Can J.K. Rowling Save Christmas?
With publishers and booksellers nervous about Christmas sales, a little $12.95 book might be the season’s savior. The Tales of Beedle the Bard, a Harry Potter offshoot by J.K. Rowling, is being published by Scholastic on Dec. 4. This will be the first Rowling book to be published at the height of the holiday season; all her previous Harry Potters were published in the summer—and the timing, although ideal in the gift-giving sense, may present some logistical distribution challenges. The Tales of Beedle the Bard, a slim collection of five stories, including “The Tale of the Three Brothers,” which appeared in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, will have to ship from wholesalers during the Thanksgiving rush. Ingram Book Group’s director of merchandising Mary McCarthy says the logistics will be “challenging.” The company meets weekly to review orders and transportation to ensure that everything will go smoothly. Although she doesn’t expect Beedle to sell at the same levels as Deathly Ha
