“It is our choices Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” — Prof. Dumbledore
UK sales of “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” broke all records by smashing a million sales in just two days, outselling the previous record holder (it’s predecessor, “Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone”) by one hundred percent.
That first Friday and Saturday saw 1,763,000 sales (DVD & VHS combined). Over half a million were pre-orders.
(I’m glad I’m not a bean counter any more: they must have worked flat-out all day Sunday to tally up the takings!)
War? Economic depression? With sales figures like those being achieved, ya wouldn’t think so, would you?
Moreover, a couple of things many experts have been saying for a long time are categorically confirmed by this news.
* No matter what, people will spend money on what they WANT
* There IS business to be done, selling that to the consumer
Plenty of it too, as you can see!
Heaps of those sales must have been made online and there are still plenty more hobbies, interests and niches to fill. One of them could be yours, if you’ll grasp it.
And the web, despite all the wizard technology, is — like this story — about weaving words. Words sell.
JK Rowling’s own story, is perhaps one of the biggest rags-to-riches success stories of all time.
After divorce, Joanne Rowling was struggling to support her daughter and herself on welfare (and, not surprisingly, has suffered depression), when she began working on a book, the idea for which had apparently occurred to her while she was stuck on a train between Manchester and London, in 1990.
More than a decade later, that creation has become one of the UK’s biggest cultural exports ever. (I guess they’re not counting me yet! 🙂 Even in 2001 Rowling’s earnings were estimated at over 24 million pounds ($37 M). She is now one of the richest women in the UK, if not the world.
Yet, three UK publishers are said to have turned the book down before Bloomsbury bought it for a measly 4,000 pounds.
That wasn’t easy and definitely wasn’t an overnight success.
What’s most important to realise is, whilst Joanne obviously has exceptional talent and the tenacity to see the project through, this really could have been ANY one of us.
Yes, I know, a lot of you will be poo-pooing that idea, but believe it. Don’t underestimate your own potential. I’ve found out from my own experience that necessity and hunger are THE natural mothers of invention and motivation.
And write those ideas down. You just never know what they may be worth in ten years or so’s time!
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Copyright 2003 Pamela Heywood
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