[Timboli]

Here is another example of publisher predatory behavior.

Most people know J.K. Rowling. She's a great author and I love her work.

Many would also know she is reputedly the richest woman in the world ... but don't quote me on that. She is very very rich by any measuring stick, and so are her publishers.

If ever there was a time, when the usual Hardcover shenanigans should have been done away with, it was with her Harry Potter books. But no, they milked it for all it was worth, not giving a stuff about the poor people effected. Sure, they gave away a few as promotion etc.

Many many people around the world love and read her books, and many many of those poor people. Because they are so popular, they are talked about at school and everywhere, so just imagine what it must be like for a poor kid especially, in that circumstance.

The next novel in the series comes out in hardcover first, and of course the affluent snap it up immediately and reading commences straight away, and then discussions and spoilers abound.

Any kid not wanting the story to be spoiled for them, would want to get the novel right away too. That put a lot of pressures on a lot of families and kids, and many of them suffered unnecessarily.

It could have been avoided to huge degree, by bringing out a fair priced paperback from the word go.

It's not like J.K. Rowling and the publisher wouldn't have made a killing anyway from profit. How can any reasonable person view it as anything but greed?

Just imagine how many parents refused to budge? How many gave in and made some kind of sacrifice, because they love their kids?

It's unconscionable really, that situation they were put it.

I wonder how many of you have ever thought about that?

P.S. I thought about that every time I bought the hardcover for my kids. Luckily I could afford it, even though the extra money spent could have gone to other areas that needed it. I always spared a thought for those less fortunate, and the greed made me angry ... and very very sad.