I was a huge Potterhead back in the day (well...I still am, just not as obsessed). I know the books are great and all, I know how addictive her writing style is, that she can create such vivid and engaging characters and places, and the stories keep you hungry for more...but IMO that still does not completely explain the insane hype that generated. I don't think there has ever been this level of mania and craze for a book -- a children's/YA book for that matter. So I am wondering, what are some of the factor that led to the hype? I've heard things like the rise in Internet (and internet fandom), JKR's rags-to-riches story, etc all contributed. So for those who have been there, what was the mania like at that point, and what factors (aside from the quality of the books themselves) that lead to it?
The first Harry Potter book got a ton of media coverage. A lot of it had to do with the surprise that literature was still capable of getting young people excited about reading. The Internet was relatively new, at that point, and cable TV was still a really big deal.
yeah i think it's also because back then, we didn't have booktoks and bookstagrams and blogs and goodreads and amazons and all the other avenues where tons and tons of books are advertised and talked about all day every day.
back then you either heard about books from your friends or the media, or you went to the library and explored for yourself.
when a book series got attention it got a lot of it because everyone's attention wasn't divided in all these different places, we all watched the same channels and read the same magazines.
Yeah, the thing is, if you actually look at the Harry Potter Series, they're actually kinda bad; at minimum, no better than any other book series of the time.
What book series from that time do you think is at HP level? Honestly, as far as children's fantasy books go, I think the Hobbit and Narnia are the only ones from before HP that are even close.