Sen Ze’s Business In Your Pajamas! Blog

It’s now Wednesday and I now know if Harry survived.

But regardless – what could J.K. Rowling do to make even more money now that her boy wizard’s adventures have been systematically put to rest in her last book in the series? (She’s worth over $1 billion right now, which will soon increase.)

Well, there are still 2 more movies to go – ending with “Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows” in a few years from now (probably in 4 years’ time).

She earns royalties from them and the other 5 movies made so far.

The movies in the series are reproduced on DVDs after they’ve finished their run in the cinemas and another serious round of money-making takes place.

Her books will continue to sell during that time and beyond.

All in all, expect to see a few hundred million dollars more to be added to her bank account by the time it’s all over.

And then, in terms of milking things for all they’re worth – what else could she do?

Have a “comeback” book/movie of sorts, of course.

And why not?

The British Band, “Take That” came back after having broken up in the 1990s.

The Spice Girls are planning a “Reunion Tour”.

Bruce Willis came back with “Die Hard 4.0″.

Arnold Schwarzenegger came back in “Terminator 3″ after having been melted down in Terminator 2.

And some top Hong Kong singers retired for 10 years or so and then made a comeback with their respective “Comeback Tour”.

(Some would say they actually planned the “Comeback Tour” before they retired.)

When you make a comeback, there’s another round of money-making right there because you’ll have a hungry base of fans who were looking for more of you when you retired but couldn’t get any – until now.

The key is to ensure that you come back before your fan base grow too old to remember who you were. (And you must have been a hit before you retired, of course.)

In the case of a fictional character like Harry Potter – if he is dead now – he could be resurrected somehow (like Sigourney Weaver was in “Aliens 4″) which isn’t that big a deal considering that he’s a wizard.

Alternatively you could always do a “Prequel” like the “Batman Begins“, “Superman Returns” and the first 3 episodes of the “Star Wars” series…

There are many possibilities, and they’re all very logical…

It’s good to know that sometimes “The End” isn’t really the end, especially when the potential for profit is still very much in existence.

However, “The End” can be used to make a whole bunch of money this time (because there’s an end to it all – there’s no more to come), and set up the “Comeback” many years later (hey – there’s more to come after all!) for another whole bunch of money.

The very disappointing “Star Wars” prequels could do with another “Comeback” by virtue of how disappointing those 3 episodes were.

One possibility is to present 3 ALTERNATIVE episodes for the Prequels with the same core characters but totally different story lines, but ending with Darth Vader becoming Darth Vader anyhow.

And I’ll bet the 3 Alternative Episodes would break box office records since there are so many Star Wars fans out there.

Think this isn’t possible?

It has been done before on the hit TV series, “Dallas” in the early 1980s where one very disappointing season (story-wise) was aired (about 22 episodes) and then explained away in the next season as nothing more than one main character’s “bad dream” – leaving the production team to continue from the season before that dream with an alternative (and better) storyline for the new season, as if that bad dream season never existed!

But this would mean having George Lucas admit that his current 3 Prequel episodes are bad – which he wouldn’t do.

Swallow your pride, George – and remake them with better scripts and better actors. Then hear your cash register ringing all the way from the planet Tatooine…

Not only will you get richer from the experience, it’s the right thing to do…

Plus the fans want to pay you for a better experience – so give it to them!

(I’m not a fan, by the way – even of the original Star Wars.)

And then you have the comics kingdom where a main character can exist in many different universes SIMULTANEOUSLY, with different characters surrounding the main character and storylines that don’t cross each universe.

The “Spiderman” series of comic books are done this way. There’s “The Amazing Spider-Man” title, and “The Sensational Spider-Man” title, “The Spectacular Spider-Man” title, “Web Of Spider-Man” title, “Ultimate Spider-Man” title and other titles involving this character, all appearing at the same time at one time or another – as if the stories on the other series don’t exist!

What’s more…

You can also create one single universe for one concept but with different characters in different backgrounds!

After all, we have CSI:Vegas, CSI:Miami and CSI:New York all being shown at the same time, don’t we?

Not only that – you may run into broadcasts where one episode from each CSI series is shown back to back! You get a total of 6 murders in 3 hours, solved by 3 different CSI Teams!

Best of all, Horatio of CSI:Miami sometimes makes an appearance in CSI:New York to talk to Mac Taylor on a case that involves their “mutual” victims…

Whether it’s the world of fiction or otherwise – you can print money again and again if only you want them badly enough.

All that is required is your own desire and plenty of creativity.

Both of which human beings have in abundance – as you can see above.

Right?

Talk soon.

Sen Ze

P.S. You can link to this post with the following URL:

http://www.SenZe.com/business-blog/business-profitability/profits-rising-from-ashes-and-different-bodies.htm

Technorati Tags: Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, Spiderman, Spider-man, CSI:Miami, CSI:New York, CSI, CSI:Vegas, Star Wars, Die Hard 4.0, Spice Girls, Take That, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sigourney Weaver, Aliens 4, George Lucas, Business Profitability, Authors, Entertainers

J.K. Rowling’s latest novel, “Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows” broke all book sales record by selling 8.3 million copies in its first 24 hours on sale in the United States last weekend, according to Scholastic Inc.

At $34.99 per book, the total sales is a whopping $290,417,000.00 (that’s $290 million big ones).

In just 24 hours.

And only in the US.

Incredible.

There is no bigger author than Rowling in the entire world today – and I’m happy to be able to witness her influence on Pottermaniacs’ wallets.

Truth be told, I have never liked Harry’s stories as depicted in the movies.

And I’ve never been inclined to pick up a copy of any one of his 7 adventures to start reading them either.

I simply couldn’t understand what all the fuss is about – although I do have a good imagination myself.

But this isn’t about me – but all of Rowling’s adoring fans out there.

And their parents who are probably like me (if they’re not a Potterhead themselves).

The difference is that they have to buy the books for their kids and take them to the cinema for another experience of the same stories.

My son’s less than 2 years old so I’m spared the “expenses” here. Lol.

(But he would be about the right age in a few years’ time – just in time for the movie version of “Hallows” – and I would have to buy all of Harry’s adventures on DVDs starting from Book No.1 – 6 for him to make sense of No.7!)

But what makes this last novel the most successful of all the 7?

In one concept:

Closure.

In 2 concepts:

Closure, and Rowling says she’ll never write another one.

In 3 concepts:

Closure, Rowling says she’ll never write another one, and some beloved characters meet their end in this final novel.

In 4 concepts:

Closure, Rowling says she’ll never write another one, some beloved characters meet their end in this final novel, and everything will only be revealed on July 21st 2007.

Of course, there’s a “5th concept” - the series themselves must be a succesful one leading to the final novel.

So put them all together – and the blockbuster launch was imminent for MONTHS before it even happened.

So is Harry one of them who dies?

I still don’t know because those I’ve asked haven’t finished with the book yet – but I truly don’t care as I’m far from going insane if I don’t find out soon enough.

The only reason I asked is simply because of all the speculation on his end, by others who do.

And they’re all dealing with me every single day.

So all I want is a list of all the characters who did die – so that if I were to meet any Pottermaniac nearby, I could just blabber the dead names out and he’ll think I’m another Pottermaniac – never mind that I have no idea what the last story covers.

I’ll instantly become “one of them”.

And you know what happens when you’re one of them?

Right – they’ll instantly become more comfortable with you.

And what happens when this happens?

Miracles happen when people like you.

But I’ll talk about this another day.

Anyway…

Here are the “Marketing In Your Pajamas” lessons that you may be able to twist and then incorporate into your own product, if appropriate:

1. Kill off some characters in your final book, but don’t mention who they are other than the fact that their deaths will “shock” everyone (this is great for the fiction category – what would be a shocker for your own?);

2. Declare you will never write another book in the series again (this is a limitation factor in play, although there is no limit to the number of books being sold in the series – what would be a limitation factor in your case?).

3. Play them all into a launch date.

Notice how the launch is going to happen anyway – exactly like it had for all the other 6 books in the series?

So all Rowling has done now for the 7th is to declare 1 and 2 above – and then make sure she fulfills her promise.

And her profits exploded beyond the stratosphere.

The downside, of course, is that she ends at book No.7, especially if Harry dies.

And when the movie version finishes, she has shut off her profit pipelines using Harry for good.

Or has she?

Of course not.

Because when the money’s right – miracles do happen.

All you need is a couple of additional Pajamas Marketing concepts and a whole planetload of money get printed again, from scratch.

Talk soon.

Sen Ze

P.S. You can link to this post with the following URL:

http://www.SenZe.com/business-blog/harry-porter/harry-potter-and-pottermaniacs.htm

Technorati Tags: Harry Porter, Potterheads, Pottermaniacs, Harry Porter and the Deathly Hallows, fiction, book launch, J.K. Rowling, JK Rowling, book publishing, authors

The World’s First Personal Domain Name Directory at www.OMNICITI.com now has more than 1,000 listings of domains from around the world that contain the owners’ name…

Check it out below:

www.OMNICITI.com

It lists some unique occupations too. There’s a Lexicographer, a Polar Expeditor, a Calligrapher and an Apologist (!).

What’s an Apologist? Somebody who apologises for a living?

Here’s the definition, as found in wikipedia:

Apologists are authors, writers, editors of scientific logs or academic journals and leaders, who during their lifetimes were known as radicals and extremists for taking on the points in arguments, conflicts or positions that were during their eras either placed under popular scrutinies or viewed under persecutory examinations. The term comes from the Greek word apologia (απολογία), meaning defense of a position against an attack.

Interesting, no?

And click on –> OMNICITI Personal Domain Name Directory Search to find one such Apologist!

Do you know of anybody with his own domain name consisting of his own name who should be listed? Let him or her know about OMNICITI now. It’s also a great resource if you’re looking for people to work with you on your projects as they take themselves seriously enough to have a personal domain for themselves.

Sen Ze

P.S. You can link to this post with the following URL:

http://www.SenZe.com/business-blog/personal-domains/omniciti-breaks-the-1000-mark.htm

Technorati Tags: OMNICITI, Personal Domain Name Directory, Web Site Directory, Domain Name, Personal Domain Name, Lexicographer, Polar Expeditor, Calligrapher, Apologist, web site, blog, URL, Domain Name Registrar