TLC Interviews Arthur Levine, Part II

Interview with Arthur Levine, Co-Editor of Harry Potter

As originally heard on PotterCast Episodes 22, 23, and 24

Part One | Part Two | Part Three

Listen to the entire interview (MP3, 36 MB; please right-click and save-as)

MA: Yeah.

AL: And, it was, it was, a lot more than I’ve paid for almost any other novel. And that’s still true. That is a huge amount of money.

MA: Yeah. (MA and AL laugh) You say it like, it looks like you’re remembering what that was like. Because it must have been nerve-racking.

AL: Well, it was nerve-racking, you know this was my, my first big risk at, I mean my first huge risk at a new publisher. So, you know, the rest of the publishing houses going along with me, they were supporting me, “Yeah, okay, sure go ahead” you know? “Keep going, stay in it if you’re passionate.” Yes I am, so they were all behind me, it wasn’t a matter of I had to convince reluctant people, but having brought the company along with me, it’s then my responsibility whether this works or not. And, there wasn’t a lot of reason, other than my belief in the author and the writing…

MA: Mmm-hmm.

AL: …to think that it would work to the extent that it would need to work to pay back a $105,000.00 advance. That, that has to be a substantial hit. And, what I thought at the time was, this is such a good book that it will be around for a long, long time. And, maybe we won’t earn back this advance in two or three years, but we will earn it back in five years. You know, in the long term we will be fine. And, I am confident.

MA: Mmm-hmm.

AL: So, that’s what I was thinking.

MA: At that point, what did you know about the books? Only the first book? Did you know anything about the rest of the series?

AL: I mean, I only knew that she saw it as a seven part story. That it was, that this was the first, that she was going to tell us, write a book for every year that this young man, Harry, was going to be in school. So it’s a story of his training and coming of age.

MA: Right, but there was no indication that it would be this over-arching, massive, masterfully plotted mystery kind of thing. For all you knew it could have been a serial, you know, like, sort of disconnected.

AL: Well, I’m not, I’m not sure what the difference is there. I mean, you can’t know in advance how…

MA: Right.

AL: …something is going to fall into place…

MA: Well, a lot, a lot of…

AL: …I’m mean, you’re right, I didn’t know what it would be, just seven adventures of a particular character, or, I mean it is that.

MA: Right.

AL: So, I think that, you know, as the books went along, it had, you get to know what the character, characteristics are. I mean, I knew he would get a year older. I mean, if you look back, I knew all of those things, I knew he would get a year older in each one. And, so, if I thought that, thought that through I would think well okay so it’s getting the characteristics of the books are gonna to develop along with the character. But, in fact it’s very, that turns out to be a very unusual characteristic of the books that they, while they retain their essential J.K. Rowling character, the characters really do grow up and change and therefore the some of the themes the plots the sub-plots change with them.

MA: Yeah. I think the thing that people are most interested to know – which I think you’ve answered – is that those, that first sale, that initial interest was based on, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone alone, that it was just on the Stone and it was not, “Well, and there we have six more coming…” And, surely it factored into the decision but it was the strength of that book that, that fueled the sale.

AL: Right, I mean I think at that point, you know honestly you have to, you have to say, sure, we’ll see. I mean from my points, what I was falling in love with, was the author and her capability. You know, I was certainly happy to hear she had other books in mind because I wasn’t interested in publishing somebody whose only going to write one book. I mean not that I should say I wasn’t interested, I mean, my hope was to be finding authors.

MA: Right.

AL: And, certainly an author as good as that, you want them to write other books, and so it’s that the excitement of being there at the start of someone’s career, you know, you hope that the person will have a career and develop as a writer that will be part of the pleasure of publishing that is to watch, watch as that happens.

MA: Right. So you got the rights. And, the big decision, that so many of our readers still to this day, either kvetch about or just discuss, is the changing of “Philosopher’s” to “Sorcerer’s.” So, can you explain the process that went behind that?

AL: Sure you know that did not, did not and does seem like a big decision. And it wasn’t at the time. You know, I would have been happy to call it “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.” That would have been fine, but at the time that we were introducing it here within our own company and thinking about introducing it to American readers, many people who heard the title and then read the books said “Oh, this is really a different book than I thought it would be with the title “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone””

MA: Hmm.

AL: You know, I’m a literary imprint – I can publish a book called “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” or, you know, called “The Philosopher’s Stone.”

MA: Right.

AL: But what readers now do not have the benefit of the, that point of view that we had at that point. Which is: this is an unknown author. She is, at the time that I’m publishing this, I’m publishing a British author is not, you know, is not something that is considered commercially a plus. The fact that an author is from England, you know, is maybe, you know, a strike against it.

MA: Is that in the market, in the consumer marketplace? Is that why?

AL: Yeah.

MA: Or is it…

AL: …well, and frankly, with reader feedback as well.

MA: Really?

AL: With people there was an idea that kids are not, don’t want to read about people who are not like them. So, anyway. While I know what a philosopher’s stone is, and many people, probably many others do now, particularly since Harry Potter is such a big phenomenon that it has probably induced many people to find out what a philosopher’s stone is.

MA: Yeah.

AL: If you think about marketing a book, it is possible that someone hears “Philosopher’s Stone” and thinks it’s a book about philosophy.

MA: Right.

AL: So our idea was we would really like to make sure that the title of the book invokes in kid’s minds the nature of the book itself.

MA: Yeah.

AL: So we’re trying to make sure that in the general consumer’s mind they get what they think they’re getting.

MA: Right.

AL: And we didn’t think Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was necessarily the best title.

MA: Well there’s a different connotation in England right? When people hear Philosopher’s Stone in England, you do get the Sorcerer’s Stone implication, is that correct?

AL: You know that’s possible. But it’s also, think about England, their publishing a person they paid 3,000 pounds. They, you know, they’re a literary publisher and their goal is to just launch the book and launch the author and it’s really fine if they sell 300, 500 copies. You know, I’m making, I’m just making that number up.

MA: I think the first is about 500.

AL: A really small number of copies. I know that they paid something like 3,000 pounds, so it’s really fine if they get a very small audience That’s all they’re thinking they’re going to get.

MA: Right.

AL: Now me, on the other hand, are thinking, well actually we think there’s a bigger audience for this particular book. How can we convey that? How can we convey the nature of the book? So I went to, went back to Jo. This is also, by the way, an extremely common occurrence in books that come from other countries, that we say, is this the best title? It’s also an extremely common occurrence for books that we originate.

MA: Okay.

AL: An author sends in a manuscript that has a given title. It’s one of the favorite things for a sales and marketing departments to discuss.

MA: Okay.

AL: Because it seems like a big thing and if they can get the title that they want then it gives them confidence going into the market selling the book to book sellers, etcetera. And giving the people who are selling the book confidence is an important part of a successful publishing effort. Whether you want to do that, if you can accomplish that while keeping the author happy, then you do it. It’s only, it only makes sense.

MA: Yeah.

AL: So, the next step is to go to the author because whatever you do, it’s the author’s book.

MA: Right.

AL: And she has to be happy with the title. So, I went back to Jo and I remember the conversation, what the title that I suggested was, how about “Harry Potter and the School of Magic?” Because it seems like Hogwarts is a very important part of this.

MA: Right, especially that first year.

AL: And she thought about it and said, “I’m not really sure about that. How about, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone?” And I said, “Oh, Sorcerer’s Stone, okay.” That evokes magic more directly and obviously. Why don’t I take that back and I took that back and everyone was like, oh yes, that’s great that’s great. (MA laughs) So, oh, okay, so the sales and marketing department are happy the author is happy. The book goes out.

MA: Right.

AL: You know P.S. – there are two P.S.’s. P.S. number one, I think that it worked (laughs).

color=”orange”>The Transcription Elves: Tim, Shannon, Becca, Pascal, Alysha, Claudette, Hope, Doug, and KimmyBlair.