make beeline for eBay, where pens are now selling for $4.99.
June 15
Electronic countdown clock unveiled at Scholastic; one month and counting...
June 20
Barnes & Noble announces more than 750,000 preorders for HBP. Final tally will top one million, while Amazon's U.S. orders go over 800,000.
June 22
First HBP banner ad runs on Google; ads to run for six weeks.
June 27
First shipment of books arrives at B&N's Jamesbury, N.J., warehouse; company expects to receive 124 tractor-trailer shipments weighing more than four million pounds. B&N CEO Steve Riggio says, "No book has ever sold so many copies in so little time. We'll sell 50,000 copies an hour."
July 1
Scholastic announces the 10 winners of its "Why I Love Reading Harry Potter" essay contest; 8,000 entries were received. Winners to be flown to England on the evening of July 15, and given a copy of HBP to read on flight.
July 2
Signed copy of HBP arrives in New York City on the Queen Mary 2, packed in a steamer trunk and met by an armored car—more security than for the actual Queen.
July 4
Bloomsbury launches its biggest-ever consumer ad campaign, including banners on 2,000 London buses.
July 7
The Real Canadian Superstore in Coquitlam, B.C., sells 14 copies of HBP. Raincoast Books, Harry's Canadian publisher, gets pre-emptive injunction to prevent disclosure of the book's contents. According to humorist Andy Borowitz, White House strategist Karl Rove has denied responsibility.
July 11
In a campaign called Save Muggle Forests, Greenpeace urges Americans to buy Raincoast's Canadian edition, protesting Scholastic's not printing the book on 100% recycled paper.
July 12
Pharmacy in upstate New York sells one copy of HBP. Nine-year old customer admits to having read two pages; immediately makes 2,000 friends.
July 13
In wake of London bombings, WH Smith changes venue of its Harry Potter party from King's Cross train station to Wimbledon High Street.
July 15
5,000 stores prepare for Potter parties; no live owls available for rent anywhere in the country.
July 16
Millions of bleary-eyed children wake up early to read.
July 17
Security plans begin for Harry Potter 7.
