If You Can’t Keep a Secret . . .
I hadn’t really thought about the Harry Potter leaked ending, except to shake my head at the industry that used to be my home. To spend $20M on a secret that couldn’t be kept seemed such a waste . . . How I remember the thoght process that gets companies to do that sort of thing.
Then this morning Ann Michael and I were discussing Seth’s insight on publishing and the Internet. He pointed out what I would have never thought.
Five hundred year old technology (books) is just too slow for the Net. The act of printing, storing and shipping millions of books takes too long for a secret to ever be in a book again.
He suggests that, well, read Seth’s post for his brilliant solution. He advocates using the Internet to control the secret. I sure hope Seth doesn’t mind if I use my publishing experience to take his idea just a little further.
Fact: As Seth said, the secret was in always in jeopardy — from the moment the manuscript was written. The company should have seen that $20million, $40million to protect the secret was playing to a weakness.
One thing I’ve learned from Seth is that every weakness can be a strength. Here’s what I would have proposed, had someone asked my opinion. . . . Don’t worry, they didn’t.
How to Release the Harry Potter Secret OR How Choosing for the Customer Is Choosing for the Company
The problem wasn’t having the secret where people could get to it. The problem was the company thought of the secret as a problem rather than an opportunity,
Strategy always begins with the customer. In this case, the customers are kids (of every age) who grew up with the series. $20million of security was choosing for the company not the customers.
If I think about the kids, here’s where I end up.
Ready?
- I would ask J.K.Rowling to reveal the ending to me as soon as she was able. I would spend a fraction of that $20million building a cool online video game with seven levels to match the seven questions of the Harry Potter Campaign. I’d spend the security there. Fewer people involved, much more control.
- I’d release the game that reveals the end of the story, three weeks before any pre-launch copy.
- To register to play the game, I would ask that each player sign in with a name, and a parental permission with verifiable email address (if the player is under 13).
- The game would be as difficult as any game on the market. It would also have cheat codes and book with hints as salable products. It would take hours– whatever is the industry average — to complete successfuly.
- When a player made it through the last level, he or she would reach a Howart’s Honor Code screen. The screen would announce the success and point out how difficult it was to achieve it. The Honor Code would leave the question to winner to hold or pass on the answer as they honor their own work. They earned it. People value what they earn.
It’s as Seth said, no one can keep it a secret — but we can control how it gets out. The company could have made finding the answer part of the Hogwart’s World. It could have been an experience. It could have been fun. Besides, I’m not sure that if I worked 10-20 hours to find out an answer that I’d give it away, . . . well, maybe secretly.
Who knows? I might play the game again and again — even after I read the book.
If I knew what I was talking about I’d still be working in that industry . . . right? I’m probably just confused. That comes from thinking like a kid.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Ramkarthik says
July 21, 2007 at 1:38 PMLiz,
For a moment I thought you could be Scholastic owner or controller. A game would be fun. The game, as you said, should be the toughest but yet possible to finish. Great idea Liz. Hope the Harry Potter fans are having fun and also tension.
I just went on to the harry potter fan site, muddlenet.com, where people where talking about how it was after they finished reading the book. Though Im not a harry potter fan, it makes me to read all the books now.
ME Strauss says
July 21, 2007 at 1:42 PMHi Ram!
No Scholatic is a very big company. I’ve done work for one of their divisions. I would think it would be hard to rain on most of the Harry Potter fans’ parade. After all, few I know actually only read the book once, and they all go see the movie. 🙂
Ramkarthik says
July 21, 2007 at 1:46 PMLiz,
yeah Scholastic is a big company. But seeing your idea I just thought of you being the head. :). Did you read the last part? If ye, how did you feel?
Susan Cartier Liebel says
July 21, 2007 at 1:51 PMYour solution is why you should have been in charge and taken a portion of the $20 million for your brilliance. The most ingenious and successful strategists think like their potential clients…
ME Strauss says
July 21, 2007 at 1:52 PMHi Ram, I haven’t read the last book. I’m so busy doing this I’m a book behind. 🙂
ME Strauss says
July 21, 2007 at 1:53 PMHi Susan,
I sure could use a portion of that $20mil. Would you sell them on that idea? [big grin]
Valeria Maltoni says
July 21, 2007 at 2:05 PMLiz:
I actually suggested that keeping a secret is good http://www.conversationagent.com/2007/07/harry-potter-an.html
So my solution would be to enroll children to help me (author, Harry, etc.) keep the secret.
ME Strauss says
July 21, 2007 at 2:27 PMHi Valeria!
That’s a great idea. Getting the kids involved is where the solution lies. Yep. You and I are basically in the same place. 🙂
James says
July 22, 2007 at 8:24 PMWhat ending? It’s over? What secret? Who is Harry Potter? I must have missed something
ME Strauss says
July 22, 2007 at 8:51 PMHi James!
We were just talking the business strategy around the secret. 🙂
Nic Darling says
July 23, 2007 at 10:06 AMThis is a bit long and maybe slightly off topic, so feel free to eliminate the comment if you like Liz. I simply find it sad that the “secret” needs to be protected with such desperation. A good book is impossible to “spoil”. Does this fear of revealing the “twist” or “gimmick” reflect the mediocrity of the book or of the reader. Knowledge of the ending or contents of a book should have little to no effect on the value of the reading experience . . . right?
Maybe simply devaluing the secret would solve the problem. Most readers wouldn’t want to know the ending, and those that profit from disseminating such knowledge would be undercut by its ready availability. Post it right on the book’s site and warn readers about to come across it. Place the value on the whole book instead of just a couple paragraphs at the end.
ME Strauss says
July 23, 2007 at 10:14 AMHey Nic!
I think your comment is totally ON topic. True enough what you say about knowledge of the ending and the quality of the reading experience . . . actually some readers get more from reading IF they KNOW where a book is going.
I thought about your solution. It’s a good one. I just got invested in making it more fun and interesting . . . and then in making it win-win all around. 🙂
Mike says
July 23, 2007 at 5:37 PMLiz,
Absolutely brilliant! Spend the money creating customer delight instead of, well, not much. Seth’s insight is spot on, and makes me wonder if the $20 Million wasn’t a publicity stunt.
Mike
ME Strauss says
July 23, 2007 at 7:25 PMHi Mike!
I would agree that it could have been publicity . . . on the other hand, I’ve seen huge amount of money spent on what’s poor planning.
Mike says
July 23, 2007 at 8:36 PMLiz,
I agree that it was probably pure denial of Seth’s reality that made them do it. Sad, really.
Mike