Life after Hogwarts
After another round of spectacular financial results, Bloomsbury, publisher of the Harry Potter series, continues to be Britain’s homegrown answer to the multinational giants that dominate the industry. But there is much speculation about how things will go for the independent publisher when the seventh and final Potter book hits the stores, which could be as early as next year. The Guardian’s Matt Seaton reminds readers that Bloomsbury wasn’t exactly dead in the water before Potter — they are, after all, the U.K. publisher of such heavyweights as Margaret Atwood, Joanna Trollope, and John Irving — but shareholders have come to expect the kind of returns that only a mega-selling author like J.K. Rowling can bring. To keep up their profile, the company is using its excess cash to muscle in on the lucrative mass-market business, as well as backing up its literary list with new books by Richard Ford and Germaine Greer. And then there’s always Rowling’s post-Potter career.
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